Spring Is Near...

I feel it in the air, don't you? The way that bone crushing chill has lost it's bite, the way the sun is sticking around just a bit longer each day nudging the chickens to start laying eggs again, and especially they way all these green beauties are popping up all over the place. All of the above very welcome by me right now, I mean layering the long johns just to take my children to and from school was getting a bit old as was feeding and caring our flock of hens just to go and purchase eggs elsewhere. I am starting to dream and plan for some spring planting of peas, greens, tomatoes and carrots. Now I'm off to start reading seed catalogs and sketching this spring's garden plans...

What I'm Reading

Actually, in all honesty, I read this book a while back but it is a book that often comes back to me. I love the idea of gathering together with a random group of folks for weekly cooking lessons in a homey restaurant. Learning all the back stories of who came, why they were there or who lead them to an interest in the art of cooking is completely fascinating to me. This book has me daydreaming of how much I would love this type of cozy, low key cooking with folks while learning the amazing histories to each of their lives. There are not many books, out side of the cookbook sort, that I read and can just tell I will be rereading it again and again. The School Of Essential Ingredients is just that kind of book for me. In fact as soon as I finished it I immediately looked up other books by the author, another first for me, and read through them with the same eager hunger and curiosity that I read the initial book with. This is just a little sample of the rotating favorite cookbooks that I am always flipping through. I can't get enough of the Nourishing Meals, Food In Jars and Super Natural Everyday books. If I had to pick just a handful of books to keep these would be at the top of my list. I've even been known to keep a cookbook or two on my bedside table for night reading and reference. Anyone else do this too?

It's All About Buckwheat These Days

I am so loving the warm nutty flavor of buckwheat right now. I seem to be finding ways of working it into most baked goods as a whole wheat flour replacement lately. At first I was a bit worried about the notorious overpowering nature that buckwheat can be known for, but to the contrary I am finding that when I grind raw buckwheat groats the flavors are much more mellow and delicate. Today, it was just the girls and I home for Sunday Breakfast and I wanted to try something a little different. I used the suggested recipe by Gluten Free Girl and it did not disappoint. I had a little bit of cream cheese that I mixed with 2 parts plain yogurt and added a bit of honey just to sweeten, this was used as a crepe filler along with some of our summer blueberry stash. I am kind of embarrassed to admit that my inspiration for these crepes came from a commercial for a pancake-house chain restaurant that I saw recently and have not been able to get the thought of a fresh fruit crepe out of my head ever since. Well, once again I will take the fact that all the crepes were gobbled up right away as a sign of a job well done.

A Work In Progress...

I saw this Rustic Apple Cake from Eat Good 4 Life recently and knew it would soon become a regular visitor around here. It's been cold and wet the last several days and the thought of a hot steamy apple treat sounded just about right last night. The original recipe called for whole wheat flour so I knew there was going to be some conversion and experimenting needed to make it right for my family. Lately I've been drawn to grinding raw buckwheat groats into a whole grain flour replacement, so I knew right off that I'd be substituting buckwheat flour for the whole wheat flour. I also knew that I wanted to do this in a cast iron skillet rather than a spring form pan, rustic just screams for a skillet in my mind. So groats and apples in hand I got right to work. Luckily our backyard chickens have slowly started laying again so I was able to use our own fresh eggs in this recipe too. Don't you just love it when you have a calling to make something and you actually have everything on hand? This is a pretty quick and low key dessert to pull together, and rustic is the best describer as there is just enough batter to coat the apples and hold the whole cake together. I am still always a bit unsure when faced with converting a traditional recipe into a gluten free one, so I held my breath a bit as I pulled the cake from the oven and waited what I thought was a very patient 10 minutes before cutting into it for the first sample. I loved the nutty flavor of the buckwheat with the apples and absolute simplicity of taste, it really is all about the apple with the buckwheat just giving a small shout-out in the background. There are a few small improvements I plan to make next time around, but for now I am taking the fact that the last couple slices promptly disappeared on breakfast plates this morning as a good sign. This cake is going to become a regular around our house, though next time I might increase the batter by half and cut the apples a bit thiner, mostly to improve appearances and make cutting and serving a little easier. I think teff flour would also be another fantastic substitute for the whole wheat flour, teff has such a great nutty quality to it as well. I could also see making this as part of a morning brunch for guests, with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar I think it would make for a lovely coffee cake replacement. Ok, now all I can think about is my favorite Stumptown coffee along side a wedge of this cake and some eggs, potatoes and a couple really great slices of bacon...

Well, Hello Again...

Over the weekend I had the chance to create this space, a place to house the crazy number of cookbooks that I have collected over the years. It is a true weakness for me, I can't seem to pass up a cookbook without feeling a strong pull to pick it up and leaf through the pages. I am a sucker for cookbooks with lovely pictures and backstories to the recipes. I pile these books up on my bedside table, the coffee table and kitchen counter, all waiting patiently for their turn to be thumbed through and daydreamed over. If you were to stop by my house, you'd likely find at least one, spread open somewhere accompanied by a notebook and cup of something warm and steamy. I have never considered myself a creative person, but am slowly coming to see that I need to make something from the ingredients in my kitchen the way a sculptor needs to mold clay or a composer needs to marry notes together. It is as much a need to make for the sake of making as it is a desire to share and nurture with my people. It is my I Love You. The cookbooks are my inspiration board, they are my go-to for ideas on new or refreshed ways to pull together flavors that I can sense tingling in my mouth. To have a place at hands reach right in my kitchen for my collection makes me so very happy. Over the last few days I find myself catching this view with each pass into and out of the kitchen and smiling big.

Cooking Became Easier and More Fun When...

I love the idea of folks sharing their stories of when cooking clicked for them. I can't wait to read what everyone has to say. For me this happened when I was just out of college, living on my own on a small island in Northwestern Washington. I had never before thought about food, where it really came from and the amazing flavors of fresh grown vegetables. I was a single 22 year old living in a community of mostly retirees and young families, outside of my work there was little social life for me up there. I eventually came to befriend a wonderful woman who had an amazing kitchen garden, and ability to make meals from this and that she had harvested that day. These fresh herbs and veggies were often paired with fish caught by her fisherman husband who was often out at sea. Up to that point in my life I had never enjoyed seafood that wasn't heavily breaded or slathered in tarter sauce, nor had it ever occurred to me that herbs and spices did not originate in little jars in the grocery isle. The first time she had me over, I was sent to pick some broccoli from her garden while she poached a bit of halibut. We worked side by side in her farmhouse kitchen preparing a fresh and simple but delicious meal for ourselves. After that I went straight back to my little beach studio and planted myself some basil and cilantro out on my front deck. I spent the summer snipping bits to add to my meals and ate in total satisfaction that I had actually grown some part of my food. In my year of living on that little island I was introduced to farm stands, co-op markets and the delicious tastes of fresh picked fruits and vegetables. My friend often gifted me with freshly canned tuna or berries she had picked (I was a starving VISTA Volunteer, free food was always welcomed), along with advice how how to prepare them to most enjoy their flavors. I will always remember this friend, and the way she unknowingly started me on the path of growing food for myself and my family, learning to appreciate and cook with what is fresh and in season, enjoying of all sorts of grains, soaking beans, baking my own bread and preserving the amazing flavors of summer fruit. These are the things that make cooking most enjoyable for me, along with the joy of trying new things in the kitchen and especially doing it in good company.

Peaches...

Last summer we were blessed with the delivery of a couple boxes of what I believe to be the world's best peaches ever. They came from a farm stand somewhere east of the mountains, a stand discovered by my aunt and uncle. We gorged ourselves eating them day and night, baking them into yummy crisps and cobblers and turning a good number into jam. This summer we again received a box of these beauties. Again the gorging continued, some were gifted to those most special in our lives (yes these babies are so precious that they are destined for only a small number of receivers), a few were made into a crisp shared with friends after a day of fun playing on a local river, the rest have been frozen to be savored later. This summer instead of canning/jamming the bounty of delicious fruits I have been freezing as much as our limited freezer space will allow. We have several quarts of blueberries scored from our favorite farm stand. The drive is long but knowing what awaits makes it worth it every time. And now I will have a few quarts of these peaches as well. I really never knew how much I loved peaches until last summer, with the first delivery of these little bits of heaven on earth. I have talked with a few folks about how there is really nothing like a farm fresh peach, those bought in the store never compare, even dare I say those from my favorite little local coop. I am left wishing that I had requested another box, I didn't want to be greedy at the time but am going to remember next summer to take as many as my lovely aunt and uncle can haul back for us. I will be sure to have adequate space in my freezer for freezing quart after quart of all the summer fruits we can lay our hands on. Then come winter when we are enjoying crisps and cobblers we will think back on our summer days.