something new in the kitchen

Everyone up to their eyebrows in yard work? Well I should be,however I put off so long that it's pouring outside and I now have a legitimate excuse to do a little creative work in the kitchen.In an effort to eat less meat I've been trying a few veggie recipes that are satisfying and appealing to both my husband and I.

All I need is color and I'm a happy camper.These 2 recipes fit the bill.The first is Peanutty Pasta, a simple dish that is good hot or cold. Cook pasta of your choice,drain and rinse. Slice 2 red sweet peppers and a couple of handfuls of cut snow peas.

In a blender or food processor mix 1 jalapeno with or without seed (depending on your taste)1/3 cup of good peanut butter,2 chopped garlic cloves 1/4 cup each rice wine&soy sauce,2 Tbls sesame oil and 1?4 cup warm water. Process till well blended,pour over noodles and allow the flavors to sink in for 30 min on the counter or longer in the fridge.Not exactly as good as carrot cake but,pretty close.
This next recipe is very visual . The recipe for these tarts came from Martha Stuart Living

Aren't they adorable.I made them a few times for the Barn and they went over quite well. The shell is cornmeal and put in a small spring form pan. Veggies are pan roasted in a wine sauce.When cooled decorate with ricotta and sprigs of basil. I know some of my sprigs are a little large but, it's the smallest I could find that day..............said the Hobbit

Is that all there is?

Did you plant a garden this year? If this was a first for you it probably didn't go as expected.The weather played some pretty mean tricks on us this year. We had so much rain at the beginning you could hardly plant ,and, the weeds were loving all that water and just growing like ah ya weeds.You gotta love being out there to continue with gardening. It's just never what you want it to be.

I chose this year to plant 2 crops that will not produce for 2 years.First was the rhubarb and second 2 varieties of blueberry. One early picking and one late. This is a must for blueberries . You need 2 varieties and 2 different growing seasons to get results. This was the very first blue berry. We were all excited and couldn't wait to get a picture.(just like a first baby) After the photo shoot it was popped into the mouth of that person holding it so lovingly whereupon it was declared to be pretty darn tasty.

As for the stitching part of the week,we are all working on our pseudo-shibori scarfs. AS you can see everyone has chosen different weight yarn and some are using leftover bits and pieces and needle sizes varied too. It's getting pretty cold here in N.E. so we need to get these good to go real soon. We haven't had our Indian Summer yet so, I'm hoping if I hurry to get this done it will be to hot to wear it for awhile.That weather man doesn't know who he's messing with....................said the hobbit

Here at last!

Wow! Hard to believe I'm actually here talking to my blogging buddies. I'm almost shaky.Like everyone else we had a busy summer. I'll try to give you the condensed version in the next few blogs. I was under the impression that I had everything under control,however,I WAS WRONG.

Then before I knew it canning season was upon us.Was I ready? Of course not silly.Jars needed cleaning,equipment needed to be found. Wait a minute jars needed to be purchased.Bounty was greater than anticipated and a trip to Blue Seal was in order.See those raspberries?Two beautiful trays like that were about to go in the dumpster because of heavy harvesting that weekend. Some people rescue dogs and cats. Everyone at work knows I can't bear to see good food thrown out so they came to me and said "Can you do something with this or should we toss It?"Who are they kidding !They knew I would bite for that sob story.

Soooo,despite the fact that I work full time and have a gazillion things to do. I have spent the last 2 weeks canning and canning.These are my little soldiers waiting on the dining room table for me to give them a proper tag. We(it was just me)made stewed tomatoes,tomato sauce,pizza sauce,pickled beets,chow chow,dill pickles raspberry jam,dilled carrots and this year I attempted something new. I quartered and roasted small tomatoes with garlic,onion,and basil in evoo with s&p. When they had roasted to a point where I wanted to rip open the oven door and devour the whole tray,I packed them in hot pint jars.(Well maybe a few didn't make it.hehe)I made a brine of 1part lemon 2part vinegar and 1part evoo. Part for me equals 1 cup but it can be whatever you want it to be.This was brought to ALMOST boiling then poured over the waiting Divine tomatoes as we are calling them. I don't know why I keep saying we. Trust me no one in my house cares what I call the food as long as I call them to the table. Slap me if I say that again. Anyhow process in a hot bath 20 mins and take them out and admire the beauty of them. Really,I was impressed with these.

So this is Sarah The baby in our home. She is also the main reason our summer was crazy busy.She and her husband Matt needed temporary housing this summer. Matt was on tour with his band and she got a new position with Boston Ballet. She is their new outreach director. Well of course my husband and I opened the Inn as it is called by everyone in the family and said "come stay with us"The biggest problem for me was that my guest room is my computer room. The biggest problem for Sarah was and additional hour drive to and from Boston. After 8 week of living out of a suitcase she is now in her own apartment and about 15 minutes from her office.That's her in her pantry jumping for joy. We are very glad to see her embark on this adventure and wish her success. Oh ya,we miss her too......................said the hobbit

Still here!!!!

I know you must think I bit the bullet but, all is well and plan on posting soon. Thanks to all for your concern. Nice to know I was missed.Should be back tomorrow.Missed you too!!!!............................Said the hobbit