O.k. so when it gets to be a muggy 110 degrees and the only breeze at night comes from your husband who snores, you know you are in the South and you need a quick and easy dinner.

Summer is hot here. We don’t use air conditioning, haven’t for the several years we have lived in this house. Frankly, it is too expensive, but I also like the idea of flowing with the seasons..experiencing them rather than manipulating them. I know..I am so weird.

Nothing is worse than cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen and serving it in a hot dining room. That is why God made salad.

Check it out.

Who isn’t going to eat that? Colorful, cool, with a variety of flavors and textures, Chopped Salad is an awesome meal to set on the table when it is too hot to cook. I always make the tortilla chips homemade, you can by them and crumble them if you like, but if it doesn’t taste as good don’t blame me.

[Read more]

I had the opportunity to try the most awesome eco-friendly disposable plates, ever. I loved these!

The plates are completely natural, organic, and biodegradable.  The are made from a completely renewable resource and hardly ripple the environment at all.  Plus they are beautiful.

I am thinking of making a notecard out of that image, by the way. I just love these plates. Ahem…O.k..

The plates are made from the Adaka Palm tree. But…and this is cool…no tree was harmed in the making of these plates. Maybe a bug or two was squished but that’s o.k..so far bugs aren’t an endangered species, right? Anyway, the tree drops the sheaths of its leaves and grows more, just like other trees. Workers collect these leaves and take them to be cleaned in fresh water and molded into plates. Sustainable, eco friendly plates that can be tossed onto the compost pile.  But wait, there’s more!

They are waterproof, leak proof, and handle hot and cold. No matter what I used on these plates they held up perfectly.

The plates are very unique. Some are very plain and others are spotted. Some are lighter and others are darker. Plus I love the ridges. I have touch sensitivity. It is weird but there are several textures that I just can’t handle. Touching these textures makes me gag…things like styrofoam, popsicle wrappers, some magazine pages…ick. Anyway..I loved the feel of these. They are ridgey and fun to touch. Just remember..simple things for simple minds….

They come in several shapes including:

• Hexegon
• Round
• Square
• Rectangle

They really are elegant and beautiful. I will admit to washing them off and re-using them…shhhhh…..Everyone loved these.

You are not going to be able to buy 100 plates for 1.99 though.   These are a little on the pricey side, understandably I suppose because a lot of work goes into them. Check them out at Marx Foods.

images:marye audet

.

I figure that the woman who invented blondies was a mom of many kids.  There she was, last few days of the month, children clamoring for something sweet and no chocolate to be had. What could she do? This brave woman had a choice.

• She could throw her really cute red and white polka dot apron over her head and cry
• She could create magic

I think she decided to create magic and threw ingredients together to make Blondies. You know why? These are the most versatile of bar cookies. I mean you can toss almost anything in there… well, within reason..I mean I am not suggesting Blondies as a way to get your kids to eat liver, you know? But any kind of nut, any kind of chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, or white chocolate chip… dried fruit…the list goes on.

I wanted something a little different. so I chopped up Snickers Bars. Marc is somewhat addicted to Snickers so I figured it would be a no brainer dessert.

[Read more]

I know..most of you are too busy setting off firecrackers and partying around the pool to properly surf. No matter, the nice thing about the Internet is it is (usually)  here when you want it.

We generally have a huge 4th of July Picnic but this year Marc had to work and Erin and Jon had plans elsewhere. We will be going up to a picnic at our church later but for now? Very low key.

I made lemon butter bars to take to the picnic, and will be making a red, white, and blue heirloom potato salad using the Southwestern Potato Salad recipe I posted. The butter bars use a cake mix, and you can substitute any flavor mix to have a variety of butter bars…and lets face it, folks, the world NEEDS more butter bars…desperately.

Anyway, here is the July 4th version of Saturday Surfing.

[Read more]

Having recently gone to pick blueberries I am now in the process of  using them for as many meals as possible. We try to get enough to last an entire year but we may be a little short this year. In any case I could not resist attempting to create a sauce for meat. I had originally been thinking of pork medallions for this sauce because it has some presence.  I had chicken breast so that is what I used but I think that  the pork is the better choice due to the fact that it has more flavor.  I also think this would be great with wild caught fowl, turkey, or even a fish like salmon.

The sauce is spicy. If you don’t like it spicy then adjust the amount of habenero or change the peppers totally. You could go with a chipotle, a jalapeno, or a serrano. It is hard to say how much to use because each person seems to have a different opinion as to what is spicy and the peppers can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. Let me tell you what happened to me.

[Read more]

I was asked to review some Pourfect products and I agreed. I mean, I dont know about you but measuring cups, spoons and such disappears around here. It ends up in Kyrie’s play kitchen, or in the dirt in the driveway, or…God forbid, in the kitty litter. I ALWAYS need measuring cups so of course I said yes.

Let me just say..first of all…there are alot of them. The cup sizes are from 1/8 of a cup up to 2 cups. The measuring spoons go from unbelievably tiny to two tablespoons.

When I say unbelieveably tiny I mean it. Their specialty sizes are listed as such:

• drop 1/64t
• smidgeon 1/32t
• pinch 1/16t
• dash 1/8t

There is also a leveler included. I liked these spoons alot. They are easy to use, red (they match my laptop) and come in a enough sizes to make anyone happy. The only downside to the products, at least the red ones, is that it is hard for me to see the measurements on them. They are embossed but the same color as the spoons. I would prefer that companies give a nod to those of us with high ceilings, eco-friendly lightbulbs, and less than perfect eyes by making the numbers easy to read. I will be getting around this with a bottle of nail polish or a sharpie.

The cups are fantastic. The have a lip on them that allowed me to pour some expensive balsamic vinegar (special occasions only) back into the bottle when I had mis-poured…and nary a drop spilled. It all was saved. The bottoms have a no skid band so that they sit firmly on your counter. You are not going to knock them and have them race across the counter toward the inevitable floor like lemmings. Nope.

The bowls are polished so ingredients slide out easily. Again, the numbers are hard to read but other than that this product is one of my favorites. I will be ordering bowls for sure.

You can find more out about the product and the company, including how to buy, at Pourfectbowl.

image:maryeaudet

If you don’t know how to freeze blueberries don’t worry! It is so easy!  Most blueberries, at least in Texas, do not have natural pests so they are usually grown without pesticides. That is how the place we pick them does it anyway. The easiest way to keep blueberries, strawberries, and other berries for long term storage is to flash freeze them.

To freeze them just put them straight into a ziploc type freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer. Don’t rinse them, or clean them other than pulling out any obvious stems or leaves.  They will keep for more than a year..One year we had them for 18 months. It just can’t be easier than that!

I am working on a post for later…but I wanted to post this while I was thinking about it.

image:marye audet

Saturday we went to a pick your own blueberry farm in East Texas. Located in Edom, it is about 1 1/2 hours from us and we have been going since I was pregnant with Matthew.

Matt will be 17 on July 11. In other words we have been going a very long time.  Now, you can’t just go blueberry picking, there is a ceremony that must be carried out.

Blueberries for Sal must be read aloud the night before. You must get up while it is still dark and eat breakfast in the car on your way there…and at least one teenager must complain that they would rather be doing something with friends…at least until they get there… You must eat as many as you can and still fill your basket before the sun gets too hot..and then you must fight to stay awake on the way home, and figure out that you should have used sunblock. You must then end the day with blueberry pancakes for dinner.

If you do it any other way you are just not doing it right. Pick your own farms are a wonderful way to eat local, support the local economy and build family relationship all at the same time. I intend to do a couple of searches to see what is available in my area besides blueberries.  It is great for kids to be part of gathering food and interacting with it in it’s natural setting, rather than assuming that blueberries grow in pint containers in the back of the grocery store.

Here are some pics of our day…It was great!

The bushes were full of blueberries this year.

Nick finds the perfect berry.

It doesn't take too long to fill the baskets.

Full baskets...

Nick and Sean rehydrate

images:maryeaudet

I had my thyroid biopsy this morning so I don’t feel like talking much. Wow. I was expecting the procedure to hurt but it was a piece of cake. It is afterward, with the swelling and bruising that makes you feel like you were hit by a mack truck carrying Sumo-wrestling elephants.

I wanted to get this recipe up in time for you to consider it for Fourth of July though.  I know, I know, you always have the same potato salad and it is tradition…well yeah! Me too, but you have to try this because it is addictive. Have I ever lied to you? I am telling you that this potato salad is absolutely my favorite now, and although I grew up on the traditional Midwestern style potato salad with a tiny touch of mustard, boiled egg, and celery, THIS blows my Mom’s potato salad out of the water. Sorry Mom.

Unlike classic potato salad this shouldn’t sit around very long. The hot peppers tend to get hotter as they sit… so what seems to be mild at 10 a.m. is spicy at 4 p.m. and three-alarm by day 2, if it lasts that long. The warm flavors of the Southwest are highlighted and this is perfect with the classic burgers and hot dogs, or a brisket.

[Read more]

Or something  like that.

Basically, we are talking about a butter cookie crust, filled with rich bittersweet ganache, topped with a cloud of delicately flavored lime cheesecake, and then embellished with the ripest of ripe raspberries, with a quick raspberry coulis poured over the top.

Did I say over the top?

This was better than good. The main problem was that the kitchen was hot and by the time I got the pictures taken the slice I was shooting had begun to look a little droopy. After all it was a good 95 degrees in the kitchen, and I was losing light fast.

[Read more]