Beet, goat cheese, and pecan salad

One of my favorites, this salad.  I first had a beet salad several years ago at the Pebble Beach, CA restaurant, Club XIX (amazing place, by the way).  This kind of salad was hardly popular yet and I was hooked right then and there.  This restaurant also is responsible for my husband and myself becoming a fan of the “chef’s tasting menu” where the chef picks his best eats for you.  We have never been disappointed. Conversely, we have tried many things we would have never ordered and have increased our food knowledge as well.

This was my third winter for planting beets and was also the best.  I opted for “Bull’s Blood”, “Chioggia”, and “Detroit Dark” this year.  I couldn’t locate any golden beet seeds this year locally, but that’s next on my list.  Beets are super-easy to grow.  The hardest part is waiting for them to grow up, instead of eating them as baby beets.  Kids can plant these very easily because the seeds don’t get lost in the grasp of a small child.

If you’ve never tasted one, beets are sweet with a bit of an earthy flavor.  They pair nicely with something acidic like oranges or vinegars.

I’m anxious to try a beet dye oneday…

Precious garden cargo, planted by my little buddy.

You can saute’ the greens but I’ve never been a big fan.  Here they are beheaded. Cook at 350 for at least an hour or until tender when poked with a fork.

All peeled, diced, and ready to mix with:

  • goat cheese
  • basil or chives
  • roasted pecans
  • balsamic vinegar reduction
  • walnut or olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Serve by a window looking out to something lovely and a good gardening book to plan for your beets!

I HIGHLY recommend Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte found here in addition to a region specific book of your finding.

Kumquat Mojito + kid’s version

One of 4 kumquat trees we enjoy.

Kumquat Mojito

3 kumquats, halved

1 sprig of mint, leaves only

1 oz lime juice

2 oz rum

2 oz simple syrup (1/1 ratio sugar to water, dissolved)

ice, to fill the shaker

Muddle kumquats and mint in shaker.

Add juice, rum, syrup, and ice.

Shake vigorously.

Poor everything into a Collins glass (as pictured), add straw, and enjoy!

Kid’s kumquat mixer

omit rum

press oranges instead of kumquats if it’s too bitter

Kids love to muddle or is it meddle?

Kid’s samsuta orange version.

Cheers to another day of life!  Who can’t toast to that?

Blackberry Love

I’m SO excited that after lovin’ on our blackberry plant for 2 years, we are going to have HUNDREDS of blackberries this year!!

What should I make?

 

Store-bought flower quick change

This week is teacher appreciation week (why this is right before school gets out and not in the thick of the school-year…i dunno) and Mother’s Day is on Sunday so this is a quick and affordable free (!) little change.

I happen to be prepping some flowers for our newly minted 6 year-old’s birthday party and started twisted the wrappings around (fresh and easy has really great flowers right now, by the way).  I thought it a definite waste to throw away the stuff!!  You know, it’s that delicate paper-y stuff between the plastic outer covering and the flowers themselves.

This –^

My first instinct was to take it upstairs  and make a super fast ruffle (yes, I am that crazy), but I’ve been trying to find ways to cut back on my projects so twisting seemed more appropriate.

I simply wrapped it around and knotted it twice until it was super tight.  Remember that it’s delicate, so be careful not to tear.  I “unpeeled” the pieces of the two ends and they just unfold into the shape of rosettes. You could knot it once and it would work out, mine was just a little long for me.

Short and sweet.

You could throw in these special edition Lily Pulitzer animal crackers for good measure.

My Garden in March

“I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day,
and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny
with a love that nobody could share or conceive of
who had never taken part in the process of creation.
It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world
to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil,
or a rose of early peas just peeping forth
sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Mosses from and Old Manse”


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