blue_dolphin

You can use them any way that you would use spring onions. Grilled or charred as a side dish or in salads. Little ones can sub for shallots in a salad dressing. If you have a lot, make a gratin or roast them with olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar Edited to add that pickling is very popular with little onions like this.

Fresh strawberries with Greek yogurt I splurged on some Harry's Berries strawberries at the local farmers market on Thursday. This variety is "Gaviota" and is considered too delicate to ship commercially so it's usually just available at farmers markets and farm stands. They are grown in Oxnard, near here. Because it was a splurge, I was hoarding them but realized that I should enjoy them at their best. It's foggy outside but they are brightening my morning!

I didn't have basil either so I used a little cilantro. My avocado was ripe and I felt I needed to make a move This next recipe represented a number of firsts for me. It's the Pimento Cheese Grits with Salsa and Chips, one of the dishes from the "Pimp My Grits" menu section at Vivian's restaurant. This is some seriously tasty stuff. It's another 3-part recipe. Part 1 was the Pimento Cheese, something I've never made. The recipe in the book is a little different from many I've read as it uses 2 sharp cheddar cheeses (sharp yellow cheddar and aged white cheddar) and no softer cheeses like Velveeta or cream cheese. I used what I had on hand, an 18-month old sharp NY yellow cheddar and a 2-year old Canadian white cheddar. Not a lot of mayo either, just 1/4 cup for 20 ounces of grated cheddar. It makes a nice sharp spread. I made that yesterday and performed some quality control testing involving Triscuits which cleared the pimento cheese to advance. Today, I moved on to part 2 and made Vivian's Foolproof Grits which she cooks in milk, in a double boiler. I wanted to make them in the Instant Pot but I figured I'd go by the book since this was another first for me - I've never cooked grits before either. They took around 40 minutes to cook but required very little attention, just an occasional stir. My previous grits experience was with something closely resembling paste but I bought some fancy heirloom stone-ground grits and thought they came out really well. They taste rich and have a nice texture. Part 3 was the salsa. I followed Vivian's instructions to cut the onion and jalapeño in paper-thin slices and the tomatoes into fine dice. I veered off by adding some avocado. Entirely unnecessary but I had some leftover from breakfast. To assemble the dish, the cooked grits are placed into a cast iron skillet and topped with a layer of pimento cheese. This is done by pressing the cheese into a disk between 2 sheets of waxed paper. I chose a shorter baking time since I used a small skillet but I should have watched more closely as the top is a little darker than I intended. Those pimento cheese grits are really good. I like the way the top of the grits is infused with the sharp pimento cheese in contrast with the plain, creamy grits on the bottom of the pan. The cool, tart, spicy salsa is a great contrast to the warm, melty grits. I bought unsalted chips by mistake but they were perfect to add some crunch.

Today's breakfast: Avocado and Tomato with Broken-Egg Dressing Not life changing but not bad at all. In fact, for something that comes together in a flash it's quite good. Boiled eggs, cut in a few pieces get mixed with a little lemon juice, olive oil and Dijon mustard to make a dressing that goes over tomato wedges and sliced avocado.

@Smithy, yes, I think the collards could work with other fillings. The combination of that particular sausage with the sweet potato yogurt is really, really good but I think it would be fun to play with other options. Success likely depends on getting the right cooking time and trimming the leaves so you get enough to wrap securely but not rolls and rolls of leaf. It's possible that younger leaves work better but I haven't done any comparisons. In this post, @Wayne used them with a different filling, but found them a bit tough. Mine were fine. I blanched them just a little longer than she said (1 min vs 45 sec) and after chilling and removing the central stem, the leaves were tender enough to chew comfortably. I think one could reasonably taste them at this point to see if they need a longer blanching/pre-cooking time before moving ahead and filling them.

Collard Dolmades with Sweet Potato Yogurt Vivian says, "these dolmades are cute and taste like Thanksgiving wrapped up in a collard leaf." They are stuffed with pork sausage and I've been holding off on making them until I actually made the sausage recipe that's in the book but last weekend, I picked up some breakfast sausage patties at the farmers market and decided to give this a try. In addition to the sausage, the filling contains dried cranberries, plumped in apple cider, fresh ginger, a little brown sugar, black pepper and toasted pecans. The sweet potato yogurt has roasted sweet potato, Greek yogurt, lemon zest and a bit of little honey and cayenne. I had a pretty good idea what they would taste like but I can imagine them taking people by surprise if they were expecting typical dolmades - Thanksgiving indeed! I believe my collards are smaller than the ones Vivian used as it appears she was able to cut 4 x 6 inch rectangles out of one side of a leaf. I had to use most of a leaf for each roll with a little patch work to cover the space where the stem was removed. I will certainly make these again. I'd like to try making them a little smaller (these use 2 T of filling) to make something that could be a one or two bite appetizer.

Nice find on the rice video, @Anna N! That is indeed very, very similar. I understand where you're coming from on the grocery business. I am having a lot of fun trying these dishes but do I feel like I am running to the store a lot and shopping for things I don't usually (like never) buy: rutabagas, smoked pig hocks and finely ground cornmeal all made their way home with me recently, the cornmeal was chosen only after a careful survey of the cornmeal sections of all local stores. On the upside, I've not run into any problems cutting the recipes down so I don't end up with massive amounts of leftovers. It's also been a welcome diversion as I really needed to drag myself away from reading altogether too much political news and commentary . I'm not sure that baked pimento cheese and sausage is good for my arteries but all that news wasn't doing me any good either!

There's an article on the biography of Paula Wolfort that @LindaK mentions above and an interview with author Emily Thelin over on Eat Your Books today. The book should be out next month. The article also includes a link to preorder the book at Unforgettable Paula Edited to add that an article featuring the book project that appeared in Cooking Light last November, "Brain Food: A Food Renegade’s Last Stand" was just announced as a James Beard journalism award nominee.

This is the Crispy Ginger Rice with Leeks, Shiitakes and a Fried Egg. I had it for breakfast but I'd be happy to eat this for any meal. I used brown rice (Massa Organics) and was a little concerned it might turn into tiny pebbles instead of getting crispy but it came out fine. An excellent reason to make extra rice.

Interesting they are offering a non-stick option. I prefer the SS but I know non-stick is popular with many people and I can see it's uses. It's a good bit less expensive than an extra stainless steel pot. Thanks for sharing that.

I think it's this one: Inner Beauty Hot Sauce Knock-off

My oven has a dehydrator function that allows for low temp settings + convection. Downside is that it ties up your oven for long stretches. Check your oven manual to see if yours does it. If not, you may be able to pick up a dehydrator for a reasonable cost. Some folks here have gotten them for a song in the thrift shops.

Leftovers from yesterday's lunch, posted over here. Lemony crab salad in an avocado with blueberry corn salsa and chips

This dog's breakfast-looking dish is the Persian-inspired eggs with dates & chili from Diana Henry's Simple with Greek yogurt, flatbread and tomato In the header notes, she says, "It sounds like a strange combination, I know, but it's addictive." I'm not addicted to dates in my eggs, not yet.

Today I made Crab Hoecakes with Blueberry Corn Salsa. Vivian says this is a take on a fish taco with Southern flavors but points out that it's knife and fork food. This is a 3-part recipe: a blueberry corn salsa, a lemony crab salad and Grandma Hill's Hoecakes - little onion-flavored cornmeal pancakes. The hoecakes can be made ahead and I would recommend that option as the re-heated cakes had a nicer crispness than the fresh off the frying pan one. Without that crispness, it's just like stuff on a pancake. In the salsa, I used Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn as I usually like it in applications like this and well, it's not corn season now, is it? I also added a diced jalapeño because I thought it should be there. I enjoyed the flavors of this dish but I don't think I'll bother with the hoecakes again. I think I'd prefer to pile the lemony crab salad into an avocado half, top with the salsa and serve more of it on the side with some crispy corn tortilla chips.

A repeat of something I made last week from Deep Run Roots. Charred asparagus, scallions and bell pepper (instead of radish) with creamy scallion dressing, topped with a poached egg. Toast today instead of the cute hushpuppy croutons.

A couple of meatball recipes I read specified shaping gently by hand rather than using a mold to avoid overly compressing the meat. I'm unlikely to perform side-by-side tests so I have no evidence to back that up.

It's not subtropical here but I'm lucky enough to live in an area with year-round fresh produce from local farmers markets. @sartoric's post inspired me to take a jaunt to the Sunday morning market in Ojai, about a 40 min drive from here. Sadly, my phone has decided that it's only good as a phone (imagine that ) and little else and I was only able to sweet talk it into 4 photos before we both gave up. Clearly, I will have to go again. As far as fruit goes, citrus is still the star at this time of year. Navel, Blood, Valencia and Cara cara oranges, multiple types of mandarins and tangerines. I bought a bag of Tahoe Gold tangerines from Friend's Ranch and some mandarinquats from Mud Creek Ranch. Various lemons, limes, limequats, etc. were also on offer. I bought one of these big leeks from Roots Organic Farm in Los Olivos. The white part is about 12 inches long. I also bought some pork sausage from a stand selling mostly lamb and a few pork products. These nice berries are from Pudwill Berry Farm in Nipomo, north of Santa Barbara. They also sell at my local market and manage to have these 3 types of berries year-round with a mix of other seasonal produce like figs in the summer-fall. Temps were up into the 80s when I left around 11 AM and the folks manning this popsicle stand were doing a brisk business. Perhaps a future career opportunity for a popsicle maker such as myself???? The Ojai market has a bit of a flower child vibe so there are vendors selling lavender and other flower scented oils, soaps, candles, etc. And a regular fixture at this market is the fellow who sets up with a big sign offering "FREE HUGS" I'll have to go back with a functioning camera so I can get some more photos. Missed the avocados, walnuts, passionfruit, strawberries, eggs, orchids and other flowers.....

Egg with a slice of Black Forest ham and a little sharp cheddar on one of those little Parmesan-rosemary rolls from Trader Joe's

I don't normally eat ketchup but there's a bottle of Heinz in my fridge, left behind after houseguests and @robirdstx's breakfast post planted a thought. Green pepper-phobes, you should avert your eyes or imagine the green bits are spinach

My library just got this in and I was first on the hold list so I've had it for a couple of days. I agree with the annoyances that have been posted previously. My own experience with the brussels sprouts cooking directions that I knew would produce a poor result don't make me confident about following directions for other recipes. For now, I've decided to enjoy reading - the photos are lovely!

Over in the meatball topic, you wrote: I loved that you had barberries at hand in the Princessmobile!

Thank you! I am a hushpuppy novice but the little croutons were very good. The recipe said to drop 1/2 teaspoon rounds (or "annoyingly minuscule scoops") of batter into the oil. I used this little melon scoop and you can see how they puffed up. They only took about a minute or so to cook. In spite of my aversion to frying, I would certainly make them again.

Thanks, @rotuts! The window wasn't really my intent but the egg sort of stuck to the knife. It did allow me to pick up pieces of asparagus and dip them into the yolk inside. Very handy!

I have yet to outsmart them but I've determined that ants come into my house for a variety of reasons. Top four: Too wet outside Too dry outside Just passing through Cat food And honestly, I think the cat food is just a bonus. It's surely a bonus that warrants calling in reinforcements but I don't think it's the main draw. The last incursion, after a good rain, emerged into the kitchen from a corner where the wall meets the ceiling, smack-dab in the center of the house. The other side of that spot is behind the furnace but I can't see it and never figured the actual point of entry. I believe they are in control and allow me to occupy the house, most of the time alone, of their own good will.