New Cooking Blog

Hi everyone,
My friend Shannon recommended this blog.
It looks really neat!
For the Love of Cooking

First Fall Baking: Zwetschgenkuchen

Hi everyone! As the record-breaking heat of Summer 2010 winds down, I finally can use my oven again. Hurray! My inaugural baking project used up a batch of plums that came from Erica's CSA share. These plums were fairly tart and not very juicy so my thoughts turned to baking. I used Grandma Marie's recipe and it came out fabulous. Not too sweet, very reminiscent of childhood. My only change was to use slices rather than whole halves because I was worried I would run out of plums. I made two cakes: one we ate right up and the other went in the freezer.

YUM!
Anyone else doing baking lately?

One Small clue

Bob's Red Mill, Steel Cut Oats

Name this Cooking Utensil - A Contest!

Greeting all and happy September! First of all let me apologize for not posting any salads for Ali's wonderful "Salad Days" project. Who knows, maybe I'll get some up by winter time.

So, what's this contest!? Last month, when I was up in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, about to begin a service trip (I was the cook) I was presented with a gift.

What you see in the photo above is my gift. It is a cooking implement, made of wood and made by the person who gave it to me. I took it in on the trip and it works VERY well!!

The challenge is to answer one or both of these questions. There will be a separate prize for each correct answer, as well as any other prizes that I feel like giving out!

• What is it used for?
• What is it called?

All of you were notified by email today, so the contest has officially begun. Please submit your entries to me via email. Deadline for entries is MIDNIGHT on Saturday September 18th.

Good Luck & Lots of Love, Didi

Our Salad Days...

Technically our salad days are winding down - although down here things are just starting to heat up!

I've been marching through Bittman, trying salad after salad and I have a few new salads to add / review.

Review - Fennel & Orange Salad - this salad gets a big thumbs down. It was odd tasting, through not terrible, and just sort of blah. I think replacing the fennel with jicama could lead to a much more exciting salad.

I'm going to make seperate posts for my other salads - Southwester Slaw & Fallafel Salad

A New Link on the Side

I added a new link that should provide hours of procrastinating fun -
The Gallery of Regrettable Food!

I have a few contributions to make to the gallery myself!

Watermelon & Tomato salad

The last two watermelons we purchased at Winco were grown by Dan Avila & Sons of Turlock and they have been over the top delicious. I found a fun bunch of watermelon recipes in the September, 2008 issue of Saveur magazine (issue 113)

I made the watermelon & tomato salad pictured above; which is a tasty mixture of sweet, sour & spicy. Ali noted that Mark Bittman also has a recipe for this unique combination. We found it delicious.

The recipe makes a big bowl full, but it keeps well for a day in the frig.

Mix together 1/4 cup white wine or rice vinegar, 3 tsp sugar, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1/4 tsp cayenne in a large bowl. Quarter & slice half of a small red onion & add to bowl. Let the onion soak in the mixture for at least a half hour. This softens & sweetens the onion. (Dad commented on the delicious onion in the salad.)

Remove rind & seeds from 4 lbs. of watermelon, cut into 1 inch chunks. Also cut about 1.5 lbs. of red ripe tomatoes into 1 inch chunks; add these to bowl along with 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 loosely packed cup each of shredded basil & mint leaves. Stir gently to toss. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Cool and refreshing on a HOT summer day.