I’ve had the nicest morning. I got up obscenely early, which is really fun for me (I feel like I’m stealing time, cheating the system). I was sitting in the sun room in my pajamas when I saw a big barred owl in the backyard, …
Yesterday there was a little rainstorm in the afternoon, so I came inside and stirred up some vegan gingerbread. I made a huge mess. Molasses and syrup dripped off the edges of the counter, and sugar sparkled on the floor as the lightning flashed. Of …
For lunch last Sunday, we made our favorites, Thai Tofu Burritos, but this time we improved them by adding some homegrown sweet potatoes to the filling. I’ve included the revised recipe below, along with our recipe for purple cabbage slaw, which is what we always serve as a side with our burritos.
Sunday’s meal was particularly delicious because we ate it at the picnic table by the pond in the most perfect weather. There were ruffly white oak leaves overhead and ferns all around our feet. Babs was strolling about the yard, and she came and stretched out on the stone path that runs next to the picnic table.
“She just likes to be nearby,” Rob said.
Then she went and climbed into the compost bin.
“I think she’s hunting a lizard,” Rob commented. But thankfully it got away.
Maggie is so tough; she catches squirrels and rabbits. But Babs is a small and gentle creature; she only catches butterflies.
Thai Tofu Burritos with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
Thai Peanut Sauce:
1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
1 can coconut milk
3 fresh habanero peppers, minced
3 Tbls water
3 Tbls fresh lime juice
4 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls hot sauce
1 Tbls minced fresh ginger root
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Filling:
2 packages pre-fried tofu triangles, available at Asian markets
Olive oil
1 Tbls minced fresh ginger root
3 fresh cayenne peppers, minced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbls soy sauce
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, chopped
Tortillas, extra chopped fresh cilantro for garnish, 2 cups cooked brown rice, reserved Thai peanut sauce for drizzling over the top
Directions:
Prepare the peanut sauce and set aside. Here’s how to do it: In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, coconut milk, hot peppers, water, lime juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, ginger, and garlic. Make sure the sauce is smooth and that there are no peanut butter lumps. Mix in the cilantro just before serving.
Cut the tofu triangles in half, or in thirds if you prefer. Set aside. Sauté the ginger, cayenne peppers, garlic, and soy sauce in a little oil. Add the sweet potatoes, cover, and sweat until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add the red bell pepper and onions and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the tofu and the peanut sauce and cook until heated through. Before you add the sauce to the pot, be sure to reserve enough to drizzle over the top of your burrito.
Heat your tortillas. Fill each tortilla with a little rice and plenty of tofu-bell pepper-peanut sauce mixture. Roll up the tortilla. Drizzle Thai peanut sauce over the top and then sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top of the sauce.
Purple Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients:
1 cup red wine vinegar
8 Tbls sugar
8 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 large purple cabbage, shredded
Directions:
Make the dressing by whisking together vinegar, sugar, oil, and salt. Shred the cabbage and put it in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and toss well to mix. Chill before serving.
This weekend we did most of our spring vegetable planting. Rob planted 17 tomato plants in brightly colored cages. He planted four Romas, one Arkansas Traveler, one Japanese Black Trifele, one Sweet Baby Girl, one Park’s Whopper, one Red Grape, one Yellow Pear, one Red Brandywine …
Last Sunday when Jammer was still with us, when he was still resting in his little bed next to my desk in the Little House, we harvested a couple of fine cabbages, glittering with raindrops, and we made a cabbage salad. We’d check on him, …
As you can see, I’m including the cobbler recipe, which I got it from my friend Alana at work. Alana and I usually limit our conversation to the subjects of cats, the drought, and our awesome rain gauges (we both have the same model, sanctioned by the National Weather Service). But one day we got to talking about cobbler and she gave me this recipe:
Alana’s Peach Cobbler
On Sunday we cleaned the house from top to bottom and made a few little improvements. We’ve now got a chalkboard in the kitchen, a slightly–no, very–tacky tall lamp on the sugar box in the living room, and a fancy, frilly brass and marble plant …
I’d like to take time out from my England-trip posts to say how happy I was to be home this weekend. I got to do all my favorite things: play with the cats, garden, and bake cookies!
No, it’s not a hummingbird or a fairy; it’s a hurricane lily.
This is a level of frou-frou-ness unparalleled in the world of flowers.
Right now I just want to eat up the world because everything is so pretty! Suddenly we have hurricane lilies–everywhere! They come up without leaves, without warning. The bulb sends up this ridiculously fancy flower that reminds me of the Forsyth Park fountain in Savannah (the fountain is two-tiered, with Tritons, and the flower is really over-the-top like that).
Our yard was looking so boring, worn out by the heat–and then the hurricane lilies showed up. And then it rained and the temperature dropped, and all sorts of other stuff started blooming, too–ageratum (purple and powderpuff-like), cutleaf coneflowers, golden asters, Georgia asters, goldenrod, and rosinweed. I’ve been seeing lots of box turtles around the yard, and fat banana spiders. Rob said he saw a possum eating out of the cat food bowls the other night. Rob always says our cat Leroy looks like a possum, so he claimed the possum was Leroy’s father.
We’ve got a lot of our fall vegetables in the ground now. Last week we planted 64 cloves of Inchelium Red garlic, and when we looked at them today we realized that they’ve already sprouted! We planted Holland Red shallots last weekend too, and kale, collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and purple and white cabbage. We’re still harvesting lots of clown, habanero, cayenne, and datil peppers–oh, and some Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes.
But nothing’s doing as great as the sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes take the cake! Today we dug our first Beauregard sweet potatoes and we were totally amazed and elated. These things were HUGE–literally football sized!–and they were erupting out of the ground all on their own, just bulging out of the dirt. Digging them was so much fun and so easy, like mining in a magical land salted with enormous gems. Rob said that as we pulled them out “we were both squealing like preteen girls at a Jonas Brothers concert.”
Our biggest sweet potato weighed three pounds all by itself. It was perfect–bright coral pink inside and so sweet. We used it to make an awesome curry. Here is the recipe:
Sweet Potato Curry
Main Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
8 clown peppers, chopped
4 habanero peppers, minced
3 lbs sweet potatoes, chopped
2 baking potatoes, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 cans coconut milk
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 small bag frozen green peas
2 Tbls mustard seeds
Curry Paste Ingredients:
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbls vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1-2 Tbls fenugreek leaves
2 Tbls cumin
2 Tbls coriander
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Directions:
In a large soup pot, sauté the peppers and onion in oil over medium-high heat until the onion is tender and translucent. Add the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and cauliflower. Cover the pot and sweat the vegetables over medium heat until they are tender (about 20 minutes).
While the vegetables cook, prepare the curry paste. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and process with an immersion blender until you have a smooth paste.
Add the curry paste to the pot with the cooked vegetables. Then add the coconut milk and diced tomatoes. Add the frozen peas. Stir everything together until it well combined. Cover and cook over medium to medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the curry from sticking to the bottom.
The amazing Beauregard sweet potato haul!
Look at the size of this thing!
Gratuitous cuteness: Becky on the screen porch
