kayb

Looks balanced to me. Green, yellow and white, with some red for good measure.

Waffle with homemade ricotta and apple butter canned last fall. Unfortunately, no indigo bunting. But I did have a five-year-old, who's been my breakfast, lunch and dinner guest for the past three days, and has been helping in the kitchen. She makes a mean meatball.

I noticed when I cooked yellow eye beans for the first time how quickly they cooked, and how quickly they got to the mush point when I cooked them in the IP and then added my sauce ingredients and simmered them there. Will definitely cut down on the time next time.

Chicken korma at the local Indian establishment. Their naan is always good, but tonight it was exceptional. We eat at this restaurant fairly regularly; they also have wonderful mango kulfi and lassi.

Dear God. I hope they don't have these anywhere near me. I would weigh 300 pounds.

Pancakes and eggs, the princess granddaughter wanted, and pancakes and eggs she got. New pancake recipe made with cottage cheese and cooked oatmeal; I had to add 1/3 cup a/p flour to be able to flip them. Her egg was over easy and she had three pancakes with maple syrup. I went with scrambled and two pancakes with apple butter.

Zucchini parmigiano with fresh ricotta, meatballs, and roasted tomato-garlic sauce I canned last summer.

I had a strange thing happen tonight with two loaves of Rose Levy Berenbaum's potato sandwich bread. I thought the dough was a bit sluggish in rising, through both the first and second rises. But it shaped OK and looked like about the right volume in the loaf pans. Didn't get a real great rise out of the loaves, either, though they did just peep above the sides of the pan...barely. But when I put them in the oven, they not only got NO oven spring at all, but they actually FELL a little bit! My oven wasn't as hot as it should have been -- I had turned it down to cook something else, and hadn't turned it back up long before I put the loaves in, so it may not have been the 475 she calls for. Oddly, the loaves TASTE fine. And the crumb is decent. They're not heavy or leaden the way I'd expected, at least the one I've cut is not. They're just squatty looking things. Any idea what happened? Did the too-low oven temp to start do me in?

Damn rabbits ate my green beans. All of 'em. I can replant, but I have to figure out how to keep the rabbits away, first. A shotgun in the middle of town just isn't practical. On the positive side of things, the tomato crop is up to 10 so far: two Park Whopper hybrids, two cherry tomatoes, six Romas. The Romas:

Salad lunch: Clockwise from 12 o'clock: Caprese with the tomatoes and mozz diced up, basil olive oil, balsamic glaze, sea salt. Jail slaw and spring pickles that have been residing in the fridge since last week. Pea, asparagus and hearts of palm salad, in a viniagrette with grated parm tossed in. Now I need a nap.

I wish it could work like that for me. Could be useful! You need some SLAW on that sammich! Looks like a baked beans recipe that's similar to mine. But 6 tablespoons of dry mustard? That's a LOT of mustard...

Mine are always just the opposite -- I tend to stretch the holes TOO big. No matter; the taste is wonderful. I really enjoy bagels. I made some flavored with onion and garlic powder that were pretty excellent. H'mmm. May have to put bagels on the menu plan for the week. First priority, though is a sandwich loaf tomorrow. I have a grandchild for the week, so sandwiches are in order.

Strawberry shortcake. Because I could.

When Arkansas strawberries are in season... You make strawberry jam! Incidentally, you make a mess.

Never thought of eggs with tahini and lemon. H'mmm. Have to try that. Thanks!

Not all that long, but the temp is higher than many people prefer. I usually do it 24 hours; then, when it's cool, it slices really well. I've done it. Sorry. Just don't like it. It's a texture thing, I think.

Here at the plantation-light, crops are proceeding apace. I have thinned the yellow squash and zucchini once, and they need thinning again. The cucumbers are struggling a bit, with some sort of critter munching at their leaves. I have blooms on tomatoes, much earlier than I had expected. And the pole beans have peeked through the ground; I'll need to thin them and put cages up for them to run on, soon. Yellow squash, left, and zucchini. Cucumbers. These are all in the front flower bed. I'm going to call them "ground cover." Tomato blossoms. This is a cherry tomato plant, but some of my Romas and some of my hybrids also have blooms. Nothing on my Bradley heirlooms yet. Barely there, but we have the promise of Kentucky Wonder beans to come! These photos were yesterday afternoon. Anxious to see how things look today after a good rain last night.

Pulled pork (leftover from Sunday dinner), with potato salad, also left over; jail slaw and spring pickles. I made some vinegar based barbecue sauce to serve with it because it seemed more appropriate than the heavier tomato-based one I had on hand. The meat is from a pork loin I sous vided at 150 degrees for 36 hours, and then smoked for about an hour. Some of the best pork I've ever cooked. I know the idea of cooking pork loin that long, to that temp, horrifies many of you. While I love a rare steak, I just can't eat pork medium rare. Can't do it. Can't take pink in my pork. I guess it's all those years being told we had to cook pork to the point of incineration, lest we get trichinosis and die; must have conditioned me against less-than-medium-well pork. I actually SV'd this about 12 hours longer than I meant to, because I forgot it and left it overnight the second night. Then Sunday after I smoked it, I didn't let it rest long enough to slice; it pulled. That was awfully good, so I just pulled the rest of it and refrigerated it that way. I'm thinking the rest of it may go into enchiladas later this week.

Yum! And the centerpiece is absolutely lovely. No doubt amped the flavor level of brunch several steps, though it looks pretty fine as is.

No matter. While I love fresh ones, as noted in the Pea topic, the ones you buy are generally not so fresh, and I haven't had access to any to pick in a long time. Just finished breakfast -- yogurt, granola, blueberries. Still hungry. May snatch the bag of frozen peas from the freezer...

That looks lovely. As I love anything one can do with spring peas, I believe I'll have to try that.

Welcome, Tennessee, from an Arkansan across the river. Anxiously awaiting ice cream recipes.

One of my quirks is I like a heavy, dense texture in my meatloaf, instead of the barely-hanging-together texture many chefs recommend. I want something that'll hold up for a sandwich the next day. I generally do mine by hand, but the mixer isn't a bad idea. I'm not sure how I lived before I got my KA.

@JoNorvelleWalker, come on down here to God's country. 80 today. And my pole beans have finally peeked through the dirt! We've had gorgeous weather this week, and next week promises the same. Could use a little rain.

In honor of the first day of the local Farmers' Market: spring pickles. Cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, radishes (best radishes I've had in forever; I regretted not buying two bunches). The brine, of cider vinegar, water, sugar, white pepper, dry mustard and celery seed, mixed and poured over, and the whole thing refrigerated. I'll eat this whole tub in probably a week and a half. One of my favorite things about spring.