Cucumber Honeydew Margarita Popsicles

Source: endlesssimmer.com via Enzie on Pinterest

These Cucumber Honeydew Margarita Popsicles look very refreshing! Found via Endless Poptails I am saving the recipe to give it a try:

Makes five 2-and-1/4-oz. popsicles

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Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies...

Garden update time! The plants have been doing pretty well, save for a large aphid attack - those darn tiny green monsters almost got the best of us. We thought about purchasing a sack of ladybugs to see if they would help, but just never got around to it - a good spray with water knocked most of them off, but that didn't do much to stop them from coming back (we're trying to not use any repellents or sprays - even the natural ones can kill good bugs!). Here are a few snaps of our bounty.

Our carrots have done quite well - we've been pulling them out for a couple weeks now and still have a good couple dozen brewing in the ground.

Kale was a slow start for us for whatever reason, but has actually gone a little bonkers! Here's a bowlful before we used it in a recipe a few days ago.

We just dug this potato out from the bed the other day - our first one! I haven't actually pulled the plants out yet, but we carefully shifted the dirt away to see what was happening underneath and found this guy.

Finally we have a bounty of Swiss Chard to show you - here's about 6 pounds worth, with plenty still left behind on the plants. I have plans to do a repeat recipe (that Tortilla Lasagna with Swiss Chard) with some of the stalks, and Jeff brought in a big bagful into work to share today - not sure what we'll do with the rest yet.

I do also have a new recipe to share with you today - a fun cookie! Let's get to it.

Coarse cornmeal can be used for more than just polenta or cornbread... have you ever thought of using the crunchy bits in cookies? In fact, I could have sworn we had already done just that, but for the life of me I couldn't remember exactly what they were. After going searching through our archives on the site, I finally managed to find that post - it was those Italian Polenta Cookies we made all the way back in '08!

These Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies are quite different, however, in not only taste and texture, but shape too! I came across the original recipe from one of my favorite blog writers and cookbook authors, David Lebovitz, who in turn adapted it from one of Carol Field’s brilliant books (which, incidentally, looks like it is being revised and printed again with a holiday release date). I didn't make many changes at all to David's version - just two, one being a few drops of extra vanilla and the tiny dried lavender blossoms.

For creating the stiff dough, you'll see I have listed coarse polenta in the ingredients - I went that route as I love the robust crunch the tiny golden pearls add. If you wish for a more sandy (or less gritty for lack of a better word) texture, look for finer dry polenta (think instant) or even regular cornmeal if that's all you have. The dried lavender blossoms can be fairly potent, so I wouldn't suggest using too much - I kept the amount to two teaspoons, which left us with a definite presence, without tasting perfume-y.

As David suggested, you can use any sort of dried fruit that you think you'd like in these cookies - I kept with the theme and went with dried cherries. Unless you decide on a tiny dried fruit like currants, finely chop the pieces - if they are too chunky, the dough can become difficult to slice.

Speaking of slicing, these cookies are cut off well-chilled bricks of dough, making portioning them out a snap. Our method gives you rectangular cookies, but if you'd like round ones, just shape the halved dough into two cylinders instead. Dividing the dough in half first not only makes for more manageable-sized pieces, but it also allows you the freedom to toss one half in the freezer for freshly baked cookies whenever the impulse arises. If you find that the dough starts to crumble at all when slicing it right from the freezer, give it a few minutes at room temperature to soften slightly. We quite enjoyed these as is, but if I were to make any other changes, I think I'd add the zest of a lemon for an extra burst of brightness.

Recipes
Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies

Perfect Valentine's lunch date outfit

Guest post written by: Chelsea Pearce

My boyfriend and I are going to have a lunch date for Valentine's Day because he has to go on a business trip at the crack of dawn early next morning and therefore a dinner date like we had originally planed just isn't in the books for us. But I still want to look my best for the date like I would if it was for a dinner date. I'll be at work though so i need to make sure that I can wear something that's appropriate for the office.

Lucky for me, our office has a really casual dress code, which makes dressing for my date a little bit easier. I've gotten a few ideas from my satellitestarinternet.com/ as to what I'm going to wear.

I've narrowed it down to a few different dresses that I have and cardigans. I'm leaning towards a black dress and a red cardigan. Then of course I'll wear it with tights and heels. I may even curl instead of straighten my hair for the date since he likes it when I do that.

Sate Bulayak, Typical Culinary Lombok

Well, the people of Lombok certainly no stranger to the culinary this one "Sate Bulayak", this is a culinary Sate yuph Typical Lombok NTB. Satay is made of beef, with a distinctive splash of flavor, there are elements of coconut milk, so tasty, curry-like flavor. And one more thing that makes this cuisine unique is Bulayak. Bulayak is a rice cake made ​​of rice, with palm leaf wrappers, so the taste lontongnya very typical, tasty and tender. You can easily find sellers Sate Bulayak in Mataram, which is along Jalan Udayana Mataram. Every night before, along the road is full of street vendors who peddle a variety of foods, one of which is Sate Bulayak.

Chive Blossom Vinegar

Years.

It took years for me to finally get a chive plant to bear blossoms. I'm not sure why I had such a difficult time, but my best guess (along with a bit of investigation) is that chives don't bloom until their second year. At least mine didn't. I had planted year after year in various locations and many times didn't even get basic chives. I was told often that they grew "anywhere, like weeds", without having proof of that at all.

Last year I grew chives in a container, but only the chives themselves grew. I put them to bed with the rest of the garden in the fall and this spring, sure enough, they grew with blossoms attached. Finally! My reasoning for attempting to grow them all these years was solely for the blossoms to make chive blossom vinegar with.

I was a happy camper this year.

So, here is a photo or two of the blossoms, the vinegar making, and a final usage in chive blossom mayo. Click on the photos to view them larger.

The method is as simple as it looks: Harvest the chives with blossoms intact. Rinse well and trim blossoms from stems. Set chives aside for another use. Toss blossoms into a glass jar with a non-metal lid. Add vinegar to cover, lid tightly and set in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks. Strain blossoms and keep vinegar in the dark to prevent the color from fading.

Vinegar on the first day, one day later and two weeks later. The strained and finished product on the bottom.

Homemade mayo is far easier than you think. I always make mine by hand, but feel free to search the web for blender and processor recipes - there a re quite a few out there.

Here is 1 egg yolk, 1 Tablespoon of chive blossom vinegar, a pinch of white pepper and salt to taste. Blend well and pour 1 cup of oil into the egg mixture in a VERY thin and slow stream while whisking continuously until mayonnaise forms. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Keep covered tightly in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.

I Still Make Dinner

Everything from the grill: flank steak with crema (Mexican sour cream, because sometimes the usual just doesn't cut it), cliantro and lime. Corn in the husk, zucchini, green onions and shrimp. Dessert? Double-berry milkshakes.

I haven't been absent from here on purpose, and it hasn't been for anything bad, just busyness on my part. Back in March I started another job working nights. That's all well and good, and the original purpose was to work at night so I would still have my days open for children and food blogging. My life seems to be so very different from others in many respects, but usually it's the glitch-factor with me. The Murphy's Law sort of bent that's usually only reserved for cursed Irishmen.

I don't only work 40 hours a week, my weeks are more often than not 63 to 75 hours in length. That's a whole lot of time NOT for myself. Getting home in the morning is odd, sometimes several of the kids are awake and or gone from the house to school already and I miss the standard goodbyes before their school day more than I thought I would. Everyone is home from school now, though and it's a bit easier to come back to the house and find them sleeping instead of gone.

I actually like my job quite a bit. It's not without moments that make a person want to run the other way (I work at a group home for two mentally and physically disabled women), but there are rewards you don't get elsewhere. It's a bit like mothering, in that respect, much of the reward is not monetary or tangible, but things like silent hugs or silly sideways smiles go pretty far for me.

I do cook, of course; all seven kids are still roosting at the nest and need to be fed the same several times a day as always, but I find now that the time it takes to set up a photo or write a paragraph or two are lost in the sheer run-around that is my day. I miss doing what I love - cooking and photographing and especially writing. I can write a full first chapter of a book in my head at night when I'm just about to drift off. I just can't seem to find the time to get it to paper or computer screen.

So, without a recipe attached or a lengthy and menu-worthy description, I thought I'd share tonight's dinner; as-is without any fluff. See? I'm still cooking - they're still eating.

Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice

You might be wondering where the Wednesday Treat Day post is - we had to skip it this week as Jeff had another surgery on Tuesday. Not nearly as major as his neck surgery last December, but he had a rotator cuff tear that needed to be repaired, along with a large bone spur (which caused the tear!) that needed to be cleaned away. He is doing well and the surgery went as expected, but he is in a fair amount of pain... and we haven't started the physical therapy yet (tomorrow!).

While Jeff was napping and I was in between training sessions with Dora, I did manage to sit down and write about this Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice recipe we made for dinner recently.

You'll need a pound and a half of ground turkey for the meatballs - I suggest using a combination of breast and dark meats as we've found that to be a good balance. Meaning, the result will have lightness to it, yet still packs a punch in flavor and moisture. Could you simply just use either one? Sure - you could also use ground pork if you groove on that more than turkey, it just depends on what you like!

To push in as much oomph into the meatballs as possible, the meat was gently combined (go easy - think meatloaf... try not to handle the mixture too much!) with the whites of a few scallions, fresh cilantro, pungent fish sauce, a few squirts of rooster sauce (Sriracha, that is), a bit of sugar to balance, and a clove or two or minced garlic. Scooped out and rolled into balls, the meaty spheres are cooked in a heated skillet to give them a crusty, golden exterior, then placed into the oven to finish baking through.

You can use white rice as the bed of this dish, but we opted to go the brown rice route and augmented the directions using our favorite no-fuss method. If you'd like to do that, use the same amount of rice to roughly 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of broth (or water if you are so inclined) and cook the rice using the same manner as usually do. When the rice is tender, remove the cooking vessel from the heat, scatter the shredded carrots on top and let the mixture sit, covered, for an additional 5 minutes before fluffing and serving.

With the tender meatballs tossed on top of the colorful, orange-flecked rice, be sure to serve this dish with a wedge taken from a juicy lime to squeeze on top of each plate. It most likely would have been ok without it, but the extra acidity lifted and complimented the more complex flavors with a fresh brightness that I would have missed if it was left off. If you'd like to take out some of the prep time to make it a snap to prepare on a busy work night, you could knock out the raw meatballs the day or night before. Keep them covered in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them - be aware that they may take an extra couple of minutes to bake through.

Recipes
Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice