green onions: it's all good people

i love green onions, from their furry little eye watering feet to their crispy crunchy verdant tops. every bit of them is good. i'm tired of seeing one end or the other get the scrap-heap treatment! clean them, slice them, let them shine! the white part can be a bit strong, i admit. my solution: slice that end finely and add it at the beginning of the cooking process of what ever dish you are making, add the greens at the end so they retain their lovely crunch. or brazen it out, serve them raw all the way with dip or in salad. they're lovely grilled whole and plopped on top of bbq steaks, or sliced length wise in stir fry like multi colored noodles that bite back. to know them is to love them, every inch. you may want to invest in some gum, however.

campout chili

we love chili in this house. all kinds of chili, but especially verde varieties. a word on this: to my mind if i put the basic elements in a pot: meat, beans, chilies, i consider that i have made chili. i don't want to hear about how it's not chili with out blah blah blah like your abuelita or auntie so and so made it. one thing i never do is doctor canned chili, i consider that to be cheating, other than that anything goes. so into this pot which this time happened to be precariously balanced on rocks in a campfire ring at the local lake went 1.5 pounds of ground beef to brown with a liberal dose of salt and pepper. once that had sizzled down but was not completely cooked in went one large can of black beans, one roughly diced yellow onion (if it doesn't make you cry, don't use it for chili!), one diced pasilla chili, three diced cloves of garlic, one teaspoon cumin, one and a half teaspoons paprika, and just for good measure a bit more black pepper. all of this simmered for about to ten minutes, you'll have to adjust time for cursing smoke in the eyes and turning the pot because only one side was getting heat. then four large ortega chilies were diced and added to the pot with their juices, the lid was put on and all was cooked until most of the onions were translucent. note that i specified that the onion be a rough chop. it's more interesting texture wise to have some larger chunks of onion that maintain a bit of crunch if you ask me. so, assuming you agree, some onions are still white at the middle while some others have all but disappeared. in goes a large can of pinto beans, mostly but not completely drained. stir and simmer till you just can't stand it! we dug into ours with some saltine crackers while hail pounded the screen tent over our picnic table, but i'm sure it would be good at a nice, cozy dining table too.

curried chickpeas

well, long time no type! life has been a whirlwind in the cottage, more on that in other news. for now, i have a back log of food to tell you (assuming i have a reader out there) about. first: curried chickpeas! these are not the garbanzo beans that your mother tried to hide in your salad and that you surreptitiously flicked at your siblings, no! these are the chickpeas of the future! these are the wonderful little protein packed veggies that the kids will want more of! (and you will too) so, to start: dice half a red bell pepper, some onion (white or yellow or even a few green ones) and about two carrots. saute all this in two to three table spoons of butter, once they have gotten soft add about two table spoons of yellow curry powder and let it mix for a moment. drain and add one can of chickpeas and just enough water to loosen all the curry powder and allow every thing to mix together. at the last stir in either a table spoon of dried cilantro or two tablespoons of fresh, finely chopped, cilantro. cover and simmer stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes (or as long as you want, really) and serve with rice. you'll never flick a garbanzo again!

gardening madness

life just got a little prettier here at the cottage! i just planted more snapdragons and verbena out front and we have hanging baskets seeded with herbs out back and a new wine barrel with a beautiful cala lilly and alyssum right by the door going from our bed room to the patio. things are shaping up! last year i was just too prego to do half of what i want to do so this is the year of out door improvements!