The Pig and I

I hadn't had rhubarb since I was a kid, when we used to pick it where it grew wild. But I saw some beautiful looking stalks at the store and thought it might make a lovely dessert without the usual strawberries that accompany it. Hope you enjoy! 4 stalks rhubarb, sliced into 1" pieces 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons butter 1/2-1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon each: vanilla extract, lemon juice Melt butter in 8-10" cast iron pan then add the other ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Top with crust, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake at 425F for 30 minutes. Serves 4. Crust: 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into bits 1 cup-ish flour 1 teaspoon salt 1-2 tablespoons vanilla sugar 5-ish tablespoons ice water Put butter, salt and sugar in a bowl and rub in the flour (I use my hands for this), a little at a time, until you have pea sized pebbles and "sand." Make a well in the middle of the butter mixture and add 4 tablespoons of water, qui...

So basically, I'd made a bunch of quinoa for the stuffed squash, since I wanted enough for that and then an equivalent amount for "something else." I had a lot of ideas on what that something else should be, but at the end of the day had to accept that I'm pretty lazy most of the time and so this "something" should be fast and easy. This is what I ended up deciding on and after a few revisions I'm pretty satisfied with it in this form. What I like the best about this is that it's nutritionally diverse in a single package, so you know you're getting good "growing food" served without having to mess with a bunch of stuff, and that has become really important to me since Ilana has effectively transitioned completely over to table food. Because it has both quinoa and eggs in it, it's very high in protein. Watermelon is the dessert of choice for this meal in our house. 3 cups cooked quinoa 1/2 cup each: chopped caramelized...

As you all know, I'm a pretty big fan of stuffed squash. They're relatively easy to make, despite there being a lot of steps, they're very healthful and they're effectively a "one pot" meal which means significantly fewer dishes to wash (this is important to me because dishes are the Death Star of my soul). They're also highly customizable and can be done with pretty much anything you have on hand at the house so long as you have a squash (of any type) to fill. I typically will select a high-protein grain for these because I nearly always make them either vegetarian or vegan, but meat could easily be added if that's your preference. I wanted to make one for Ilana since she'd never had it before, and since I'd found a large and beautiful acorn squash it seemed like a great opportunity. She ate this like it was going out of style, and to my surprise plowed through just under a quarter of the squash. Ross told me he thinks this probably belongs in...

I picked up a watermelon recently (yes, I know. WAY out of season) because Ilana is a huge fan of them and likes to mash her pieces around, bite off too-big chunks, and try to feed them to me. Since we're a small house I typically buy the person sized melons. It was quite a surprise for me when I cut it open and found a rind thick enough to eat and so I peeled the green part of the melon carefully and then cut off all the white rind before dispensing watermelon chunk treats. This is a really fun recipe, since watermelon rind tastes a lot like cucumber and in the States that's not something we typically cook before eating. It also, of course, cuts down on food waste. Since Ilana (aka the Piggy, so named after the pig-like sounds she used to make) spends a lot of time in the kitchen "helping" me cook I figure starting her out from the very beginning with an aversion to food waste is the way to go rather than trying to instil this concept later in her life. Hope you enj...

My body appears to have an understandable bias against the air in Houston. I don't know if it's the pollution or if there is some other kind of weird allergen in the air that bothers me more here than anywhere else I've lived, but the allergies have been hitting me hard in that debilitating, nearly flu-like kind of way. This is probably compounded by the fact that I really do have a bad habit of running myself ragged and only stopping when my body freaks out on me. On account of this I decided I should make some elderberry syrup to take daily, and since the Piggy (this is Ilana's nickname) also appears to have my allergies, for her to take daily as well. Although I make this for medicinal reasons (tablespoon daily for adults, teaspoon for little ones) it also has a lot of fun culinary applications. You can use it in place of maple syrup on waffles or pancakes, it goes well on ice cream and frozen yogurt and can be part of a sauce to top delicious things like lamb chops....

It's that time of year again. The time when it's cold (for Houston), and the time when I'm finishing up yet another semester. One more to go to complete the master's program before I start the PhD. Woo! This time of year brings the crock pot front and center in my life since it lends itself well to getting me fed when I have no time to cook, and also because it usually results in yummy soups, braised foods, and stuff like that. This recipe was born out of a need to feed myself, DH, DD and my Old English partner as we finalized our translation of Judith . I had mostly expected this food to be decent but it was quite a lot better than I expected and will be going into the "no time to cook!" rotation. Hope you enjoy! 2 pounds boneless pork ribs 1-2 cups each: carrots cut into 1" pieces, celery cut into 1" pieces, chopped red onion 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce 8 ounces water or beer (I used water; beer is for bread) 1 tablespoon each: parsley, thyme,...

I'm taking Old English right now and really enjoying the class. To celebrate the language and culture of the West Saxons, I decided I should bring some Saxon foods to class (I decided this a month or so ago but am actually doing it tomorrow). I had a lot of research to do because I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. Originally I planned to do sloe berries or plums, but that didn't really pan out. And then I saw some crab apples at the store and I got pretty excited because that's way better than plums and an equally appropriate choice (more so if you consider the season). I made some farmer's cheese and some sweet butter, and saved the whey and buttermilk to also bring to class. And then I worked on getting down a good bread that seemed to fit the descriptions I'd read. Lastly, the fruit. Can't have this type of snack or meal without fruit, right? I made everything mostly without modern conveniences, which means I cooked this over a fire. Unless you'r...