Chive Jelly

We have a chive plant that is more than just a plant in our garden.  It is a part of our heritage, a legacy.  We got the chives as a small split off of my husband's grandmother's plant at her house.  We planted it at our first house, when we were first married.  When we had our first daughter, we built a new house, and the chives moved with us across town.  Over the last decade, they have grown, and grown, and grown.  And we have shared the chives with many others.  My kids give them to teachers as gifts.  They invite friends to sample from our plant and then send them home with a split off of it so that they can plant chives in their own yards.  This particular plant has taken root in dozens of yards around the Chicago suburbs.  And it keeps going strong, just like my husband's grandma did for so many years.

This winter, sadly, time finally caught up with our beloved Gigi, and our family journeyed through one of the saddest goodbyes we've had to face.  Then, this spring, her chives popped up in our yard once again, a reminder that life grows.  We miss her terribly, but I know we will always remember her with such love, and I know that she felt that love while she was here.

As far as cooking goes, there are so, so many ways to use chives.  My kids will eat them straight out of the garden, but they also like them sprinkled on eggs or potatoes.  I mix them in with chicken dishes or with fish.  They are great in savory muffins or quick breads.  But after reading an online article about herb jellies, I started thinking about trying out a chive jelly. I'm a big fan of the more savory jellies, like onion jam and pepper jelly, and I thought that the chives would be a great spread for crackers or bread, or to use as a glaze for meat.

I started by chopping up a big bunch of the chives, about 2 cups.

I put the chopped chives in a pot with 2 cups of water, and brought it all to a boil for a couple of minutes.  Then I poured the chives and the water into a separate container, covered them, and let them seep for a couple of hours.

The next thing I did was to strain liquid from the chives through a fine mesh strainer, pushing the chives to get all the "juice" out of it.  Kind of like a chive tea.

I prepped several canning jars and lids, boiling the jars for 10 minutes and then keeping them in the hot water until I needed them.  I soaked the lids in some of the boiled water as well to soften up the seals.

I took the chive tea and put it in a large pot with 1/4 cup of white vinegar, a pinch of salt, and 4 cups of sugar and brought it up to a boil.  Then I added one package (3 ounces) of liquid pectin, brought it back to a boil for one minute, and took it off of the heat.

There was a bit of foam, so I skimmed that off of the hot jelly and then poured it into the prepared jars and put the lids and seals on.  I got about 4 pints of jelly total.

Listening to the pinging pops of the lids as they sealed made me smile.  Opening up the first jar, spreading it onto a cracker and popping it into my mouth made me smile even more.

Chive jelly is a good thing.  A really good thing.  It tastes sweet and savory, clean and grassy, and it's almost like having a bit of spring in a jar.  Very little fuss for a whole lot of yum.  Definitely worth a try!

Veggies Galore - Bubble and Squeak

There's never a time when I don't want to eat veggies, but I totally understand that that feeling is not mainstream.  However, I'm still convinced that if people don't like veggies, it's probably because they haven't tried them the right way.

Bubble and Squeak is a British dish, and even though I don't have to translate the name, because it's in English, I'm pretty sure it's code for "cram in as much veg as possible and then make it taste delicious".  I mean, that's basically the premise of it.  All the veggies you want, add some seasonings, and pan fry it on butter until it gets nice and crispy.  So, so good!

Posole Verde - Ancient Comfort Food

Days are getting colder, and I kind of love that, because it means more baking and casseroles and soups and stews and...well, let's just say that I love warming up in my kitchen.

Lately, I've been on an intense flavor kick.  A little bit is not enough.  Spices, herbs, acidity...I'm craving it all.  And that doesn't always translate for the younger members of the household, but lately they've been troopers about trying new dishes and flavors that they might not be used to.

A couple of weeks ago, inspired by some tomatillos that my friend Amy of Amy's Organic's gave us when we picked up our apple CSA haul, I decided to pull out a dish that I had made a long time ago.  One that was all right, but needed tweaking, and I had just never gotten back to it. Posole Verde.  

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day - Garden Zucchini Burgers

Yes, you read that right.  And yes, it's a real thing.  August 8th is Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day.  Seriously.  At least, here in America.  Google it.  I can't make this stuff up.

So...what are you going to do when you find those green garden zuccs on your porch?  

Well, you could whip up some lemon zucchini muffins, or maybe gingered zucchini carrot bread...

Or, you could make yourself these awesomely delicious Garden Zucchini Burgers.  

Lovely Lavender Lemonade

I love summer evenings, where you can still feel the heat of the day, but it's lost its edge, and you can just sit outside and enjoy being where you are.  There's nothing much better than kicking up my feet in my hammock and watching the kids play around.  Unless, of course, you add in a tasty cool drink.

Today I was inspired by the lavender in my yard.  Lavender lemonade sounds lovely, doesn't it?  Sweet, tart, and floral.  Ooh, and let's kick it up a notch by adding a little gin.  Wink wink.

A Twist on Front Porch Gourmet's Rosemary Lavender Yeast Rolls

When Melissa from Front Porch Gourmet asked if anyone was up to do a little recipe swapping, I jumped at the opportunity!  She is one of those people that I can tell is as infatuated with food as I am, and she's always got yummy vittles up on her blog.  The one that caught my eye and my heart...and my stomach, and probably my stomach's heart too...was her recipe for Rosemary Lavender Yeast Rolls.  Yes, please!

Mint and Chocolate Blondies

Screw what botanists may say.  Mint is a weed.

I swear, it's taking over faster than I can keep up.  Right now, it's threatening my chard.  I need to arm my chard with swords and shields (and regular pulls of the mint).  The consistent rain mixed with gorgeous sun is great for all of the garden, but the mint has really been taking advantage lately.  So I've needed to find new way to get rid of...I mean, to use it.

Mint and chocolate were just made to go together, but for some reason, the thought of throwing mint into a brownie didn't really appeal to me. Not that I don't like mint brownies! I do, but usually the mint is done through extract, carrying through the brownie or in a frosting.  But then I started thing about a blondie.  The sweet, buttery base with bits of mint and chocolate chunks mixed through?  Yeah, that's the ticket!

Pesto for Dessert? Absolutely!

My kids are well aware of the weirdness that dances through my head, and sometimes, they are my best sounding boards.  So when I brought up the idea of a dessert pesto to them, I was expecting some good feedback.  What I got went a little like this:

"Hey guys, what do you think about me trying to make a dessert pesto?"

"Ew."
"Yeah, ew."
"Like with cheese?  Ew"

"No, not with cheese, sillies!  I was thinking of making it with mint."

"Mom, mint is NOT going to go well with garlic!"
"Yeah, totally ew."
"I'm not going to eat that."

CSA Share - Spring Week 4 and Carrot Top Arugula Pesto

It's the last week of our spring CSA, and while endings make me a little sad, it also makes me excited to think about the upcoming main season share we have to look forward to!  Plus, this is one of my favorite hauls yet:

Spinach, carrots, beets, arugula (double, because the hubs traded our lettuce for more!), snap peas, and garlic scapes!

Brown Butter Basil Caramels

Oh my yum.

I want to write something witty, I really do, but my brain is not quite all there today.  Long story involving giggly third graders sleeping over and sleep deprivation, and, quite possibly, sugar overload from sampling this recipe of caramels I just made.

Brown butter basil caramels.

Purple Pesto

Some divine hand has been practically desperate for me to notice chives.  They keep popping up everywhere.  More specifically, chive flowers.  Amy had some flowering chives on her truck last week when she came to drop off my milk and eggs.  Then I noticed more of them being sold this weekend at Green City Market.  My kids keep bringing them in from our yard.  Today, not more than a couple of hours after I gave a friend a split of my chive plant and told her how yummy the blossoms were in salads, there was a posting on a Facebook page that I follow about chive blossoms in salad.

Spring (Grilled) Chicken

Sometimes, fate works in mysterious ways.

And sometimes, fate does its work in unusual places, like, say, at Binny's Beverage Depot.

Maybe I should explain.  Give a little background.  You see, the hubs and I have had a lot of fun visiting local distilleries, but obviously, we can't buy everything at every distillery.  Sometimes there are gems that we leave there for another visit.  And sometimes, the flavors of some of those spirits left behind stick in my head.  Haunt me, if you will, in a good way.  This is the story of one of those.

One of the distilleries that we have recently visited is Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan.  They make some fantastic whiskeys, gins, rums, and other spirits.  We walked out with a bottle of their Ravenswood Rye Whiskey, which my husband really enjoyed.  But the drink that stuck in my head was their Humdinger Jalapeno Spirit.  It had really surprised me!  I'm usually pretty sensitive to spicy, and tend to prefer things on the mild side, which jalapeno is usually not.  The Humdinger had all the clean, fresh flavor of a jalapeno, but somehow avoided the burn that I usually dread.  It sounds cheesy, but after that day, I continued to play back the flavor in my head, imagining the possibilities.

Soup or Salad? Why Not Both?

If you read my CSA post for this week, you know that I said I had a TON of lettuce in our share.  I may have been exaggerating.  It was not an actual ton of lettuce.  That would have been crazy.  But it was a huge amount of lettuce.  Just over a pound of lettuce leaves.  Which may not sound like a lot, but after serving salad to my family of 5 twice and still having more than half the bag left, I realized that a pound is quite a bit of lettuce.

So, what to do with an excess of lettuce?  It doesn't keep forever, and it doesn't freeze well.  But, surprisingly, it does make a delicious soup.

Garden Mint Honey Caramels

There may be a crack in the universe.  I feel like a kid who was told by a friend that Santa's not real.  One of my culinary beliefs has been shattered.

It's not hard to make caramels.

Mind you, I have probably spent hundreds of dollars over my lifetime on delicious, expensive, artisan caramels.  Not all the time, mind you, I'm not crazy.  But as a once-in-a while indulgence?  Absolutely.  I love the texture of a perfect caramel, how it melts away, but slowly, so that you can linger in it's decadence.  I'm drawn in by unusual flavors like bourbon-walnut and Earl Grey.

And now I can make my own.

It's like finding out that I have a super power.  I can't explain how intensely exciting this is to me.  I'm like a mad scientist who has harnessed the power of lightning.  I'm the Nikola Tesla of my own kitchen, driven swiftly towards madness by my own potential.

Is that overboard?

Okay.  Power trip over.  I can create amazing caramels, but I still am barely holding on to a shred of control over the mint in my garden.  Combine those two, and you get...

Mint Caramels.

May's Preserve Trifecta Part Two: Rosemary Rhubarb Jelly

All right, so I've already shared the Meyer Lemon Rhubarb Marmalade, and now it's time to continue on the rhubarb train with Rosemary Rhubarb Jelly, another great recipe I tried from Preserving by the Pint!

Sorrel Cardamom Muffins

Sometimes, I get a culinary idea in my head and I just can't shake it.  I am driven, like an insane artist, to create whatever it is that takes hold of me.  Sometimes it's genius, sometimes a disaster.

Meet sorrel.  Sorrel is a leafy herb.  It's tangy and tart, and very refreshing.  It's fun to mix in salads, soups, and even drinks.  I got some on a whim and planted it last year, not realizing that it was a perennial.  Until it was the first thing to pop up in my garden this year, that is.

Souper Douper: Pasta e Fagioli

What makes soup good?  I'm sure it differs for everyone, but I have some high soup standards.  It should be warming, comforting, and tasty.  Good soups have layers of flavor and texture.  It can be hard to get that done quickly.  This Italian bean soup recipe manages to layer the flavor without taking hours of simmering.

I based it on a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for pasta e fagioli.  It's a great lunchtime soup, terrific with a slice of warm bread and a salad.  My kids like to dip, so the bread is a must around here, and Costco carries a great natural frozen french bread that can be in and out of the oven in the time it takes to make a pot of this pasta e fagioli.