Blog

If you are a gardener or farmer (or know one) you know. It%u2019s that time of year where there are so many tomatoes, and I right? And with the bounty of ripen tomatoes comes the many green tomatoes, There are always green tomatoes and they are not to be dismissed.

Sure a freshly picked gorgeous red or orange tomato, ripe and sweet, eaten within minutes of being plucked from the plant is one of life%u2019s greatest pleasures , but don%u2019t turn a nose at all those tomatoes that don%u2019t make it to ripeness, that fall from the plant. or that you accidentally pick off while getting to the rip ones. Those green tomatoes might not seem like much, but given a little attention, well they can shine just as bright as all those ripe and colorful ones!

All green tomatoes need to be delicious is to be roasted. Then they are amazing, like seriously freaking delicious. Just as bright and flavorful as ripen tomatoes, maybe even more so.

Once roasted you then can make them into sauce. Sauce for pasta, for pizza, for eating straight out of the jar (That is me). It can do anything red tomato sauce can do.

So don%u2019t just let those green tomatoes go to waste. Heck, maybe pluck a few extra green ones before they ripen just so you can enjoy the goodness of roasted green tomatoes!

To the green tomato sauce!

The stuff. Green tomatoes, a large onion, a few cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, spaghetti, fresh basil, and a few rip cherry tomatoes.

Cut the onion into large chunks and slice all the green tomatoes in half (or quarters if they are large)

Place it all on a baking sheet and toss with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Also place the unpeeled garlic into a corner and pop the baking sheet into a hot oven to roast.

Ah, all soft was tender and roasted.

(The garlic was removed after 15ish minutes of roasting, peeled and set aside.)

Dump it all into a blender and blend until smooth. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.

And make spaghetti. I trust you know how to do this.

Ripe up some fresh basil and chop the cherry tomatoes in half and%u2026

Place some of the cooked pasta into a bowl, pour in your desired amount of the sauce, and top with fresh basil and a few red cherry tomatoes.

It is ready. Now eat.

-C

Makes 5-6 cups

• Around 20 smaller green tomatoes (or how many you can fit on a a large baking sheet)

• a large sweet onion

• 4-5 cloves garlic

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

• salt and pepper

• Spagetthi (as much as you want to eat)

• handful of fresh basil for erving of pasta resh basil

• a few red cherry tomatoes for each serving of pasta

Preheat oven to 450

Cut tomatoes in half (or in quarters if they are large). Peel skin from onion and cut into large chunks. Place both cut tomatoes and onion onto a large baking sheet and drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss around and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. On the corner of the pan, place the garlic(still in skin) Place into oven.After 15ish minutes, remove the garlic and set aside. Continue baking the tomatoes and onions for another 35-45 minutes or until the tomatoes are fork tender.

Once the tomatoes are cooked, remove from oven and, being oh so careful, dump or scoop the tomatoes and onion into a blender. Add in the roasted garlic (skin removed) and blend until smooth. Taste the sauce then season with more salt and pepper and add another tablespoon of olive oil if you think it needs it.

To eat with spaghetti.

Make spaghetti as in instructed on box. Once you have cooked spaghetti, drained it, and placed it into a bowl, pour or scoop the green tomato sauce on top. Top with a handful of fresh basil and a few red cherry tomatoes.

Then eat.

Extra tomato sauce can be placed in a jar or container with a lid and refrigerated for about a week.

The other night at a dinner with my family, I was explaining to my dad ans sisters about a cookie that I have been making for myself that is coconut flour, sweet potato and lentils (I’ll share that recipe at some point) and all those ass faces were making fun of me. They couldn’t understand how I could make anything taste like a cookie with lentils. And not going to lie, I was slightly offended , not for myself but on the lentils behalf. Lentils can do and be anything!

Fast forward to the next nights dinner (we had a lot a family dinners). I was in charge of a dessert.%u00a0 I had recently took a trip to the store where the bananas where on sale for .30 a pound… So I bough a few (like 20) and had quite a few ripe naners that were in need of being consumed. Banana bread is it. And because I was going to prove my point to the fam that they are all asses and have no idea about anything, I made the bread with beans in it. (the lentils are for me)

Long store short.. The bread was excepted into the mouths of the people with smiles ans yums. No one had any idea that there was anything different about it, only that is was so fantastic and that it was gone within the hour. I did tell everyone after the first few bites that I made it with beans and a lot less sugar then most but no one cared. The kids were actually excited that it had beans in it because it meant that they could have seconds. My dad asked for the recipe, and the rest of the people.. well they didn’t care, just ate it and yeah.

See, beans in bread is a great idea.. So what do you think of my lentil cookies now? HA

To the bread. Go banana bean, GO!

The stuff. We got some flour in a bowl with baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Then we have a few ripe bananas, a cup of beans (in bean water), a bit of oil, brown sugar, some cinnamon, and a nip of vanilla.

There should be apple cider vinegar in there…. so pretend it is.

Start off by blending 1 of the bananas up with the beans (use you blending method of choice)%u00a0 until pretty smooth (some chunks are fine, just not super bean chunks)

Then add in the second banana and mash it in, but leave it chunky (I just used the blender part to mash it up… why dirty a fork?)

Not into chunky, then blend it as well, the chunky/ smooth factor is up to you.

The rest of the wet stuff goes into the bowl (don’t forget the vinegar) and gets all mixed together with the naner beans.

Then the wet goes into the dry.

And mixed up until just incorporated.

Dump the mixtureinto a well greased bread pan. Grab that third banana and cut it length wise into thirds and press the pieces into the top of the mixture. This step is optional and also open to interpretation. The designs a banana can make………….

And into the oven it goes!

Baked to a golden perfection, remove from he oven and set to cool.

And after completely cooled (f you can wait that long) grab a knife, cut yourself a hunk, and go about your day knowing you made the right choice by eating sweet ass banana bread that happens to have a good does of beans in it.

One could almost consider this a health food! (almost)

-Have yourself a fine day

-C

Makes one loaf

• 2 cups white whole wet or regular all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oil (like canola)
• 2 ripe bananas (plus optional 1 for topping)
• 1 cup white beans in the bean juice
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375

In a large bowl, combine the flour with the baking soda and powder, the a salt, and the cinnamon. In either the blender or a separate bowl using a hand blender, blend on of the bananas with the beans and bean water until pretty smooth. Once blended, mash in the remaining banana (can puree until smooth if you are not into chunks of banana) Now mix in the oil, vinegar, vanilla and the sugar. Mix until combined then mix into the dry until just combined.

Pour batter into a well greased bread pan and if you want, slice the extra banana into thirds and gently press into the top of the batter. And now stick it into the oven. Bake until golden brown and all pretty like and a tester stick in the middle comes out clean. (about 50 minutes)

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for a few minutes then flip out and let cool completely on a wire rack. When cooled, slice it on up into desired thickness and eat away, whether it be naked (you or the bread) or smothered with peanut butter, jam, butter or whatever.

Cooled bread is fine on the counter covered for a day but should be stored in a air tight bag in the fridge if longer then that..

It%u2019s that time of year again. Time to make the hot sauce!

This year I wanted to do a little twist on my usual plain old jalape%u00f1o hot sauce. And to be honest, I wanted to use up the pineapple juice that I had stashed away in the pantry that I was using to make popsicles for the littles all summer. But mostly it%u2019s because pineapple and jalape%u00f1o are a fantastic flavoring pairing and I knew that adding the pineapple to the hot sauce would only be a great idea.

A great idea it was.

This hot sauce is basic. Hot peppers, vinegar, and a little onion, garlic, and salt. The pineapple juice adds more body, some sweetness, and just a nice undertone of pineappleiness that you didn%u2019t know you really wanted. It is really really good. And about the jalape%u00f1os. They are one of those peppers that can be pretty mild but also can get pretty dang hot. I am not sure of the variety that I have been picking at that farm for the past few years (that is where I get my peppers), but they are always on the pretty dang hot side so my hot sauces always have a good amount of kick to them. If you find your peppers to be a little too mild for you, well go ahead and add a few habaneros to the mix.

Now to the hot sauce!

The stuff. Jalape%u00f1os of course (green, red, or both. I picked both), an onion, a couple cloves garlic, pineapple juice, white vinegar, and salt.

Chop onion and garlic up into chunks on the small side.

Jalape%u00f1os. Chop them up. You want to get rid of the stems and depending on how hot you want your sauce, you might want to remove the seeds and ribs. I don%u2019t bother because we like it hot, but also it%u2019s annoying. HA.

Note. When dealing with any hot peppers, make sure to not touch your face during or after. You will feel it. They are hot.

Toss it all into a pot. Sprinkle with salt and add a splash of water. Place on stove on medium heat to give the peppers and onion a little head start on cooking.

After softening the peppers and onions for about 10 minutes, add the liquid.

Partially cover with a lid and simmer the peppers until they are fall apart tender. Probably about 35-40 minute.

Peppers so soft, ready to go.

Let it cool a few minutes then dump it all Into a blender. Blend until completely blended.

Smooth as smooth can be.

Taste it (like dip a carrot of a piece of bread into it) and add more salt if nessacery. Also, if it is too thick for your liking, add a little water to thin it out.

Hot hot hot sauce for the taking.

And look here, enough for you and maybe even a friend or two%u2026 Holidays are coming!

Enjoy the sauce!

-C

makes between 5-6 cups

• 25-30 good sized jalape%u00f1os (green or red or both)

• 2-3 cloves garlic

• 1 medium yellow or white onion

• 2 cups pineapple juice or puree

• 2 cups white vinegar

• 2 teaspoons salt

• water

Cut the onion into small chunks and roughly mince the garlic. Grab jalape%u00f1os and remove stems. Remove seeds and ribs if you want less heat in the sauce, then chop into small pieces. Place the onion, garlic, and peppers into a big pot with a splash of water. Sprinkle with salt and stick on stove on medium heat and cook for 5-10 minutes or until you can smell the onion and peppers starting to cook.

Dump in the pineapple juice and 1/2 the vinegar. Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, partially cover then reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 30-40 minutes or until peppers are very tender.

NOTE.. Have a window open or exhaust fan going.. the fumes are spicy!

Once peppers have soften, remove form heat and let cool a few minutes. Dump or scoop the contents of pot into a blender. Add in the remaining vinegar and blend until very smooth. Once blended, taste and season with more salt if needed. Also if the consistency is to thick for your liking, add in a little water to thin out.

And then bottle it. Whatever sized jars you like, just make sure the lids are not metal if you can avoid it. The acidity of the vinegar will corrode the metal.

Add a label, stick in fridge, and eat on whoever the heck you want! (Also makes a great gift and there is defiantly enough here to give some away!)

Note. It only gets better with age!

I am a glutton for punishment. 91 degrees, super humid, and what do I do, I turn on the oven to make bread. And this is after I drag the poor mr to the middle of a field on the hottest most humid day to pick strawberries. He didn’t complain once (well, maybe on our walk back to the car, but I was bitching a little too).

At home. recuperating from the picking, I made myself a snack of shredded zucchini with chopped strawberries covered in black pepper (try it, it is so freaking good) and was like “this would make a killer bread situation”. And that’s when I turned on the oven and went to town making bread with the zucchini and strawberries (minus the pepper cause, well I wasn’t sure if the mr would like it, but I think I’ll add it to the next loaf). And I know, hot day, hot oven=no but really, I was so F*ing hot that I didn’t think I could have gotten any hotter, so I figured why the hell not turn on the oven. (The mr and he pup where at the other house so I wasn’t torturing them with the heat)

And when the mr came home sure the house was still hot, there was fresh loaf of the sweetest smelling strawberry zucchini bread waiting for him. And so what ifI might have been slightly delirious, I had accomplished something great and was then okay with spending the rest of the say laying in a heap on the floor.

The mr says the bread was worth it.

The stuff. A good sized zucchini and a pint or so of the loveliest strawberries . Also have a bowl with flour (all purpose and while whole wheat) baking soda and baking powder, and a little salt. Sugar, oil, cinnamon, and a little vinegar are needed and a handful of walnut if you want too.

Oil and sugar go into a bowl and get mixed together until combined.

Zucchini gets shredded and added to the bowl.

And strawberries get chopped (stems removed) and go into the bowl along with the zucchini.

Mix the wet mixture up until it starts to get all juicy then mix in the vinegar.

The dry stuff gets mix together along with the walnuts.

%u00a0Now in goes the wet mixture. Mix it all together until just combined (don’t over mix)

Batter goes into a nicely greased pan and if you have it, sprinkle a little brown sugar on top.

Pop pan into preheated oven to do it’s thing.

And it’s thing it did. All dark brown and pretty with red and green bits all over. Quite the stunning loaf if I do say so myself. Remove from pan and let the bread cool for a little while..(you should wait until it’s completely cooled, but at 15 minutes would be ok)

You have waited long enough.. time to cute the bread.

Bread all day long.

Enjoy.

-C

makes 1 loaf

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar plus about a tablespoon to sprinkle on top
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 medium zucchini (2ish cups shredded)
• 1 pint fresh strawberries (about 2 cups chopped)
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder ans soda, salt, cinnamon, Toss in the walnuts as well.

In a separate bowl mix together the sugar and oil until combined then shred zucchini and dump it it. Grab strawberries, remove the stems, and chop those up into small chunks and add to the bowl with the zucchini. Mix until everything is mixed and starts to get juicy then mix in the vinegar.

Now dump the wet mixture into the dry and mix just until everything is incorporated and pour/scrape batter into a well greased loaf pan. Sprinkle he top with a little brown sugar and stick the pan into the oven.

Let cook for about an hour or until the top is a deep brown and a tester stuck into the middle comes out clean. Once out of the oven, let cool for a a few minutes, remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Cut cooled bread and eat it to your face.

I love December, basically because it is a month long excuse to always be baking cookies. And listen to Christmas music. And have a lovely big ass tree in the house covered in lights and dried fruit. Plus snow if we are really lucky. December. It%u2019s a good month.

And we are getting to that time when now most of us have serious cookie making on the brain. I bet if you ask 5 people what they are planning on doing in the next few days leading up to Christmas, at least 3 of them will tell you they are making cookies because really, that is what you should be doing. That is if you like to bake. If not, then by all means, skip cookie baking.

Now what cookies to bake? Well you got to have chocolate chip, and peanut butter. Plus some no bakes and sugar cookies, but also, I think, some type of gingerbread.

These cookies are the gingerbread something. I added cardamon because I think cardamom is delicious and think everyone will think so too, And lemon because lemon goes with cardamom and ginger and lemon cardamon ginger just has a nice ring to it. Then crinkle because I didn%u2019t really want to roll out dough and cut out shapes (I was being lazy), but I wanted pretty and I am really Into the crinkle look.

These cookies were a huge hit. Not crispy like a snap, but not cakey or overly soft. A nice chew and deep in flavor. The mr was basically smuggling these cookies all day before I had a chance to really hide them and he is not a typical gingerbread lover but he told me that these cookies might just be the best cookies he has ever had. So yeah, I guess this is now my new winner gingerbread cookie recipe.

And no joke, these are probably the best smelling cookies I have ever made. I wanted to bottle up the smell and wear it on me like a teenage boy wears a new bottle of axe. Seriously, I kept sniffing my sweater all day long just to get a good hit of the smell. So good!

Now to the cookies!

The stuff. In one bowl there is flour, salt, and baking soda and powder. The other bowl is brown sugar and molasses. There there is a couple flax eggs, some oil, a lemon for it%u2019s zest, and spices of ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, and black pepper. Also powdered sugar to roll and crinkle these cookies.

Wet stuff. Sugar, molasses, flax eggs, and oil. Mix until combined.

Dry stuff. Flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and the spices. Add in the lemon zest too and whisk to combine.

Wet into dry. Grab a wooden spoon and mix until a cohesive dough forms. And yes you can give up the spoon after a minute and use your hands to complete the mixing%u2026 I did.

After dough is mixed and uniform, pop the bowl into the fridge for a little while to give he dough some time to rest. Half an hour is good and you could even leave it for a day if you wanted to, just cover it if you do.

And when the dough has had it%u2019s time, scoop, roll into balls, ans roll around and completely coat in powdered sugar.

Sugars balls of dough. Now pop them into the oven.

TA DA! Baked and all crinkly.

Let the cookies cool on a wire rack because that%u2019s how all cookie cool. And smell that delicious oh so lovely smell. It really is amazing, no?

Then onto a serving plate and now you have cookies for your mouth face.

Happiest happys of all the days to come! Now go eat cookies!

-C

makes around 2 dozen cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• zest of a lemon (about 2 teaspoons)

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2/3 cup neutral oil (I used canola)

• 2 flax eggs (6 tablespoon warm water mixed with 2 tablespoon ground flax seed)

• 1/2 -3/4 cup powdered sugar

To start, grab a bowl and mix together the brown sugar, molasses, oil, and flax seed eggs until completely combines. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, all the spices (ginger, cardamon, cinnamon,and pepper), the zest of the lemon, baking powder and soda, and salt. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry and mix together until a cohesive dough forms. Place dough in fridge for about a 1/2 hour to up to a day to let dough rest for a bit. If you are going to keep in the fridge for a while, just cover it up.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 and measure out powdered sugar into a bowl

Remove dough from fridge and using a scoop or just eyeballing it, scoop about 2 tablespoons worth of dough. With each scoop, roll the dough into a ball and place into the bowl of the powdered sugar and roll around unit completely coated. Place ball on a baking sheet, giving it a little pat down, NOT squishing it down, just a little indent. And don%u2019t overcrowd balls, give them a little space.

When your baking sheet full, place Into hot oven and bake for 12-13 minutes or until the cookies have puffed and flattened out a bit, are golden brown on the bottoms, and the tops are all crinkly and lovely. Once cooked all the way, remove from oven and transfer cookies onto a wire rack to cool.

Then eat a warm one. Heck, eat 2 warm ones, then do what you will with the rest.

Store cooled cookies in an air tight container at room temp for 3-4 days. They can also be frozen for long term storage but why do you need to store your cookies? Jest eat them.

It is exactly that time of year. Apples galore, cool days in need of a little extra warm, meaning a warm oven is welcome, if not needed. It%u2019s the best time of year, or at least one of them.

And so I bake bread. Sometimes just a roll, and sometime a loaf, almost everyday. I love bread baking because, well just because. Plus it%u2019s what people want to eat and will always eat because I guess bread=love. Makes sense to me.

This bread was made from a small dip in the 2 gallons of applesauce I made the night before. (We had sooooo many apples). The mr isn%u2019t the biggest fan of applesauce, says he would rather eat a fresh apple. I kind of get it, but dude, warm, chunky, slightly cinnamon-y applesauce%u2026 I mean, that is happiness right there. Right? Anyway, I am trying not to eat all the applesauce to my face by myself at once (it has been a challenge) and plus I needed to make the mr some bread, so I figured what the hell. I%u2019ll just use applesauce as my liquid in the bread. And so I did and that is that and now that mr really like applesacue (when it is baked into bread)

This bread is a basic sandwich type bread. The apple taste is there but not overwhelming so it can be used for sandwiches of all kinds, toast, just eating with a smear od something, or not. Just a overall good loaf of bread with a little extra from the apple. And braided because I was feeling classy. It%u2019s amazing what at little braiding of bread dough can do for your self esteem. Made me feel like I was the coolest person in the world. Haha!

Now to the bread.

The stuff. A few apples, regular all purpose and white whole wheat flour, salt, applesauce, maple syrup, yeast, and warm water.

Applesauce, shredded apple, maple, yeast, and a little water get mix up and let to sit for a few minutes to activate yeast. Then the salt gets mixed in, along with all the flour. Stir until dough forms. Dough should be slightly sticky, ut not wet. IF wet, add a handful more flour. To dry, add more water.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface, cover your hands in flour, and knead dough for about 5 or so minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until the dough is a nice and cohesive texture.

Nice looking dough. Now roll dough into a ball.

Place dough in a clean wet or oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth for one to one and a half hours or until dough doubles in size.

Dump dough onto floured surface.

Cut dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out into long longs.

Braid logs together. You can stop here bake it this way or%u2026

After placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet, tuck the ends of the braids underneath each other and make it like this. Either way. And once you have the dough on the baking sheet, brush a little water or plant milk on top and let dough rest for 15 minutes of so while the oven preheats.

Before oven and after oven. Classy, right?

Then for shin and soft crust, rub warm loaf with some plant butter.

And for the hard part. Let it cool before slicing it. Ok sure, a little warm is fine, but wait at least 20 minutes (an hour would be best) and then eat you some bread.

Eat you some bread. That%u2019s a t-shirt right there.

Happy Fall friends!

-C

makes pretty one loaf

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour plus more for kneading

• 1 cup unsweetened room temperature applesauce

• 1 large or 2 small apples ( about 2/3 cup shredded apple)

• 1/4- 1/2 cup warm water

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey

• 2 teaspoons active yeast

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon or so plant milk or water

• 1 tablespoon plant based butter (optional for rubbing on finished bread)

Grab the apples and shred them until you have 2/3 cup shredded apple. In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, shredded apples, yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sweetener.and let yeast activate for a few minutes. Add in salt, the all purpose flour and the 1 1/2 cups white wheat flour. Stir together until dough forms. The dough should be a little bit sticky so if the dough seems to dry, add in 1/4 cup more warm water. If it seems really wet, add in a handful more flour.

Dump dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes adding a little bit of flour to the counter as needed to prevent it from sticking. Once dough is cohesive in texture, roll into a ball and place into a clean wet or oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to double in size. Should take between an hour and an hour and a half.

Once dough doubles in size preheat oven to 400

Dump risen dough back onto a well flour counter. Cut the dough into 3 equal sizes and roll each piece into long logs about 20 inches or so long. Place each roll next to each other and braid. Grab a baking sheet and line with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with a bit of flour and place braided dough onto sheet, either as a braid or if you want, like I did, wrap the braid around itself into a rounded braid situation. Tuck ends into each other and under the loaf. Brush the top gently with a little plant milk or water and let rest for about another 15 minutes or so.

After the rest, place dough into preheated oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes (Less if left long braid, more if wrapped braid) or until the top is a deep golden brown and when tapped on the bottom, it sounds hollow. Also can use an insta read thermometer and check temperature. You want it to reach 190 degrees.

Once bread is baked, remove from oven. If you want the top to stay a little crispy, don%u2019t do anything but let it cool. For a softer, shinny crust, rub the top while it is still warm with some plant based butter.

Let bread cool completely before cutting.

Then eat it like you would eat bread. Any and every way.

Store cooled loaf in a airtight bag on counter for 2-3 days but if not eating that fast, slice and place into freezer. That way you can pull out individual pieces and toast as you want.

Just about every morning I wake up at the ass crack of dawn (actually its still dark out) make coffee, do a few things, usually read a bit while eating my breakfast and drinking my third cup of coffee, and start a pot of soup for lunch. All before 7am when I yell up to the mr. to get his butt out of bed. %u00a0I love it and I look forward to the mornings of me time.

So soup. I like to start the soup early and let it cook for a while. I start the soup, bring it to a boil, and then stick it on simmer with a ton of water. And then I am off for the day. The deal is that I leave, but the mr. leaves about an hour after I do and he will turn the burners off. And he has been so good about it. Sometime I might shoot him a text to make sure the burners are off, but most of the time I just trust.

Well about a week or so ago, I made soup, went about my morning. Upon my return home, before I even walked down the driveway, I could smell the burning soup.

%u00a0I rushed in just in time. The house was not on fire! But the pot of split pea soup%u2026 it was about to be. The pot consisted of about %u00a0three-inches of thick, burnt to a black brick, soup and about an inch of super thick burnt but still slightly green pea goop on top.

Now don%u2019t judge me here, but that goop%u2026. I ate it. And it was so good. I know, I sound kind of gross, but whatever I don%u2019t care. That little bit of super thick burnt pea paste was some of the best burnt food that I have ever eaten.(I love burnt food)

So this casserole gets a bit of inspiration from that goop. No, it is not burnt to almost an inedible state, but it gets thick and a little crispy and is so so freaking good. This is one of those dishes that I will make and continue to eat even though I cannot possibly eat any more. It%u2019s that good.

As for leaving the stove on while I am gone.. That’s not really happening anymore.

The stuff. %u00a0Dried green split peas, some water, Italian spice blend as well as garlic and onion powder. Also salt and pepper, a bay leaf, carrots, an onion, a couple of potatoes, a chunk of cabbage, and a parsnip. All good, all of what I have in the fridge at the moment.%u00a0

Start by chopping up the onion and sticking it into a big heavy pot. Take all the spices and mix them together in a little bowl and dump half of them into the pot with the onion, the bay leaf and a splash of water. Place on medium heat and cook until the onions start to soften and the water has evaporated.%u00a0

After the onions have cooked a bit, add in the dried split peas and a bunch of water (split peas suck up water like crazy) Turn the heat up to high and bring the stuff to a boil then turn heat to a medium and place lid on pot. Let cook for a while, giving it a stir every now and then to make sure nothing is sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot

While the split peas are cooking, chop up all the veggies into mouth sized chunks and mix them together with the rest of the spices and toss them into a skillet or casserole dish.%u00a0

And the peas.. Once they are all falling apart, they are ready. %u00a0Now is also a good time to preheat oven.%u00a0

Dump the cooked split peas all over the veggie mixture and mix around a bit. Grab that last potato and slice really thin.

Top the veggies with the potato and sprinkle with salt and pepper.%u00a0

And into the oven it goes!

Bake until the veggies are all tender and the top is all crispy (about 35-40 minutes) and eel free to even stick under a broiler for an even crisper top.

Pull it from the oven when its ready and let it sit for a few minutes to set up a bit…

And scoop yourself a big helping and eat! All it needs is a fork (But mustard tastes so good with it too!)

Have a great Monday!

-C

serves 3-4

• 3/4 cup dried green split peas
• 3-1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Italian spice blend
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 yellow onion
• %u00bc head of cabbage
• 3 %u00a0white potatoes
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 big parsnip

Note%u2026 I used the veggie that I had on hand. So say you don%u2019t like parsnips, don%u2019t use them or want to add celery, go for it. Just make sure to have at about 4-5 cups of chopped up veggies.

Take all the spices and mix them together. Dice onion into little pieces and stick into a big heavy bottom pot with half of the spice blend, the bay leaf, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and a splash of water. Stick on stove and cook for a few minutes until water evaporates and the onions are fragrant and starting to soften. Now dump in the dried peas and 3-1/2 cups water.%u00a0 Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and place a lid on the pot. Cook the peas, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes of until falling apart.

In the mean time, dice up the veggies (leave one potato to top with)into mouth sized chunks and stick them in either a casserole dish or a 12-inch oven safe skillet. Mix in the other half of the spice blend

Preheat oven to 375

Once the split peas are done, take the pot and dump into the chopped veggies and mix around. Take remaining potato and slice thinly. Top the casserole with thin slices of potato and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stick that bad boy %u00a0into the oven.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the potatoes are crispy and the peas have thickened.%u00a0

Remove from oven, let rest for a few minutes, and serve it on up!

I don%u2019t know about you but springtime has got me wanting to eat all the things that are fresh and bright and not super heavy. Things like big salads are on the top of my list. Or slaws like this jicama slaw. It is A+ and perfect for springtime munching.

Jicama. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe not. It is a vegetable, a tuber to be precise. And it tastes like a crunchy, juicy, not sweet apple, but also kind of reminds me of kohlrabi. And it slightly nutty, with a hint of potato? Just know it is delicious. You might have even had it and not even been aware of it, in say a salad or maybe spring rolls. Anyway, if you haven%u2019t had it, it is definitely worth trying like in this slaw which is basically just jicama with cabbage, carrot and onion tossed in a cumin chili lime situation. It is fresh and crunchy and spicy and filling and all the things that I want be eating right now.

What we have it a really dang tasty and a quick toss together situation. What more can we ask for?

To the jicama slaw!

The stuff. A small jicama, a carrot, a hunk of red cabbage, chili powder, cumin, a lime, red wine vinegar,a little maple syrup, and salt and pepper.

Cumin, chili, maple, and vinegar go into a big bowl and get mixed around. Pop the bowl into the microwave if you can and heat it up for like 30 seconds, just o take a bit of the rawness of of the spices.

Now peel the jicama. Use a sharp knife and carefully peel away the brown skin from the white flesh. Do not leave any of the skin on cause it is not good to eat!

Once the jicama is peeled, grab a mandolin and julienne it (or cut into thin matchsticks with a knife). Then julienne the carrot and shredded the cabbage and onion.

Dump all the veggies into the bowl with the spices then add in the juice of the lime and a pinch of salt and pepper.Toss around until evenly combined and coated.

There you have it. Chili lime jicama slaw. Now you eat it. As a side to any dish you wish or just as it is, a big bowl of goodness.

-C

Serves 3-4 (as a side)

• 1 medium Jicama (around 3 cups julienned)

• 1 small carrot

• 1 small onion

• a small hunk of red cabbage

• a lime

• 3/4 teaspoon cumin

• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• salt and pepper

Place cumin, chili, maple, and vinegar into a large bowl. Mix around and pop into the microwave for 20-30 seconds just to heat it up a bit and remove some of the rawness of the spices.

Peel the jicama. Do it with a knife (so carefully) and remove all of the tough brown skin away from the white flesh. (Do not eat skin..It can make you sick). Now either with a mandolin of a knife, julienne the jicama along with the carrot. Use a thicker setting for the jicama and a thinner one for the carrot. Shred or thinly slice up the cabbage and onion as well. Toss all the veggies into the bowl with the spices. Squeeze in the juice of the lime, add a pinch or two of salt and some black pepper and toss around until everything is evenly combined and coated.

You can eat it right away but It taste better when it has had a chance to sit for a little while.

Serve cold along with anything. Or eat on it%u2019s own. Store left overs in fridge for up to a week.

I found another bag of frozen rhubarb in the chest freezer which is never a bad thing, but my rhubarb patch outside is growing strong and I will have all the fresh rhubarb I could possible eat within the next few weeks. So found rhubarb just means I need to eat it right fast before the fresh stuff comes in. (I haven%u2019t had a problem with that. it%u2019s almost gone already). Plus the other day while I was digging up and transplanting raspberry bushes to the back yard, my neighbor came over and gave me a gallon of frozen raspberries, harvested from said bushes that I was currently planting in my yard. Score for me! Free bushes and berries%u2026I have such nice neighbors.

So the logical thing to do with my new found and giving bounty was of course to hurry up and bake something. Cobbler. Why cobbler? Well, why not? I figured the mr would really like it and eat it and I also didn%u2019t want to make anything to fussy because I was just to dang busy spending all of my extra time outside doing outside things. And cobbler, it%u2019s not fussy because it is basically biscuits and jam baked up all together. Not a lot to think about and comes out looking all homey and sweet and smelling all nice and cozy. Doesn%u2019t that sound nice? And not a pain in the ass?

And best part. A made cobbler works as dessert or breakfasts or just a snack. Just asked the mr. He ate it for all the reasons. With a dollop of yogurt or cream of course because he is fancy like that.

And yeah the fruit I used was frozen, but fresh works just the same here too.

Now, lets get to that cobbler.

The stuff. Raspberries (frozen), rhubarb (frozen), sugar, flour, salt, baking power, cinnamon ,almond milk, apple cider vinegar, cornstarch, and oil.

Raspberries, rhubarb, sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch. Its all there in the bowl. Just needs to be mixed. So mix it.

Dump fruit mixture into well greased 8 inch pan and pop it into a hot oven to get a head start on baking.

While the fruits in the oven, make the biscuit dough. Mix the dry together then mix in the wet until just incorporated and a sticky dough forms.

Pulled from the oven, the fruit is starting to cook down and whoa, it just smells so good!

Drop on the biscuits dough on top of the fruit (careful of the hot pan). Evenly if possible, but don%u2019t work to hard to make it look perfect. Imperfection makes it look perfect, you know?

Once biscuits are on, lightly brush the tops with a little milk and sprinkle with more sugar then pop it back into the oven for another 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are baked.

Pulled from the oven with a bubbly filling and a golden brown biscuity top. Things are looking good here.

And now it%u2019s time.

Dig on in my friend. Sever with something creamy like whipped coconut cream or some type of yogurt or ice cream situation of your choice. And again, this can be your breakfast.

Happy spring people!

-C

make a a 8 inch round which serves 5-6

For the Filling

• 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)

• 2 cups rhubarb chopped into 1/2 inch to inch long pieces (fresh or frozen)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch

• 3/4 -1 cup sugar (lesser amount if you like a little more tartness. I used lesser amount)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the dough

• 1 cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 3 tablespoons neutral flavored oil

• 1/2 cup plant based milk

• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix together the rhubarb and raspberries with the corn starch, sugar, and cinnamon. Grease a 8 inch round pan the is at least 2 inches deep (can use a slightly large pan or a square) and dump in fruit mixture. Place into oven to bake for about 15 minutes or the fruit starts to break down.

While fruit is baking, mix up biscuit dough. Flour, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and baking powder go in a large bowl and mixed until combined. Add in the oil, the milk, and the vinegar. Mix until just incorporated and a dough has formed.

Remove the fruit cooking from the oven. Turn heat up to 375.

Carefully drop spoonfuls of biscuit batter on top of fruit. Brush the top of the biscuits with a little milk and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Place the pan back into the oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are all nice and golden brown on top.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving. Serve warm with a scoop or dollop of soothing creamy (coconut cream, yogurt, ice cream%u2026..whatever floats your boat.)

Left overs can be stored in pan, just cover it with something and place in fridge. Can be eaten cold to or reheated in microwave or oven.