elliemoon

DIY MICROWAVE POPCORN

my brother john lives on kaua'i. rough life, i know. i was talking to him recently and he told me about his friend kasha's blog, cultivating domesticity. it is a very cool, informative (see bokashi bucket post), and craftastic site. when i saw this post, i knew i was going to have to test it out and share. 

it's make your own microwave popcorn. this is just ingenious. when there's time to spare, i use one of my large sauce pots to make popcorn. but we do also buy the microwave variety. which is a pricey organic product, and only comes with three bags per box. now you'll never have to buy it again! all you need is popping corn, a paper lunch bag and a microwave. i used about 6 tablespoons of kernels and folded the bag over a couple times as suggested. then just use whatever setting and time you use for the store bought variety::

see? it works! really well. and that organic bag of popping corn is only $1.99! and there are no "secret" ingredients! i'm loving everything about it. a little drizzle of melted butter and a sprinkling of salt and you're good to go. i dressed this batch up for a special dinosaur documentary that the boys were watching with one of their besties::

kai made (and hole punched) movie tickets and hung sheets in the windows to achieve movie theater ambiance, so i figured i'd join in. i attempted my best "theater usher" impersonation while delivering the popcorn. it didn't go over well. at all. in retrospect, i guess it may have come across as more "flight attendant" than "usher". i should have left out that bit about the emergency exits. but the snack was a huge hit!

 

 

PASTA AGLIO E OLIO

or, dinner on a budget. this one is easy on the pocket book, or wallet, or coin purse, etc. it's a pantry dinner, but is really very good and you would never know. in italian it means "pasta with garlic and oil". some regions add red pepper flake or chili peppers. my family would always add clams to this dish. but this version is so simple, it will really amaze you.

most people will tell you that italian flat leaf parsley is the way to go, and maybe it is for you, who knows? but i have always had a thing for curly parsley. i just love the flavor. so that is what i grow and use in this dish::

for a pound of pasta, i use about a half a cup of extra virgin olive oil (7-8 tablespoons), a whole bunch of freshly minced parsley (depending on taste, anywhere from a few tablespoons to a 1/2 of a cup) and 2-3 minced garlic cloves. saute the garlic in the olive oil for about five minutes without letting it brown and then add the parsley (all the while, cooking the pasta). when the pasta is done, dump it right in the pan and stir it up::

serve it up with freshly grated parmesan, a nice big salad and maybe even some crusty bread and there you have it. a delicious, homemade, italian dinner, with close to no investment monetarily or time commitmently. perfect!

"monetarily" is to "money" as "what" is to "time"? i couldn't come up with it, but you know what i mean. 

 

 

SNIFF SNIFF, AHHH

this season's lavender laboring pillows are, unfortunately, few and far between. this is due to a combination of me letting the honeybees enjoy some flowering lavender, and my general summer laziness::

i added three additional lavender plants to the garden this summer though, so next year i'll be on top of it. i was able to make a few, and i'll take that over none any day! not many things smell better than homegrown lavender.

 

 

TOMATO SEASON

once it starts, they just keep rolling in. kai has become our lead tomato picker this year. he brings in about a bowl a day. i love it::

i hope some will make their way into a pot or two of sauce, but for now it's looking like this salsa will be part of almost every meal until it's time to turn over the garden! and no one's complaining!

 

 

SURVIVORMAN

as kai learns the ins and outs of baking treats and making breakfast, it becomes more and more apparent to me that owen's cooking classes will be taking place around a campfire. a campfire lit by a bow drill. featuring recipes that include skinning and gutting, with an emphasis on spicing up entrails, or marinating beetles as a side dish. 

his bow and quiver are kept next to his bed. and he's been repeatedly asking if he can just walk out into the woods behind our house and see what it's like, you know, to just survive. i would be inclined to let him go if i didn't know he would be back in a few hours covered in poison ivy. i think a camping trip needs to be arranged!

typing up this post has inevitably reminded me of this post. if i had fiona's skills (and apparent strong stomach) i could grab a few necessities and head out there with him. we've got plenty of little bunnies around here!

 

SLICED POTATOES

i saw this on pinterest recently and someone had captioned it "better than french fries". i felt it necessary to do a little investigating. as it turns out, this makes a great lunch::

the answer is yes, they do rival french fries. next time i make them i'll try to cut them even thinner. the crispier the better. somewhere in my bookmarks i have a recipe for these where something is wedged in between the slices. cheese? herbs? i can't remember, but i'll have to hunt it down. in case you were wondering, the mound of arugula cancels out the generous dollop of sour cream. perfect!

these are super simple. slice potato into very thin slices without cutting all the way through. drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake at 420 for 45 minutes, or until crispy and cooked through. enjoy!

 

 

SO WRONG, YET SO RIGHT

remember back at the skateboard when i mentioned that kai had had a lack luster birthday dessert on his actual birthday night? well, i meant lack luster for him. for me, it was a whole different story. what i did was, i pulled out my wilton giant cookie pan (a christmas present from myself, to myself, that i had yet to test out) and made a giant chocolate chip cookie, then served it up warm and gooey with plenty of ice cream on top. i used the chocolate chip cookie recipe off of the back of the chip bag, but when i was eating it, all i could think about was how amazing this dessert would be using the worlds best chocolate chip cookie recipe. my willpower held out 2 whole months! which, with my track record, is pretty amazing really::

oh the gooey, melty, creamy goodness. its almost too much, almost. this one i let cool just a bit for the sake of the kids, but what you really want to do is serve this just about straight from the oven, when it's too hot to cut into nice little slices. then the ice cream really melts and the goo is extra gooey. oh. yes.

 

 

WHAT'S UP WITH THE GIRLS

i went into the hive over the weekend. i had been giving them some space and hadn't done a hive check in a while. i have to admit, i've been half expecting them to swarm....or worse, what with the busy queen cups. but things seem to be okay. the hive is very heavy and full of honey. there are some nice patches of capped brood and i even saw the queen. or a queen. she was much larger than the one that came with the bee package. whoever she is, she appears to be doing her job::

those are two baby bees hatching out. see them? 

it will be very interesting to see how things turn out with this hive. wouldn't it be funny if the first hive to winter over, ends up being the one that overthrew it's original queen and made its own? rebel bees. i like it. i was so optimistic after my visit that i popped on a single honey super. they are more than loaded up for the winter, maybe now they'll make some for us!

 

 

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

i'm trying to find the perfect vanilla ice cream recipe. this one, from the ultimate ice cream book, is decent::

this is the first batch of ice cream i've made that calls for full eggs, as opposed to just the yolks. i thought i had scrambled them a little in the cooking, and maybe i did. but the end product was creamy and super rich::

i used the basic vanilla recipe (there are four in the book). it called for two eggs. and the results were just a tiny bit too eggy tasting. but the texture and richness were perfect. i'm debating whether or not to try the richer version that calls for 7 egg yolks. maybe it was the whites that left the flavor behind? but maybe the richer one would be too rich? or maybe i'm just looking for an excuse to buy this book! 

 

 

A TOAST TO THE BLUEBERRIES

we filled this mixing bowl twice over the last month (thanks to some extra trips to the farm). there were more muffins, lots of pancakes and additional pies. i froze a quart. we ate them out of the fridge by the handful::

over the weekend, i realized we had just a tiny custard cup of them left. the last of the blueberries. certainly enough to dump into some steel cut oats in the morning. but guess what else i had in the fridge? something a little more complimentary::

delicious. i sipped this down while prepping dinner and realized that refilling and continuing in this direction would surely lead to the kids eating cereal with me face down in the sofa. so i made an after hours size and stuck it in the fridge to marinate until they were snoring::

swivel on the lid. good to go. we had this at a wedding recently. the toasting champagne had a single blueberry at the bottom. it was so good and sweet. i asked and they said letting the berry sit for an hour does the trick. the additional berries and extra time sitting in the fridge? even better!

side note, this was a bottle of champagne purchased for a celebratory event that we never got around to celebrating. so here's to the blueberries!