The Pig and I

The fig trees have been ripe a couple of weeks now and I've been busy preserving, preserving, preserving. There's a tree on the property of the condos we live in and there's also one at Ross' Nana's house. This has put me in good supply of figs, though I'm not convinced one can ever truly have enough of these little gems of yum. Ross' family prefers a Southern fig preserve with strawberry Jell-O, so I made around 3 cases total for him and them (last year I didn't make enough for him at half a case and it was gone in a month or two so I promised not to make this mistake again). I've also made some jars of the regular fig preserve I like (figs, sugar and lemon juice only). But in the middle of all that we started what I refer to as "monsoon season" in Houston, which is NOT good for figs. I ran over to the on property tree and saw that what I thought would happen did happen. Figs were overripening faster than I could get them, even with the Pi...

I got some buckwheat a while back, intending to make it with beets. Then I forgot all about it until today when I discovered some beets in the house that needed to be used. This was substantially more delicious than I expected it to be, and we all ate it up with gusto. Hope you enjoy! Buckwheat: 1/2 cup buckwheat groats 2-2 1/2 cups water 1 teaspoon salt pat of butter (optional) Put water, salt and butter (if using) in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in the buckwheat and boil for 10 minutes, stirring every so often. Strain out remaining water and serve. Serves 2. Veggies: 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 beets, peeled and diced 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 onion, diced 1 cup celery, sliced 1 small jicama root, peeled and diced 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 1 teaspoon each: garlic powder, salt Heat oil in a skillet over medium, then add beets, carrots, onion, celery, jicama, garlic powder, and salt. F...

The Piggy loves eggplant and chick peas and has been harassing me to do something with the eggplant she's been seeing in the fridge. I wanted part of it to crust with potato and parmesan but didn't want to make the whole thing that way so I also made this for her. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 globe eggplant, peeled and diced 1 can chickpeas 1/2 red onion, diced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon za'atar 1 teaspoon salt juice of 1/2 lemon 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce In a skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onions and eggplant with salt and fry lightly. When the eggplant has slightly crisp exterior, add chickpeas, za'atar and lemon juice then cook down 1-2 minutes. Add tomato sauce and simmer until the sauce is slightly paste-like. Serves 4 as a side or 1 as a meal.