My new favorite squished potatoes...

As a child, we had potatoes with just about every meal. I chalk a lot of this to my paternal grandmother's immigration from Ireland, and her subsequent influence on my father. A meal was not complete without a potato of some kind. I remember my grandmother visiting us, and accompanying our meal of spagetti, we had... potatoes. Her idea of health food was a McDonald's fried fish sandwich and a large order of french fries.

Potatoes have always been a symbol of comfort and stability for me. I could eat them every day, in varying forms. Unfortunately, I can also eat way too many of them - somehow the section of my brain that says "stop eating" turns off when potatoes are around. Like other things that accompanying getting older, I am trying to limit my consumption of starches - not for some Adkins like diet thing, but just an acknowledgement that I can't eat as much of them (or anything) anymore, and I don't feel particularly good when I do.

But there are still days that I crave potatoes. I love french fries (the way my dad used to make them), but fried food is a big no-no. I used to make over roasted french fries, but I always have had problems with them sticking to the pan or foil. It's like the raw potato starch solifies and sticks so you can't turn the potatoes to get them evenly browned. Maybe I'm the only one who ever has this problem.

My inspiration came after reading a recipe for mashed, roasted potatoes. First, boil the potatoes, THEN roast them. Given, you're not going to be able to cut them into those little french-fry strips, if that's what you're craving, but I am in shock and awe of how much better the potatoes turn out.

First, scrub some red-skinned (or other waxy type) potatoes. Boil them in enough water to cover until a fork pierces the potatoes easily. You want the potatoes to be pretty tender because you need to be able to squish them with a fork.

Next, spread them out on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, and use a fork to gently squish and break up the potatoes. Now, I like lots of little crunchy pieces, so I break them up quite a bit. Drizzle with olive oil (or a butter/olive oil combo if you're feeling really daring), salt, and maybe garlic if you are so inclined. You want all the pieces to be coated.

You're going to look at the pan (above) and think, 'This is going to turn into a goopy sticky mess' , but I swear, it's not.

Bake at 400 or 450 until the potatoes are as crispy as you like. All those little bits will become like little potato croutons. Because they have been pre-cooked, the insides are fluffy and tender, but the outsides and skins are so crispy.

Serve them with ketchup or aoli, or I even use them in my potato salad now. I also like to serve them as a tapa (potato bravos)...

Backyard Gardening...

At the completion of my master gardener training last year, the one piece that I was disappointed in was the small wedge of time that edible gardening (which I will call vegetable, fruit and herb gardening) was allocated. It was about half a day, total, most of which was spent on very, very basic elements of vegetable gardening (starting things from seed, how much light do most vegetables need, etc.). This is not the fault of the program, rather reflective of the large amounts of information and the diverse knowledge of the student population in the master gardener class. I'm sure while I was furiously taking notes on something as foreign to me like, roses, the master rose lady was picking the dirt from her fingernails.

However, I was so excited when I saw an opportunity to specialize in that which I adore the most. Tomorrow, I start the Backyard and Local Foods specialization, which is being offered at a statewide level. It's an 18 month program, where we meet once a month. I'm eager and excited to really learn in a more academic setting about the gardening that I tend to fumble through each year.

It's really hard *not* to sing a song while I write this...

You know which song I'm talking about... It's about pronunciation. And vegetables. And ditching everything. But it seems so cliche that I'm.Not.Going.To.Do.It.

If you are one of my friends whom I pontificate to about tomatoes, the kinds of tomatoes I have, my collection of tomatoes or why everyone should grow tomatoes, I apologize. I really like tomatoes. I know of no other vegetable (or fruit, if you want to be picky) that comes in so many different shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors, aside perhaps from beans, which aren't nearly as interesting to me. Most people that I know have seen a red tomato. Maybe a yellow one. They are familiar with cherry tomatoes and beefsteaks, but that's about the breadth of their tomato knowledge.

At our last house, my record was 15 varieties of tomatoes crammed into my little garden in one summer. I have in my possession over 45 types of tomatoes. I'm in the process of cataloging all of them, so I'm not sure what my current count is, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the upwards of 60 or so varieties. If you are new to tomatoes, you might be interested in Carolyn Male's book 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden, a really interesting look at some of the different variations in tomatoes. My goal is to try all 100 over time.

This year, I have planted:

Paste/plum tomato:

• Amish Paste
• San Marzano (these did not germinate at all. Kind of bummed about it)

Cherry-type tomato:

• Pink Ice - new to me, haven't tried these before, but picked them up at the TBG seed swap
• White Cherry - I'm hoping these are similar to Snow White- one of Miss Things' old favorites
• Black Cherry - beautiful black/red color
• Green Grape - also a new one for me, but I love having cherries in every color.

Regular/Salad tomato:

• Stupice - a really early tomato, 55 days - can't wait to get those puppies going.
• Anna Russian - haven't tried this one before, made the 100 heirloom book though.
• Riesentraube - heavy setter - really looking forward to this one
• Juanne Flamme - beautiful small orange/red tomato - one of Elise's favorites.
• Nyagous - black, baseball sized fruit. A new one for me this year.
• Orange queen - large, orange fruits. This one didn't perform well in columbus, so I'm giving it another shot here.

Mr. H built me a small garden box for the spot in the back of the yard where we do hopefully get enough sun to grow something. Last year's experiment with pots by the driveway was not successful. It is fenced in to keep wildlife like squirrels, deer, racoons and one of our dogs who cleaned out several tomato plants in the last house. I also am borrowing space at a girlfriend's house who is trying gardening for the first time. I figure between the two, I can supply myself with enough fresh veggies for at least the three of us.

The seedlings are doing very well in the sunroom. They probably could be transplanted again before they go into the ground, but I'm not sure I have the room for it.

Confession...

I have been living a lie. I have to come clean. It's been bothering me for a month now.

Remember when I wrote about my sauerkraut?

I am ashamed to admit, my fermentation experiment failed.

Five times.

After the first time it failed, I tried again, which was when I wrote the original post. But that batch failed too. And the next. And the next.

What is worse, is that each time I made a new batch, I would make a slightly bigger batch, because I would think to myself "Well, *now* I know what needs to be done. This batch will work." Except that one would die too.

And the pattern was generally the same each time. The cabbage would happily bubble and ferment for about a week and a half. Then, it would stop. Just stop. I would be left with a big vat of slightly sour but mostly salty cabbage. We would leave the vat of it on the counter where I would look at it with the shame of a parent whose child turned out to be a serial killer dog molester.

After we had finally decided that it was, indeed, not ever going to turn into sauerkraut, Mr. H would take it out to the compost bin (which is now about 5 inches of non-fermenting decomposing cabbage). I have gone through approximately 40 pounds of cabbage over these few months. Thank goodness it is cheap.

I have one vat still sitting on my counter awaiting my final time of death. I think I'm giving up on this one for a while. I need to step away.

Turn on the funeral dirge.

Home alone..... fermenting...

I went to New York City for a few days with my mom and sister on a celebratory girls trip. It was a first time there for my mom and sister, and my second visit. New York feels like a potential second home to me. However, much like some of my other favorite cities, the cost of living seems so outrageous compared to the midwest, that it just seems more sensible to live here and then go on visits as often as possible.


While I was gone, my urn of sauerkraut was happily bubbling away. What? You made sauerkraut, you say? Well, not yet. Sauerkraut is cabbage that has fermented in a brine. Much like a pickle. I guess it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for the cabbage to fully ferment to its fully gasous self. Being a good irish girl like I am, I came rather late to the sauerkraut game, but my german husband (and this highly german town that I live in) loves the stuff. And I like it too. It seemed natural to try to preserve it myself.


I secured 3 cabbages (15 pounds) at the farmers market the previous weekend. (on a side note, my new market bag worked fabuously - it was like having 3 ginormous... well, for lack of a better analogy, testicles popping out of this bag). Sliced them thin, and sprinked them with salt. 3 tablespoons of salt per 5 pounds of cabbage. Let it wilt from the salt. Pack the cabbage into the urn tightly. Hopefully, the liquid from the cabbage will cover the cabbage, but if it does not (and I have yet to have the water extruded actually cover it), you can make a simple brine to supplement it.

At first my sauerkraut bubbled like crazy and almost immediately started eminating that "Dear god, what has died in our kitchen" (to quote my husband). I shuffled the enormous crock of kraut down to the basement for fear that the hot weather was encouraging too fast of fermentation.

Then, after a week down in the basement, I think it was too cold. The fermentation seemed to cease.

Thank you to the Harvest forum at Gardenweb - a group of experts on such preservation who advised me to bring it back up into warmer environment.

It's been going for 2 weeks now. The kraut is not bubbling as much as I think it should, but it is definitely starting to smell and taste sour.

I'll update later...

Oh yeah.

It's totally fermenting now.

In a pickle...

Since I started canning last summer, I have become very interested in pickles. We are big pickle eaters around here. I'm a dill pickle girl myself, with no real taste for sweet or sweet and sour pickles.

I decided that the smell of fermenting cucumbers or cabbage might not be the most appealing when one is trying to sell one's house, so I've been toying around with the idea of brining some pickles and/or cabbage since we moved into this new house. Last autumn, I bought some cabbage from the farmers market with the full intention of making saurcraut, but didn't get to it fast enough.

I saw some pickling cucumbers at the market these past two weeks. Last week I pickled some cucumbers in a vinegar solution. "TOO SOUR" exclaimed Miss Thing making that scrunched up face that animated characters do when they eat lye or a lemon. I knew a brining was in order.

Last Sunday I followed Alton's recipe for cured pickles. I can tell you that those cucumbers just looked beautiful.



I checked on those pickles this morning, with the full intention of seeing those little bubbles that indicate successful fermentation is taking place. Nothing.
The water that was once clear is now a little murky, but not cloudy as I expected it to be. Now, it's only been three days. And maybe I'm not sure what I'm looking for. It's also been rather cold in my house (damn this never ending winter), so we'll give a few more days before I decide this is a failed experiment.

Salad days part 1

During the summer, I gorge on fresh veggies. I could eat them roasted, grilled, raw whatever. Winter months bring sadness and gloom to me because there are so few fresh veggies available. (Yes, I know they bring them in, but once you get used to eating tomatoes from the summer months you can not touch one of those hard nasty tasteless things they stock on the shelves). I try to compensate with a lot of salads.

These salads become especially important when I look at the calendar and realize that we only have a few months until the days of baggy sweaters and jeans will vanish with the snow. I lost about 40 pounds a few years ago and I am still fearful of putting it back on again. Winter is particularly tough since it's harder to justify walking around the neighborhood when you are knee-deep in snow.

Anyway, back to the salads. We eat two core salads in this house - a caesar salad and a mixed greens salad. And it's really more that we have two core salad dressings, and the salad revolves around that.

Make salad dressing is such an easy thing. It does take a little longer than pulling a bottle out of the fridge, but the results are so much tastier, and I control what I'm putting into it. I have tried making a larger portion of salad dressing a couple days in advance, but have found that it loses too much of its flavor, so we're back to making it immediately before dinner.


Tonight's dressing is a honey-citrus-mustard dressing. It's very, very simple. It works best with mixed greens or something slightly on the bitter or tart side to compliment the sweetness from the honey. I probably wouldn't serve it on romaine or head lettuce.

Citrus-Honey dressing

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbls dijon mustard

1 tbls honey

about 3 tbls to a 1/4 cup citrus juice- we frequently use lime because it is what we always have in the house. I really like it with lemon, or even a lemon-orange mixture.

Mix the above together well.

Take a good bottle of olive oil and slowly drizzle it into the juice-mustard mixture, stirring constantly. An emulsion should form. I'm not quite sure how much olive oil I put in. It's not a whole lot.

This dressing is a re-creation of one I had down on a mixed green salad at Enormous U served with roasted veggies and cumin spiced black bean hummus (super, super good - I highly recommend the combination) . We also eat it with the above salad - mixed greens, onions, sundried tomatoes, sea salt and pepper. And homemade croutons.