Jane’s French Breakfast Radish Harvest and Memories of the Children’s Table

My grandparents whom we called Nana and Dana lived in a ranch home on the shore of Lake Erie in Ontario Canada. They built their home on a corner of my grandfather’s family farm property. I grew up in Detroit and our family along with my aunts, uncles and many cousins would often “go over” the bridge or through the “tunnel” to visit them during the summer and for many holidays. We usually stayed at the farmhouse next door but had our most of our meals at Nana’s house. She was a great cook and loved having family around. It was during holiday dinners that we children – dressed in our Sunday finest- were relegated to the “children’s table” conveniently located in the basement during the winter and in the garage during the summer. It was always a good distance away from the esteemed “adult table.” However; Nana who was raised with impeccable taste and manners ensured our children’s table always looked like a fine dining experience. She made sure we had all the accoutrements found at the adult table. From the relish tray with fresh radishes, marinated onions, baby sweet gherkins and carrots to individual salt and pepper shakers and yes finger bowls – we were expected to act as if we had manners. I loved these dinners and remember just sitting and waiting in anticipation for the food to arrive. We ranged in ages of 3yrs to 12yrs old, hardly sat down and made all kinds of noise. I remember thinking how great it was going to be when I was finally old enough to sit at the adult table. Now that I am an adult I don’t think I was missing out on much as we generally sit down and don’t usually make a lot of noise. :)

Nana’s Relish Tray

1 cup carrots, about 2 large
1 cup celery sticks, about 2 large
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 bunch red radishes
1/2 cup black and green olives
10 baby gherkins
½ cup baby marinated onions

Instructions:
1. Cut the carrots, celery and red and green peppers into strips.
2. Wash the radishes and trim the root ends.
3. Arrange the vegetables and olives on a beautiful platter.
4. Serve vinaigrette or buttermilk dressing on the side.

Creating an Entrance to Mary's Garden

After a few years of gardening haphazardly, I decided it was time to invest in a real, grown-up garden with raised beds. Gardening filled my soul so I wondered why it took me so long to finally create a special space in my yard. I was inspired by the picture of Susan Branch's garden in her book, The Summer Garden, from her Heart of the Home series. If you haven't seen these special books, they are handwritten and filled with wonderful, whimsical, watercolor illustrations. Her books remind me of my childhood. Being born and raised in Connecticut, I recall summers filled with fresh vegetables, open windows and breezy curtains, fireflies and outdoor living. Though the seasons are a bit different in Phoenix, I am slowly learning to garden in phases.

My garden has 5 raised bed planters (easier on the back) and surrounded by a white picket fence. When designing the garden plan, I envisioned a special entry as each time I go out to the garden it seems like I step into a different realm. I suppose it is my sanctuary. Some women get massages, I get dirt under my nails. I created a rebar arch in front of the picket gate and two years ago planted a Thompson seedless grape starter on one side and a red-seeded grape on the other. I waited and waited for them to show some sign of life because a grape vine without leaves looks quite dead. Within one growing season, the two grapes had grown over the rebar and started taking on a life of its own. The tendrils went beyond the arch and headed into my garden, wrapping in the tomato plants, around the picket fence and created this verdant green tunnel into the garden. I felt if the children stood there long enough, the vines would wrap around them and they'd disappear. The first summer grapes appeared but they were small and tart. The second summer the clusters were more abundant and a bit tastier.

This is the third growing season and the vines have started their lightning speed growth. I just know the grapes this year will be even better. Who thought that two inexpensive grape plants could create such wonder...

Linda's Carrot Harvest on April 14th 2009

I have always had great luck with my carrots they grow beautifully here in Sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. Just sow the seeds in a row and 45-60 days later you get yummy carrots! You are supposed to plant them every couple of weeks so you'll have a constant crop of carrots but I just don't have enough space to get it what I want as it is. What to do with my carrots is very simple.....make carrot cake!! That is by far my most favorite thing to do with my carrots. I do like an occasional carrot soup, which I make all different ways depending on my mood or what’s in season at the time: Carrot dill soup, carrot with orange juice, or carrot with yummy apples cider. I will try to post more recipes when I can for all the soups I make. We are a big soup family I for sure make at least one big pot a soup a week all year long. My girls ask for it! But today I want to share with you my mom's carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting. I cannot give you the exact original author for this recipe but I think it might have been from the cuisinart recipe book that came with her DC8 machine that she has had I think since the late 70’s. I know she still has that machine!!
Cooking was not my mom’s most favorite thing to do but she did have a few of her favorites and this carrot cake happens to be one of those favorites. My earliest memory of her carrot cake was when I was in 4th grade(1976-77) She made it in the traditional spring form pan but when she decided to make it for her daughters to take to school she had a little trick. Since the icing was the best part of the carrot cake, she would make cupcakes and instead of icing the tops which would get ruined in transport to school. She would cut the tops off and ice the middle put the top back on them, wrap them in foil and put them in the freezer. The next day we would get them in our lunch boxes frozen and by lunch they would be perfect!!!! Here is the original recipe from my mom the only thing that I do different is when I shred the carrots. I don’t use the cuisinart I grate by had on the finer grating, not the large grating. This is just a personal preference of mine. My girls like it better that way too (no visible big pieces of carrot) either way is fine.

Rita’s Carrot Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups Flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 unbeaten eggs (room temp)
2 cups grated carrots (don’t skimp use organic and use the full 2 cups or it will be dry!)
1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts toasted(you don’t have to if your short on time but toasting them gives a wonderful flavor)
2 tsp. Vanilla (real bourbon vanilla)
Pre-Heat your oven to 350°
Grease your pan (any pan: spring form, cupcakes, 2 layer cake pans, cooking time varies a little depending on the pan)
Beat sugar and oil in mixing bowl. In another bowl stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar and oil mix mixing well, adding eggs alternately. Stir in carrots and nuts with a wooden spoon. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
3 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (It’s the best) softened
2 ½ cups of confectionary sugar (if using organic please sift, since there are no additives it is a little lumpy)
1 tsp vanilla
Cream Cheese and butter until creamy add sugar slowly and vanilla. Frost away and Enjoy!

Jane's infant garden and how it all got started..........

What does this infant garden do for me? (Current photos are below story) It reminds me of how I started gardening as an adult. My husband and I purchased our first “real” house in the fall of 1993 – just before our daughter was born. It was a well cared for ranch style home on a cul de sac and had about an acre sized yard. The couple who sold us the home were the original homeowners and elderly. They were moving to a retirement community as they had just finished raising their grandchildren. Their story was so touching I have to digress….. Their only son was killed in Vietnam and soon after his wife developed cancer and passed away – so they stepped in and raised their grandchildren. They were an amazing couple! Anyways the husband was a retired military engineer who had a passion for gardening. This proved to be an incredible combination as he built a garden on about ¼ acre that was geometrically designed in every way. He even put in a French drain which ensured water never sat in any spot very long. He had rows and rows of small raised beds. I fell in love with the IDEA of having this garden just sitting ready for me to plant. I literally had no idea what I was in for. A dear friend of mine who was an avid gardener visited my expanse and declared that” this garden must be planted.” So me and my ignorance planted and planted anything I could find. I planted about 60 stalks of corn, 10 tomato plants, all kinds of zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower and various other seeds. Everything grew abundantly in spite of my novice gardening skills. Then reality hit!! I went to corn field (yes it looked like that!!) and started to shuck it only to discover the ugliest looking wormy things I had ever seen eating and destroying my corn!! Every single ear of corn was affected by the borers and I was mad!! Only later while taking my Master Gardening course did I learn that you have to put mineral oil in the ears or place special kinds of wasps nearby to prevent this kind of a disaster. But I did not give up. I think I provided everyone I knew with more tomatoes that they would have ever bought. But, the amazing thing that happened was something inside of me started to bloom. I loved this gardening thing and looked forward to the time I could be in the garden. Soon I learned about the Master Gardening program at the cooperative extension and I joined. I have not looked back since. I am posting a few photos of the “babies” growing in the garden I have now. It is nothing like the size of my previous garden but I know someday I will have that Potager and along with it enough mineral oil or wasps to handle the dreaded corn borer!

I took a cooking class at a local store while I had this amazing garden and it was there that I learned to make an amazing focaccia bread using fresh corn. To this day I make this and my family raves about it! I can not locate the recipe so this is from my head and I hope it works for you as well as it works for me!


Here is my recipe for Fresh Corn Focaccia Bread

2 packages of Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough – White
1 Sweet Onion (Vidalia, Maui, Walla Walla etc)
1 Bunch of Cilantro
1 Small jar of Roasted Red Peppers
2 Ears of Fresh Corn cleaned – Preferable White Sweet Corn
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil
Butter
Non stick cookie sheet or pizza pan

Set Oven to 350 degrees



Steps:

1. Take Pizza Dough out of refrigerator and let it rise for about 20 – 25 minutes in a large bowl that has been sprayed with olive oil.
2. Slice onion in small thin slices and place in a medium non stick fry pan with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat and stir for about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and then stir occasionally until they are nice and brown and well caramelized. You may add olive oil as is needed. When done, move pan to the side and let cool for about 5 – 7 minutes.
3. Clean and slice cilantro leaves
4. Spray cookie sheet/pizza pan with olive oil
5. When cooled put onions and cilantro in with the pizza dough and mix thoroughly with your hands until the dough is well mixed with these ingredients.
6. Transfer the dough to the cookie sheet/pizza pan and spread the dough out to the edges. (This will not be a perfect rectangle )
7. Slice the roasted pepper in long strips and place it on the dough
8. Standing the corn on the stalk end, slice down the sides of the corn for the kernels. Sprinkle the corn all over the top of the dough.
9. Sprinkle the mozzarella all over the top of the dough
10. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes – longer if you want it crispier.

The road less traveled - weeding

Yesterday, I (Jane) spent a good amount of time hoeing the never ending weeds out of my garden and actually enjoyed it. I should call my mom and tell her as she just might fall over given the grief I gave her growing up over weeding our backyard garden. We lived at the very top of the highest hill in a little town in upstate New York (Fairport) in a 100 year old house which had 1 bathroom for six people!! We also lived across the street from the town's graveyard which made life very interesting for four kids!

My mom decided to plant a garden out in the "back 40" which was an open expanse of land behind all the homes on my street. It was a mess and I give her kudos for trying to have a garden in an area covered with wild grass about three feet tall. She wanted to plant a garden for fresh vegetables and I like to think she inherited this desire from her father. My grandfather was an avid gardener and won awards during the war for his victory gardens - so we get this garden thing honestly. Needless to say there were plenty of weeds and plenty of "opportunity" for all four kids to earn some extra money by pulling those weeds.

As soon as we were done (which was about $1 worth,) we announced being done, hopped on our bikes and headed downtown to the local shoe repair as he had the best candy counter in town. I wish those days were back!

Now I look forward to weeding as it gives me time alone and I actually feel like I accomplish something. With so much out of our control these days, I know that I can go out to the garden, pull some weeds and know that it made a difference to the health of the plants and the sanity of a mom.

Crazy Chamomile... in Mary's Garden

Two years ago, my daughter, Elisabeth (then 6) offered to help me plant in the garden. Armed with our packets of seeds, we headed out to the back yard. Before I could talk about the planting "plan", Elisabeth tore open the packet of chamomile seeds and tossed all of them into one of the prepared beds. Once I caught my breath (aren't they supposed to be in rows and planted at a certain depth??), I paused and tried to remember when I scattered seeds to the wind without caution. Obviously too long. Ah, the joy of youth, no adult hang-ups yet. Fast forward two years and see the results of Elisabeth's whimsy.

For the past two seasons the chamomile grows wild and crazy and takes up an entire raised bed. This year it is springing up in other parts of the garden, thanks to the birds. I guess we will now call it our tea garden. Last week both girls (my other daughter is 12) picked a large bowl of flowers and we dried them on a cookie sheet. We have since enjoyed our first cups of homegrown chamomile tea, each inhaling the wonderful apple/grass aroma.

Often the dogs accompany us to the garden and lately our pocket beagle, Sox, loves romping through this bed. The benefit is that Sox always has a faint chamomile smell to him. Better than the alternative. And he's yet to snap or break any plants. Our next experiment is to cut the chamomile in bunches and dry them, as I read that both the flowers and leaves can be used for tea. I wonder if it will have a different taste....Happy gardening, Mary

Linda's Cauliflower Harvest

To much amazement I still have cauliflower growing and thriving in my garden.It is quite incredible for Phoenix where the temperatures have already been in the high 80's! I harvested these 3 beautiful crowns yesterday afternoon and ate them last night. My daughters (except for my 6 year old) LOVE cauliflower .I have to admit when I was their age I hated ANY kind of vegetables.(When I was in High School and started cooking dinner myself I started eating veggies and liking them, I will tell you about that later.)My young childhood memories of veggies was when my mother opened a can of Del Monte's the Jolly Green Giant to place in a sauce pan on the stove. As I recall green beans and corn were the usual suspects on out dinner table. I found them revolting! I was told to eat them or I couldn't leave the table . Even the memory of them makes me gag! I do however have fond memories of summers growing up on the East End of Long Island, the farms and farm stands were abundant. The corn on the cob was only thing I remember liking to eat as long as it was smothered in butter and salt!
So if I can remember correctly my Nanny(my mothers' mother) loved cauliflower, hers was boiled first and then baked at the end topped with yummy Progresso Breadcrumbs ,lots of butter and Parmesan cheese. I have to admit I really did enjoy it. I would search for the pieces with the most buttery crumbs on top!!! My recipe is a little twist on her favorite!
Roasted Cauliflower:

• Pre Heat oven to 425 degrees


• Break the cauliflower into small florets.


• Toss with 3-4 tablespoons of EVO (extra virgin olive oil, I use Organic)


• Squeeze juice from 1/2 lemon


• Salt and Pepper to taste


• 10 or more cloves of garlic peeled

Roast in a pan preferably an enamelware pan. I have made it in glass and stoneware but it browns so nicely in enamel. I roast mine for 45-60 minutes turning them in the pan every 15 minutes adding a little extra oil if the pan is dry. When it is roasted to your liking. Grate fresh Parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!

Posted by Linda