French Breakfast Radish Toast

Radish Toast

Radish Toast

This might not even count as a recipe but I get enough flack in my family for it that I decided it does – mostly so I can build my tribe of people who also love it!

Serves 2

  • 2 slices of whole wheat bread – the grainier/nuttier the better

  • Butter or olive oil

  • Fresh French breakfast radishes

 Toast the bread – like you normally make toast and spread generously with butter or olive oil.  Slice the radishes about 1/8 inch thick lengthwise and arrange over the toast covering as completely as possible.  That’s it.  Radish toast makes a fabulous breakfast with cottage cheese and of course, dark coffee!

Let me know what you think in the comments (and don’t forget to tell your Mom you ate a vegetable for breakfast!)

April on the small holding

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April on a small holding feels like the Christmas rush in retail - absolutely everything needs tending! And things look hopeful for a bountiful fruit harvest later in the summer. Last year a cold spell stopped most of the trees from setting but so far so good this year. I’m even crossing my fingers that the baby nectarine tree (only about 4 ft tall) might make at least one.

Seed starting is the top priority

The green house benches are full and I’ve got a rotation schedule for the heated mats in the mudroom. Slowly but surely the pile of seed packets is getting lower and more and more things can be planted out into final position. At the moment that means cabbages and beets are planted (except for the Savoys that I forgot!) Lettuces and mustards are out and within easy reach of the kitchen. Peas are going in this week and the all the squashy relatives will get going in the seed trays too.

Letting go of guilt

I hate putting seedlings on the compost pile. It seems like such a waste of potential, not to mention effort. And strangely giving them away seems to create a sense of obligation in the reverse direction ‘fine, if I have to I’ll take one off your hands’. So I’ve stopped doing that, too. Bottom line is in the past I’ve crammed too many in, too close together and had the miniature results that this produces. I’m working hard to break this habit; improved this year if not perfect. The remaining seedlings hang around until I either need them, use them as micro greens or feed them to the chickens.

The big excitement

By far the biggest event in April will be the arrival of honey bees. The hive is ready, the location picked and the bee suit is on standby. Now we just wait until the end of the month when I can go pick them up, convince them I’m going to be a great bee mom and hope that they don’t mind a short trip on the ferry to get to their new home. There won’t be honey (for me) until next year, but I’m eagerly awaiting that as well.

Southern biscuit cinnamon rolls (for Christmas morning)

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Biscuits can be a sensitive cultural topic. So I should probably qualify that this is a family recipe from Texas, it may or may not line up with your opinion of what a ‘proper’ biscuit should be! (But I promise they’re delicious 😍) This is a quick and easy recipe that’s perfect for a lazy Sunday with a book or Christmas morning when quick and festive keeps the celebrations on track.

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

  •  2 c flour

  • 3 ts baking powder

  • ½ ts salt

  • 1/3 c olive oil

  • 2/3 c milk (or almond milk)

 Filling:

  • ¼ c butter, melted or spreadably warm

  • 1/3 c sugar

  • 1 tbls cinnamon

 Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small mixing bowl. Use a glass (or plastic) measuring cup of at least one cup size, measure the olive oil (you can use other vegetable oil here if you’d prefer)  then add the milk until the liquid measures 1 cup. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Place the dough onto a floured surfaced and flatten into a rectangle about a quarter inch thick. You can use an rolling pin but I usually just push it down with my fingers.  Spread the butter over the surface and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up and slice into 8 pieces. Place spiral side up on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until brown and the sugar is bubbly.

Great with either coffee or hot chocolate!

Cauliflower and couscous crockpot

(serves a crowd)

  • 1 head of cauliflower separated into florets

  • 2 15oz cans of chickpeas

  • 1 jar of Greek olives

  • 1 28oz can of tomatoes

  • 1 tbls harissa (or 1 tbls tomato paste and 1 ts cayenne if you can’t find harissa)

  • 2 tsp cumin

  • 2 ts salt

  • 2 leeks  chopped (or 1 large onion chopped)

Final steps:

  • 1/3 c raw Israeli couscous per person

  • Fresh cilantro for garnish

 Toss everything but the couscous and cilantro into a large crockpot and cook on slow for 10+ hours (overnight).  Adjust the spices to desired heat level – add additional cayenne if you like things really hot.

 About 10 minutes before serving put a ½ ts of olive oil (or more for a crowd) into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the couscous and stir until toasted. Add the same amount of water as you did coucscous, cover and turn off the heat. So for 4 servings use 1 1/3 c couscous and add 1 1/3 c water.) Leave covered until all the water has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Put the couscous in a shallow bowl and cover with hot cauliflower mixture. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Breakfast of many names - my Baby Dutchem recipe

A caldera of yumminess…

A caldera of yumminess…

Baby Dutchem

(serves 1)

For unknown reasons this breakfast confection has always been known in my family as a Baby Dutchem – the rest of the world calls it either a Dutch Baby or Pannekoeken. It is a close relative to, but not the same thing as, a Yorkshire pudding…  To avoid confusion with any other heritage recipes I’ll continue with my name for it.

  • 2 large eggs

  • ½ c milk

  • ¼ ts salt

  • ½ c all-purpose flour

  • 1 tbls butter

  •  Lemon juice and powdered sugar to taste

Preheat the oven to 500 F. In a small mixing bowl beat the eggs lightly, then stir in the milk.  Add the flour and salt and whisk until there are no lumps.  Set aside.

When the oven is hot put the butter in a 9 inch pie plate or cake pan (either will work)  and place in the oven. Remove it when the butter is completely melted – browned is good but burned is bad, so keep an eye on it.

Pour the batter into the pan now sizzling with butter. Place back in the oven and bake about 20 minutes or until the edges are brown and crispy. (do not open the oven door to check prematurely as this can cause it to fall like a souffle).   Remove the dutchem from the pan and place on a large plate. You may need a spatula to assist with this part. Add lemon juice and powdered sugar to your taste.  Enjoy!

 A few notes on ingredients: For optimal results use 2% milk. You can easily make this with almond or soy milk instead but the edges won’t rise as high. Just as tasty though!  You can reduce the amount of butter by about half if watching calories but the dutchem may stick to the pan more. I have a reduced calorie version as well. (link coming later)

Troubleshooting: Is yours flat as a pancake?  It happens – sometimes it’s the weather and sometimes there is too much flour/ not enough liquid.

If you make this let me know in the comments how it went!

A new gardening season is upon us!

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The greenhouse and cold frames are already beginning to fill up with seedlings. This year - unhampered by any broken bones (yeah!!!) - I’m trying to follow along with Charles Dowding’s No Dig. We’ll see, it’s early days yet but my goal is to grow all my own fruit and veg for the year excluding any tropical stuff. Seeds are germinating and there is a pile of new covering and netting just waiting to be laid out over tender plants. I can’t resist growing flowers too, so those are sprinkled in with the veg.

I try to be efficient and sort the seed packets by the month and then by the temperature required so I can group them on the heat mats. It more or less works out.

This year’s major addition to everything is honey bees. The hive is constructed and waiting in the shop so nobody else moves in. My new bee suit is hanging on its own special hook and the bees have been ordered and registered with the state. Some time around tax day I will head over on the ferry and bring back my very own bees! I hope they like me…

Oops - where did November go?

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Time really does fly when you’re having fun (and when you’re trying to meet a deadline…) Now somehow it’s almost Christmas! The beehive is almost complete - it just needs a few coats of Watco on the outside and then the finishing bits that aren’t supposed to get oily added on. And then it will be time for bees. Which I admit to being somewhat nervous about - and they’ll know, I’m sure of it. Hopefully the welcome mat of cherry blossoms will be out and they’ll be so glad to call Short Meadow home that they won’t care.

I’ve started painting upstairs - in the hopes that I can live up there soon. Whitewashing is really a messy business but it does look good! It looks like I will have to forego underfloor heating for now - which is a disappointment but does mean I can probably get the floors done sooner and possibly do them myself… famous last words but I do like a challenge.

I will resolve to post on a more regular basis in 2019!

Cold frames and chipmunks

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It’s always amazing when one of those non-essential but important projects, that somehow lingers for years, finally gets done. Top of the list were these coldframes. The delays were numerous, from running out of screws to being too cold or too hot. The broken ankle didn’t help either. But now they are done, and I’m willing to look past the gaps and uneven corners!

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The location was mostly out of convenience, next to the greenhouse where there is still space to walk. This puts them under the pine tree which also has the birdfeeder on the other side. I installed the lids in situe on a rather windy day so I wasn’t too surprised to see Sarah, the chipmunk zipping around between her woods and the birdfeeder. I was amazed, though when she stopped and turned around on the fence to come back to see what I was doing. She didn’t mind the drill or big windows being moved just feet from where she was gathering seeds. In all she seemed to understand about needing to get things under cover and ready for winter.

Sarah draws the line though as cell phones with cameras- then I instantly became a suspicious character and she refused to come close until we negotiated for a few brief portraits (and yes, I then went away and left her in peace.) The wind seemed to work in her favor as it kept most of the birds away - which aren’t really a threat, but their constant motion makes her nervous. I put down a fresh handful of seeds to make sure she could make the most of the day.

Very little of my work at Shortmeadow goes unsupervised and its always nice to have a friendly face to talk to!