Peas Day 1

This morning I couldn't wait another day to start on the garden.  Is there anything better than peas right out of the garden?  One of my favorite childhood food memories is my grandmothers bowl of peas and new potatoes.  The potatoes were so young and the peas so plump that the potatoes were barely larger than the peas.  Last fall I planted sugar snap peas and had some success so I hope that the spring peas will a good crop.  Today I got everything together and got them started inside.

Moon Pies!

Even though I have southern roots, I've never been a fan of Moon Pies.  I never understood how I couldn't like something with cookies, marshmallows, and chocolate. I recently saw a recipe for Home Made Moon Pies and thought this might be the answer.  I made the cookie dough yesterday and finished them this morning.

Making the cookie dough

Cookies with whole wheat flour

Making the marshmallow filling

You have to work quick before the filling sets

Waiting to be dipped

Drip, drip, drip...

The hardest part. Waiting for them to set.

Pasta and Walking With a Purpose

For the past few months my Wednesday evenings have been spent with my friend C.  We've been friends for around 20 years, but the past few we've seen less and less of one another.  C has been through a hell of a couple of years, and I didn't know the extent of it until about 6 months ago.  We rediscovered how much we like hanging out with each other and food.  So every Wednesday night we meet for dinner out.

For several years C and I worked for the same restaurant.  She was the director of training and I was a trainer.  She would travel with a team of trainers and open new stores.  We have some crazy stories that can only happen when you live in a hotel together for a few weeks at a time. We talk about those years because they remind us what some of our friendship is based on.

A valuable tool that I learned from C is that whenever I was walking around the kitchen, I better know where I was going and why I was going there.  I finally figured out that if I wanted to avoid her asking me, "what are you doing now", I needed to make sure I had a kitchen utensil in my hand. Walking briskly also helped.  When I think about it now I think of it as walking with a purpose.

Walking with a purpose has never been one of my stronger suits.  I am very good at meandering through my days with not much on my plate. But I wonder how different my life would be if I were to walk with a purpose more often.  I haven't put much thought into this, so I don't know if I have much more to say about it.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking about my next blog post that was going to be about making pasta with C, and this is where it took me.  I do know that one's purpose isn't always obvious or concrete. And I believe that one's purpose can be to find one's purpose.  Everyone has their own purpose.  The hard part is figuring out what it is.  Because it's always easy to just walk around the kitchen with a spatula in your hand.

C and I share a passion for food and she had never made pasta from scratch.  So last Sunday I grabbed my pasta machine, and Mary Ann grabbed her clay, and we went to C's house to make fettuccine with roasted garlic and crushed red pepper.  Mary Ann sat at the kitchen table making clay birds while C and I made pasta.

January Spinach

The weather has been so strange in Columbus.  I checked the cold frame this evening and this is what I found.

The cold frame had glass windows which broke.  We replaced it with plastic, but it cracked and broke in December.  However, it has been so warm that the little shelter that the spinach had was enough.  I will be adding this to the Spinach and Artichoke Dip I'm taking to a Super Bowl Party.

Blackberry Jelly

I've really been craving some homemade blackberry jam.  But getting good blackberries is hard to find in January.  Wild blackberries are my preference.  Sure the big shiny blackberries you see at the store or farmers market are pretty, but the large seeds make them difficult to eat.  So I made a compromise.  I bought frozen blackberries and made jelly instead of jam.  I had some on a biscuit this morning and it turned out great.  But I can't wait until this summer when I can find some wild blackberries!  If anyone knows of a place where they are available in central Ohio, let me know.

Homemade Granola

Around the holidays I make sure that I have several staples in my pantry that I don't have year round. This includes lots of dried fruits and assorted nuts.  Many times some of these are left over and sitting in the pantry unused.  However, this year I had an idea.  I decided to make granola. The biggest expense are the fruits and nuts that are added, so all I had to do is stock up on some oats and grab some flax and sunflower seeds.

My Favorite Room

Off of our kitchen is a nice breakfast nook that Mary Ann has graciously let me turn into a prep room.  Our kitchen doesn't have much counter space, however, with the addition of a prep table I now have plenty of work space. We recently moved the table around, added another table that holds the microwave and mixer, and put up a shelf. I am in the process of rehanging art and figuring out where I want to put everything. There are so many things I love about this room.  I won't point them all out. You can see for yourself.