ingrid

Holy shit!  It is hot out.  Why I picked this day of all days to cook and pre-cook, I don’t know.  I guess it had to be done though.

What do you get if you take this

this

this

and this?

Pesto man.  And it is freaking awesome!

I threw you off with that photo of the walnut tree, didn’t I?  It isn’t pine nuts, but what the hell is a pine nut anyway?  And where could I get one?

It is so great to make something out of the stuff that you grew (or finagled) yourself.  I made a huge mess of pesto this morning and froze it in a bunch of sandwich bags.  Now when I am dying for a shot of garlicky goodness, I can just grab the bag and toss it in some pasta.

Along the lines of gleaning, the family and I went for a little berry-picking jaunt this weekend.  I was so busy getting sun-burnt that I neglected to take any pictures until we were ready to go, but you can see that we were successful:
Brad says so.

And we got this, which was eight pounds of blueberries.  Woa!  It all got popped in the new freezer in the basement.

Speaking of that freezer, I love it!  It is a new addition which we decided to invest in last week when our refrigerator officially gave out.  I am ushering in a whole new era of “convenience foods”, which to me does not mean corn-dogs, it means preparing healthy and beautiful stuff way ahead of time so that I can go fast when I need to.  I’m am thinking more and more about my urban gleaning goals, which include taking stuff no one else wants and begging, borrowing, picking and canning things that no one else has time for.  I got these suckers given to me:

That is two pounds of potatoes, a little worse for wear.  No problem.  I’m just trimming out the brown bits and cutting these guys into slices for freezing.  That will make a super easy meal addition some evening when I am crazy busy with the kids and need to make dinner.

And I grew these!
I hated beets as a child, but I would like to think that my palate has matured.  I’ve found that beets are best roasted in their jackets.  To do so, cut off the tops and root of the beet, cut the bulb in two and place on a pan or baking sheet doused in olive oil.  Roast until dark.  The skin of the beet should slip off.  Super good stuff, especially with goat cheese, walnuts and chicken in a salad.

Eat up folks!  The world is full of food.  Let’s go find it!

In: food, urban farming | | #