June 2010

Farm to Table: Green Smoothie Cocktails and Radishes Galore

June 18, 2010

Last weekend we saw a near constant rain that left our land a soft shade of emerald, and the garden looking fresh and yummy.


This week we harvested a bit more arugula, as well as chives, sage, mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, spinach, collards, kale, chard, lettuce, and radishes.


This early time in our garden seems so perfect and fun. The boys and I are out there every morning picking weeds, checking every last crop, and ooohing and ahhhhing over even the tiniest of sprouts.

As the days grow longer (and then shorter), we find our front door always open and friends always somewhere inside. I love having people in my kitchen; eating, talking and enjoying, and summertime potlucks are a staple part of our rhythm.


A good loaf of bread and cream cheese can normally always be found in our house, and the addition of herbs and radishes turns these staples into a quick and easy grab when friends drop by.

Radishes with Fresch Bread and Herbed Cream Cheese

Bread (If you do not eat GF, I would suggest using french bread)
Softened cream cheese
Herbs (I used chives)
Fresh radishes
Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature. Snip the chives and mix into softened cream cheese. Slice bread, and spread with herbed cream cheese. Thinly slice the radishes and place on top. Snip a a bit more chives for garnish and serve.


As the rain poured down last Saturday, a friend’s annual cocktail party seemed surely rained out, but never one to let the weather effect their spirits, Sarah and Doc decided to keep it going as we all piled indoors to enjoy good food and drink. Perhaps my favorite dish of the night turned out to be the most creative of cocktails, as one guest carried a basket full of greens in one hand, and a bottle of flavored vodka in the other. Rosemary called it the Lawnmower, and it may very well become the classic drink of the summer. While I have no idea exactly what was in the drink that she made (I watched her put a lot of greens and a lot of alcohol into the blender), here is my version of this fun and healthy (somewhat) twist.

Rosemary’s Lawnmower

1 large bunch of greens (I used fresh spinach and collards)
1 diced apple, skin on
1 small bunch fresh mint (I used Kentucky Colonel)
2 diced kiwi
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup broccoli sprouts
1 tbsp Spirulina
1 Tbsp Honey
1 cup of flavored liquor (I used raspberry flavored rum)
Ice

Blend together and serve chilled

I am loving watching all that we planted begin to take root and get ready to harvest, and these first meals are so sweet after a very long winter and wet spring.
I wish you a weekend full of fresh food and good fun, and to all of the fathers out there, thank you for all that you do.
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Spring in Photos

June 17, 2010

Jessica of the amazing Turkey Cookies does a round up of each of her months through photography, and it is a favorite post to see.
While I never remember well enough to join her on a monthly basis, I am thinking that seasonally might work really well.

As the Summer Solstice is almost upon us, I wanted to take a look back to a few of my favorite moments of the past three months. I hope that Spring has been everything that you hoped it would, and I wish you all a sweet summer ahead.

Spring was……

An explosion of blooming color

Backyard Exploration

Little ones digging in the dirt

Trying something totally new

Creating what you need (he made himself a bag of camera lenses so that he could finally be just like papa)
Enjoying the early harvest
Spring has been wonderful, more reflective than creative, but still wonderful. Now, however, I am ready for Summer. I am ready for the camping and the swimming, the bbq’s and warm nights. I am ready for all of the possibilities and the joy that the season can bring.

I hope Spring was a beautiful season for all of you, and I look forward to seeing your Summer (or Winter if you are in the Southern Hemisphere) unfold.

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Saying Goodbye

June 16, 2010


I knew that this day was coming, and I have dreaded it intensely.

I know the sacredness of true friendship, I know that having someone in your life who makes an impact so big that it never fades is a rarity, and I know that I am lucky to have women in my life who have loved me despite of myself.

Saying goodbye to someone who you have birthed your children with, helped to birth their children, worked with, cared for, bared your soul to, it is an impossibility. I want to be so sad to be losing someone I love so much, but all I can focus on is how lucky I am to have had this incredible woman in my life for the past 7 years.

Bernadette, thank you for seven years of friendship, and though we may not be down the road from each other anymore (she is moving a few states away), you are forever in my heart and always first on my Skype list. Thank you for serving women in birth with me, thank you for being there when my children were born, thank you for letting me be there when yours came into this world. Thank you for creating Rhythm of The Home with me. Thank you for listening, for caring, for calling, for laughing, for silence, and for tears.

To all of you who read Rhythm of The Home, thank you for giving Bernadette and I a space to continue the work that we love. I suppose that my wish today is that everyone is lucky enough to have a truly good friend, near or far.

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A Gluten Free Bread Journey

June 14, 2010


When my son Jacob was diagnosed with celiac disease three years ago, it ended a love affair that I had with baking bread that had been going on for as long as I could remember.

Navigating my way through eating, cooking and living gluten free felt like such a challenge when we first started out, that baking bread or baked goods was never something that I considered I would do again. Our early morning baking rituals were replaced with simply trying to figure out which toothpaste or lotion, juice or snack could make my little one sick.

Over time I of course returned to a place where taking on the challenge of making baked goods seemed feasible, and even enjoyable, and experimentation began in full to try and come up with creations that tasted as close to classic recipes as possible. I have so much gratitude for the many gluten free blogs and books out there that have helped navigate a way to feeling self-sufficient, and even successful in my gluten less kitchen.

After three full years, I have finally gotten to a place where I am ready to tackle baking yeasted bread again.


One of the things that I have loved, and truly cherish, about my time as a mom is experiencing both the good and the bad with my boys. When Jacob was diagnosed with celiac I tried very hard not to shelter him from the experience, but rather included him in finding a path and a way of living that best fit his needs. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but he seems to be immersed in keeping himself healthy, and vigilant about making sure that he can participate in everything that everyone else does.


We have spent the past several months testing just about every recipe that we could find, and since the desire to have fresh baked bread was something that we both shared, we did it together. Jacob has been a trooper in measuring and kneading and taste testing (this one is really not much of a chore), and he has come to have a healthy respect for chefs and bakers.


Most of the breads that we are falling in love with have come from the book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The book has a section on gluten free breads that include such goodness as Cheddar Sesame Bread, Country Boule, and Brioche. In the past few weeks we have made cinnamon buns that would seriously blow your mind, cheddar sesame and seed topped crackers that are perfect with a great slice of cheese, and french toast brioche that tastes as close to the original as I think we could get.



I know that it must seem silly to be gushing so much about something as simple as bread, but it really felt like a loss when it was no longer a part of our daily lives. I will not say that the breads taste exactly the same, but they are really good and every day someone new seems to be coming up with ways to improve the art of gluten free bread making. I love that this is a journey that Jacob and I are taking together, and I hope that it is teaching him that he does not have to settle for sitting around envying what everyone else is eating. Maybe I am crazy, but finding our way through this illness has taught us a lot and been a good life lesson, one that I keep my fingers crossed will serve him well as he gets older.

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Farm To Table

June 11, 2010

With only a a little more than a week left to go before the Summer Solstice, it feels so nice to spend every morning out in the garden weeding, watching and harvesting the first of the veggies to be appearing.

This summer I wanted to spend some real time with the boys exploring the process of how our food goes from the farm to the table. Jacob is attending a week long day camp beginning on the Solstice that has the children working on every aspect an organic farm, and culminates with them preparing a meal for their families and friends with everything that they have harvested, milked, etc.

Since the boys and I spend so much time cooking every day, I thought that it would be fun to bring the farm to table experience to our own kitchen now. We worked together to plant the foods that we felt that we all would like to eat, and the boys are coming up with one dish that includes something in our garden for every meal. It is fun to see them decide how they can use what we grow.

I love talking food and sharing family favorite recipes. Being a family who has so many food restrictions, there is something special about sharing the things that we have found that we enjoy, and the ways that the foods that we eat are helping to create family traditions that I hope get passed on for many generations to come.

Since Summer weekends are made for enjoying good food, friends and family, Fridays seem like the perfect day to share some recipes that we are enjoying using fruits and vegetables from our garden, the farmer’s market, and the local CSA. So, today begins a new series here, Farm To Table. I will post recipes that we have enjoyed in the week, and ways that we are learning to become a little bit more self-sufficient using that small amount of land that we have to grow and eat from.

If nothing else, at least it will produce a great collection of recipes for me to look back on.


Watermelon, Feta, Mint and Arugula Salad

Arugula is coming up heavy this year, and it is one of my favorite greens to enjoy in salads, with fish, and even in smoothies. When I was about 16, my Aunt Missy introduced me to the incredible combination of watermelon and feta cheese, and it has been a staple of my summer meals ever since. Last night, the boys pulled some arugula and Kentucky Colonel mint from the garden, and we sliced up watermelon and chunks of feta, and topped it with homemade poppy seed dressing to enjoy a light summer salad.

While berries are not something that we here in Colorado can find in abundance in our gardens or farmers markets (I did plant a raspberry and blackberry bush in my backyard, fingers crossed, and the strawberry plants seem to be producing some small fruit this year), when the berry season arrives we still take full advantage of it.

We had some extra mint that the boys grabbed yesterday for our salad, and sliced berries in the fridge, so we took our favorite shortbread recipe, and some mascarpone and honey, and whipped up dessert.

Gluten Free Berry and Shortbread Tart

One recipe for gluten free shortbread
3 cups of sliced, fresh berries
mascarpone
3 tbsp honey
fresh mint

Prepare the shortbread dough, but do not refrigerate. Press the dough into the bottom of an 8″ spring form pan, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely.

Allow the mascarpone to come to room temperature, and soften. Combine with the honey. Finely chop one leaf of mint, and fold into the mascarpone. Spread on top of the shortbread, and top with fresh berries. Place a sprig of mint on top and enjoy!

Winters are so long here, and it feels amazing to have our hands in the dirt, and our veggies in the kitchen. I want to find ways to grow as many of our vegetables as we can, and to savor every moment of this growing season.

So tell me, what are you growing this season?

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes on my hand. I have kept it pretty stable for the past week, and now I am learning how to do everything I love with nine fingers.

I will be back here on Sunday for Sunday Serenity, (how have I been away from that for so long?) and a litte yin yoga.
See you then

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