If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch
Food, science, food science, and recipes.
Recipe: Swedish Berry Cobbler
This recipe appeared recently on Mat och annat gott, a food blog written by three Swedish ladies - my former roommate Karin, her mom, and her sister. The blog often features cakes, pies, and cookies, and when I saw this cobbler, I had to try it. It’s unbelievably easy, tastes amazing, and even looks really pretty without even trying.
Of course, Karin made hers with a pail of summer redcurrants she picked in the forest that day (in true Swedish style), but I had to settle for a bag of mixed berries from the store. Delicious anyway!
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 to 2 cups berries.
Directions: Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking dish or other small pan. Melt butter and gently stir in sugar, eggs, and flour until combined. Pour into baking dish and let settle into all corners. Pour berries on top in the center. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350°F.
Karin recommends serving with vanilla ice cream. I’ll add that serving it with coffee also makes a breakfast worth getting up early for.
The original recipe (in Swedish) with photos.
2 months ago
Week 16: Land reclaimed. Before we go away for three weeks, we thought we’d do our best to clear out the weeds. Hopefully it won’t be completely unmanageable when we get back. Looking forward to Season 2, as well…what to plant for the fall?
4 months agoOrganic?
I’m a fan of Marion Nestle, and this column is a great example of why. Any questions about organics and the organic industry? They’re probably all answered right there.
5 months ago
Week 15: Besides the weeds, we have two tomatoes and a habañero pepper back in business in addition to the cucurbits and sunflowers. I’ll do some weed-clearing this week.
5 months agoRecipe: Lamburgers
The recipe for these Greek-inspired burgers appeared to Ben in a dream. (No, really. It was Tuesday night.) Unlike many dream recipes, it sounded just as logical the next day, so he gave it a try. The result was a gourmet burger worthy of a fine dining establishment.
Instructions: Combine 1/3 cup each of chopped spinach and ground zucchini, one clove of garlic, five large fresh mint leaves, several fresh oregano leaves, two teaspoons of lemon zest, and a dash of lemon juice and grind coarsely in a food processor. Add mixture to a half pound of ground lamb. Add one egg and two tablespoons of bread crumbs, mash, and form into patties. Grill. Top with feta cheese and serve on a toasted bun.
Week 14: Cucurbit takeover. Cantaloupes in front, acorn squash in back, pumpkins on the left in front of the sunflowers. The tomatoes may be staging a comeback - a couple grew all new leaves!
5 months agoRecipe: Banana Bread
I brought home 12 leftover bananas from a party on Friday, and I’m trying to use them or save them as quickly as I can. First up was banana pancakes yesterday (fold one mashed banana into regular pancake batter), and today it’s a double batch of these banana muffins, made with my banana bread recipe.
Ingredients: 2/3 cup sugar; 1/3 cup shortening; 2 eggs; 3 tbs sour cream (or buttermilk); 1 cup mashed bananas; 1 t baking powder; 1/2 t baking soda; 1/2 t salt; 2 cups flour (white whole wheat recommended); chopped walnuts (optional).
Directions: Add ingredients one at a time, mixing well each time before adding the next. If making bread, pour into loaf pans and let stand for 20 minutes before baking. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes. If making muffins, grease or line 12 muffin cups and let the batter stand 20 minutes in the bowl before portioning. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
Week 12: Drama. The weather caused a lot of damage. We may still have acorn squash, cantaloupe, and pumpkins, and there’s a slim chance the tomatoes and/or peppers may come back. Tune in next week for a new update…
5 months agoThe Fallacy of Locally Grown Produce
This essay makes a great point, and even better, comments #2 and #3 make the two best counterpoints that I can think of.
Skepticblog » The Fallacy of Locally Grown Produce
5 months agoRecipe: Nuclear Bananas
Since I’m trying to get back to posting more recipes, here’s a very simple, delicious, potentially painful dessert.
Slice one habanero pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Avoid touching your face. Saute in about four tablespoons of melted butter until fully cooked. Continue to avoid touching your face. Remove the peppers and add the bananas. Fry the bananas in the butter until browned. Be very careful not to touch your face. Wash your hands, then serve the bananas with generous amounts of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! : )
6 months ago
Week 11: And then it rained for a week straight. We started cleanup and weeding yesterday (post-photo), but there is much left to do. The full crop of black beans has been pulled, but we’re still getting lots of peas. The tomatoes didn’t weather the storms very well.
6 months agoFood Prices
The Week 10 photo was rained out, sorry. : ) But here’s a very interesting graph.
