10-15 years?

So if humans only have 10 – 15 years before the ice caps melt what should we do?

how-fast-is-global-warming-happening

It would seem it is a little late to do anything but move to higher ground.

I might just stay put and in a few years have ocean front property?

The baby steps I have been taking are certainly not enough.

I recently put up a clothes line to stop so much dryer usage but have yet failed to remember to use the thing.

I drive a little less and stay home a little more.

I don’t travel extensively and no longer book air flights ( that is no big deal for me though as I hate to fly).

Gazpacho Chopped Salad

While we had about 4 days of cooler weather it has now warmed back up into the 80’s.

I feel like salads.

This is a gazpacho salad that is a typical version you might find in the Andalusain province of Jaen.

I used to think all gazpacho was soup. This salad came from an article in Gourmet magazine, August 2002 on several gazpachos. It had the regular, white ( Ajo Blanco), Lima ( I can’t wait to try that one), and even an aspic.

While I subbed ham for the prosciutto, I can’t wait to try it in the original form.
It will have to wait until I go grocery shopping in a couple of weeks. Boo hooey!

If you want to make it more like in Spain you would break out your mortar and pestle, but while I own one it is too time consuming for my tastes.

Pipirrana Jaenera
or Gazpacho Chopped Salad- serves 4

1 ” piece baguette, soaked in water and drained well
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 hard boiled eggs, white and yolk separated
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar ( I just used a wine vinegar)
1/4 cup EVOO
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound ripe tomatoes, dice
1 medium bell pepper, small dice
2 ounces prosciutto, diced ( I just used sliced ham)

Put your bread, garlic, salt vinegar and egg yolk into a blender and blend to smooth while pouring EVOO into the shoot.

Chop all veggies and egg white.

Scoop the egg mixture onto salad plates then cover with egg white. Top that with the tomato then the bell pepper and prosciutto.

Hot Sauce

The weekend was full of run here and run there.

We didn’t eat well and my stomach felt it all.

It started out with a water ski and camping trip with friends on Thursday and Friday. Then to my hubby’s 40 year high school reunion near the VA/TN state line on Saturday. We ended it with a motorcycle trip to Mabry Mill on Sunday.

state line overlook


at overlook


hubby


me


Mabry Mill


Ho Down at the Mill


Cutest thing I saw all weekend besides hubby

The junk consumed was phenomenal. I do jest, but it seemed phenomenal to me.

When I finally settled down on Monday, I realized I still had hot peppers coming out the ears that I must do something with. I thought about how hubby had to have hot sauce on every burger, fry, and dog.

It was reasonable to use the peppers and make my own hot sauce.

This is another recipe in my collection that I can not remember where it came from. It turned out well, but was an odd color since I mixed green and red peppers. Sort of a murky green. I ran the sauce through a mesh strainer after I processed it in the blender. Being a jalapeno sauce makes it a bit milder than some but it should be enough hot sauce to do us for a while, I hope.

Jalapeno Hot Sauce

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
20 fresh jalapeno peppers — sliced
3 cloves garlic — minced
1/2 cup minced onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 cup distilled white vinegar

Directions:
In a medium glass or enamel lined sauce pan over high heat, combine oil, peppers, garlic, onion and salt; saute for 4 minutes. Add the water and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. With the processor running, slowly add the vinegar.
Pour into a sterilized jar with a tight lid. This sauce will keep for 6 months when stored in the refrigerator.

“R” is for Seafood

Sitting on our deck swing yesterday there was a nip in the air. It was sweater weather so I ran inside to grab my old tattered standby.

Swinging, I begin to think of September. How much I hate to see summer leave, but how much I enjoy fall.

I love the foods, fires, and fall gatherings. Our motorcycle excursions to leaf watch. Thoughts of thanks, hope, and looking forward to another spring.

I began to spell September for some odd reason.

I laughed because while Mom never taught me much about food she did instill one thing.

When you order fresh seafood from a menu make sure the month has an “R” in it. What “R” has to do with seafood she never explained, and I guess I was too disinterested to ask.

We often got seafood when dining out. I began to think of anything seafood related that we might have had at home as a child.

Yes, Campbells Clam Chowder.

Clam Chowder was one of my favorite soups. I loved both the New England and Manhattan styles, but Manhattan was my favorite.

So last night after swinging and getting a bit chilled, I just had to make clam chowder.

I am sure the “R” rule was about fresh seafood and not canned clams but who understands how I come to such circles.

It didn’t really matter because the chowder tasted so much better than Campbells.

I don’t remember where I got this recipe.

I had to dice all the veggies as that was part of the appeal to me as a child. I also added corn, peppers, and used fresh tomatoes, simply because we had that along with the rest of our garden items. I added red pepper along with the hot sauce because I loved the kick and some salt

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Ingredients:
1 can plum tomatoes — (28 ounce) chopped with liquid
1 large white onion — chopped
3 celery stalks — thinly sliced
1 minced fresh thyme sprig or 1 teaspoon
dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 bay leaf
3 medium potatoes — pared and diced
2 carrots — thinly sliced
3 cans chopped clams with their liquid — (6 1/2 ounce)

Method:
Combine tomatoes, onion, celery, thyme, parsley, salt, peppercorns, ground pepper, Tabasco sauce, and bay leaf in a stockpot, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Bring to a second boil, add potatoes,clams, and carrots, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

Lemon Fennel Sole

On to more frivolous matters like a sole flavored with fennel.

That is sole as in fish, and not soul as in lesser frivolous.

Hell, heaven and food. What could be more compatible?

I soon may be looking into the 10 commandments of consumerism, so stay tuned.

Lemon Fennel Sole

1 pound sole fillets
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon fennel seed
lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
butter
chopped oregano
salt to taste
lemon slices

Place on sole fillets on a sprayed baking sheet and sprinkle with lemon juice and small amount of salt.

Crush your fennel seeds in a spice grinder.

Put your bread crumbs in a food processor with crushed fennel, lemon zest and chopped oregano.

Melt the butter and pour into the processor tube as it is running.

Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the fish and then bake in a 450 degree oven until fish flakes with a fork and breading is golden.

Serve with lemon slice and more oregano if desired.

Processed Cheese and The Apocalypse

There are times in my life where I look at this box of wires in my
kitchen called a computer and wonder why I don’t toss the thing in
the garbage.

Screen time can be a blessing or a curse depending on the frame of
mind.

Yesterday my mind and screen time became a curse.

The funny thing is how you can read something and it can turn your
mind into a bowl of doubt.

Doom, apocalypse, the end of time.

While these things disturbed my peace for a while yesterday, today
hope springs renewed.

Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness

It isn’t really about what I read, it is about who I trust.

Do I trust more in man’s destructiveness or God’s mercy?

His word tells me that every hair on my
and my family’s head are numbered.

Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows.

It doesn’t mean we are not to try to make the world a better place,
it simply means we don’t worry while we do it. Do the best we can
and move on with hope.

Yes, the end of the food chain as we know it, is around the bend.
Apocalypse is knocking at our door, God’s word predicts it all and
fighting against God’s word is like fighting against the tide.

Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:
see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences,
and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

But the Lord tells us not to be troubled by it all.

While yesterday I let the green tree huggers onto my cursed computer
screen and into my mind, today the power of who I trust prevails.

I move on with hope.

Do I really buy canned processed cheese, or was it sarcastic typing?
I haven’t done it in years.

As I recall, it tasted pretty good at the time.

I’m Getting Headaches

I believe reading has me a bit edgy today. Time to go to bed and forget it all.

National Hoarding

But is that a bit harsh? After all many of us know someone who works at Wal-Mart and uses that paycheck to buy food. Where would they get their food if the global economy collapsed? The truth is we have allowed a small percentage of the population to gut this country of it’s ability to do for itself; systematically destroying the ability of citizens and local communities to take care of their own needs, especially in terms of agriculture. As a people, we’ve sat idly by watching the whole makeover on television as we’ve been transformed from a nation of producers into a nation of consumers.

Bread Salad with Basil, Feta and Marsala Vinaigrette-WHB

roundup link

Since I have been baking so much sourdough, I figured it time to experiment with bread salad.

Katie at Thyme for Cooking is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week, so my bread experiment is my entry along with the herb basil.

I am still labor mouse typing so this post is short and sweet.

Bread Salad with Basil, Feta and Marsala Vinaigrette

FOR BREAD
Day old Bread Cubes
olive oil cooking spray
garlic powder
salt
FOR SALAD
tomatoes
red onion
basil
feta cheese
FOR DRESSING
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons marsala cooking wine
2 teaspoons honey
salt to taste

method
Make bread
place bread cubes on a cooking sheet and spray with oil. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Place in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Chop all salad vegetables and then place the tomato and onion in a large bowl.
Whisk together all dressing ingredients and pour over the tomatoes in bowl.
Toss in your bread cubes and transfer to a serving dish.
Top the salad with the feta and basil. Serve immediately.