Sunday Comfort Food

Yesterday as I do every Sunday, I had my entire family over for Sunday Supper. I brined and roasted two chickens over Yukon Gold potatoes studded with onions and herbs from the garden. With all the broccoli the kids picked from the garden we had steamed broccoli with a bechamel cheese sauce and as a second veggie side I also made pan roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and onions. Early yesterday morning I started a chive cheddar whole wheat dough which rose slowly for hours. This dough produced super soft dinner rolls which were ideal for mopping up the pan juices. For dessert I made a carrot cake using the fresh carrots the kids picked in the garden. I frosted it lavishly with copious amounts of cream cheese frosting and made a healthy pot of very dark coffee to finish it off.

Boys In The Garden

Our Winter Sustenance

This 280 square foot raised bed supplies us with our winter and warm weather organic produce and means that we very rarely purchase vegetables at the supermarket. Growing here and still producing are red and green cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, radish, beets, collards, kale, borage, carrots, celery, shallots, onions, potatoes, mizuna, spinach, swiss chard, corn salad, rhubarb, malabar spinach and more... The veggies taste amazing when picked and cooked within minutes.

WARNING! Explicit: Hot Sticky Buns Gone Wild!

In my never ending quest for deliciousity, I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago which makes the most heavenly, HUGE, sticky, glazed cinnamon rolls imaginable. These are not illegal, yet, but I hear there's some legislature in the works.

I shot this video right around midnight last night. If I dare to make them when another soul is awake in my home, I must suffer through a prodding and impatient audience asking preposterous questions such as "Are they done yet?" and "When will they be done?".

The secret that makes this recipe so darn good is that these babies take their own sweet time to complete. The recipe calls for a frustratingly long 18 hour cool rise period during which the sweet yeast egg dough develops its' flavor and the rolls slowly double in size. You'll just have to trust me when I say that every second of the 18 hour rise is thoroughly worth it. But that's not the end of the story... Once they come out of the cold rise, they endure a second warmer 2 hour rise.

Not Your Mama's Fudge

Not made with marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips or any of the usual suspects... this is the good old fashioned fudge that calls upon fundamental pantry staples and takes some serious work but is well worth every step.

Almond Brittle

This recipe made two pounds of Ultra buttery, rich almond brittle.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious...

1. Home made Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream

2. Home made hot caramel

3. Home made Scharffen Berger hot fudge sauce

4. freshly whipped chantilly cream
5... decadence...

What A Beautiful Day!!!

Wow! The beautuful weather twisted my rubber arm to get in to the garden today. The crops have been doing quietly doing their thing for the last few weeks. The recent cold snap has made the vegetables even sweeter.