bricolagelife

taste this :: beans + cornbread from the impecunious pantry

i had the idea for days, envisioning my ingredients and how the flavors would work together. a dollop of olive oil, a small piece of pancetta, half a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic, a cleaned and de-veined bundle of swiss chard, a sprinkling of red pepper flakes. a small can of black beans, a large can of chopped tomatoes, dried basil, black pepper, the little ziplock bag of leftover red wine in the freezer. a 50 cent box of cornbread (an egg, some milk), the herbed feta cheese that was on sale at the grocery store down the block. several meals in one pot, served in shallow bowls, making us both so happy. for under ten dollars. and so delicious.

taste this :: confetti salad from the impecunious pantry

it was another one of those days. persistent excessive heat warnings and vacancies in the fridge and on our pantry shelves have been a regular challenge lately. what kind of tasty dinner might we concoct (without heating up the kitchen) from what we had on hand? this is what we found:

brown rice, one carrot, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, frozen corn and peas, half a red onion, a can of pink beans, salt + pepper, half a lemon, a few grape tomatoes, olive oil and a little pico piquin.

by using the rice cooker to prepare the rice early in the day we kept the kitchen cool and the rice was chilled in time for our cold salad that evening. we grated the carrot, diced the tomatoes and onion, rinsed the beans and defrosted the peas and corn. everything was tossed together in a big bowl, the flavors tasted and adjusted until it was just right and... voila! a perfect summer meal (that we ate for lunch and snacks in the days following this dinner). and not a single trip to the grocery store was necessary.

i've been thinking... sometime in the future when our pantry is less impecunious i will make a revised version, adding grated cheese and chunks of avocado (i can't believe how expensive they have become) and lots of cilantro. yum! and, like all good recipes - you may add (or delete) anything you like :)

 

taste this :: watermelon strawberry ice cubes

my bro made too much watermelon strawberry juice. again. lucky me! i got to take a tub of it home and this time i froze it all in ice cube trays. now when i arrive home after my long hot walk from work, i fill a glass with pink ice cubes and pour cold seltzer over them until my 21 ounce glass is full. a squeeze of lime or lemon and i have the best pink refreshment imaginable. 

oh - and they're delicious in gin and tonic, too :)

taste this :: thrifty granola from the impecunious pantry

it was more than a week since i had dumped the last of the boxed granola into my late morning bowl of yogurt. i was craving the toasted crunchy cereal when i realized we still had a jumbo box of old fashioned oats on a shelf in the pantry. the mornings had been too warm for oatmeal so the paper canister had been overlooked. but on this particular afternoon the weather had cooled to the high 60s and i cranked on the oven as i set about finding my trusty recipe. 

we had no nuts or seeds, no coconut, figs, cherries or apricots in the impecunious pantry. but being the queen of substitutions (and now - of omissions, too), i was up to the challenge of constructing a batch of tasty granola from whatever i had on hand at the moment -the bricolage way.

a recent trip to aldi had gleaned us a box of juicy raisins and a small bag of dried cranberries. these made up the fruity portion of my mix. an increase in the volume of oats covered my lack of coconut flakes and the sweeteners and canola oil we had on hand allowed for a tasty browning in the oven. a dash or two of ground cinnamon rounded out the simple flavors.

this is my thrifty (and very tasty) version of homemade granola:

preheat the oven to 300.

in a small bowl whisk 3/4 cup of vegetable oil with 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup maple syrup.

in a large bowl toss the oats with as much ground cinnamon as you like, pour the liquids over this and mix well with a wooden spoon until all oats are coated.

dump this mixture into a large (13 x 18 or so) baking sheet with lip or cake pan and spread it around evenly. i baked mine on two baking sheets for more even toasting because my oven is wonky and likes to burn things. do what works best for you.

bake in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes, watching carefully and stirring frequently to get an even browning. (the barefoot contessa bakes hers at 350 for a full 45 minutes but i would have a kitchen filled with smoke and burned oats if i did this. i recommend staying near the oven when making this and not wandering off to fold the laundry or check a few emails, if you know what i mean.) we like ours about medium brown, but remove yours from the oven as soon as it looks right to you. set pans aside and let them cool, stirring occasionally.

add 1 1/2 cups of mixed raisins and dried cranberries to the toasted oats in a big container for storing (we use a one gallon glass jar with a snug lid) and stir with a long spoon until well combined. be sure to wait to put the lid on until the oats are fully cooled or you may end up with soggy granola.

as all of my ingredients were purchased as generic-type brands, i estimate the couple of pounds of finished granola to cost us a whopping $3.75! i add a piece of fresh fruit when we have it and a good dollop of cherry kefir (at about .30 per serving) to make a perfect breakfast in a bowl. w eats his by the handful right from the jar as a snack :)

and if you have all the necessary ingredients to make this granola using the original recipe - i speak from experience when i tell you i highly recommend it, too.

taste this : 1st friday in june cocktail

my bro left three jars of homemade watermelon strawberry juice outside my door the other day. instantly my mind began formulating possible recipes. the first idea that came to me involved gin. we happened to have little in the bottom of a bottle in the cupboard. and i really like gin.

i strained one jar of juice, poured it over a cut up lime (muddled with mint and sugar) and shook everything vigorously (my favorite part) in a cocktail shaker. strained again over ice and garnished with a splash of bubbly water and a sprig of mint - this makes a perfect june cocktail.

the next jar was strained into a tall pitcher. i steeped a pot of linden tea and sweetened it with a little honey and the last of the mint leaves. this is chilling in the fridge now and will be the refreshing beverage getting me thru the hot and humid weekend ahead. i can already imagine it sweating up an ice filled glass, with a wedge of lime floating on top. yum!

tonight i will make my first sorbet with the last jar of juice, adding only sugar and lemon juice to make a frosty frozen slushy treat. i can hardly wait til 6 o'clock!

happy weekend everyone!

taste this : roasted cauliflower

if you aren't already following her tasty recipes at ready made, poppytalk or her own everybody likes sandwiches - you might want to start now. jeannette ordas has some delicious ideas about food and flavors you won't want to miss. and she takes lovely photos of every morsel she makes!

for those of us who do things in the bricolage way, i can attest to the fact that her recipe for roasted lemon cauliflower held up beautifully to my usual substitutions and additions (based on what was at hand in my fridge and pantry at the moment).

here is how i altered mine:

i had no sumac - so i used garam masala and zahtar for the spices. 

i had brussel sprouts to use up so i added them to the roast, increasing slightly the volume of lemon juice and olive oil to accommodate the volume of veggies.

i used 2 cloves of smashed garlic instead of garlic powder.

i sprinkled fresh chopped mint over the bowl of roasted veggies at serving.

in my kitchen it is a true test of a recipe's worthiness that it stands up to my tinkering. this one is a winner. we gobbled it up with audible mmm's and i know we will be making it again... maybe with herbs de provence and romano cheese next time :)

 

big flavors: buckwheat salad with everything

in my quest to widen our circle of grains i recently added pearl barley, quinoa and buckwheat to the pantry shelf. i woke up today running down a mental list of everything in the fridge and pantry. and of course i decided it was all going to go well together. this is the buckwheat salad that came of it:

boil two cups of salted water and stir in one cup of roasted buckwheat. turn flame down to a simmer and pop the lid on. cook for 15 minutes.

meanwhile, in a big bowl combine:

1 can tuna, drained

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed + drained

a handful of chopped tomatoes (mine are grape tomatoes)

a handful of chopped red pepper

handful of chopped olives (your favorite kind)

2 stalks of diced celery

1/2 onion, diced

zest + juice of a lemon

splash or two of rice vinegar

salt  + pepper to taste

several good gluggs of olive oil, enough to lightly coat everything

stir well and add warm buckwheat. stir again and add more olive oil, salt + pepper. taste. re-season.

add pesto.  mine is one bunch of basil + roasted sunflower seed meats + olive oil whizzed in a food processor. use any herbs and nuts you like. add garlic if you like. stir into the buckwheat mixture. eat warm or chill to eat later. mine is sitting on a few arugula leaves because once i start adding stuff i can't stop thinking maybe this will taste good with it, too! i get like that sometimes.

buckwheat is a big flavor so it holds up well to all these additional flavors. and if you've got different veggies in the fridge or beans in the pantry, add them instead. be adventurous. substitutions welcome here.

 

 

 

taste this : sip a summer garden

it's been cold again here. winter coat and wooly scarf cold. so we really needed a little something to evoke a warm summer breeze in a sunny garden. the kind of warm bare arms and scent of heat on the leaves in the herb patch moment when you breathe deep, smile and find you are completely at ease. this cocktail did the trick. i won't tell you it tastes as good as it looks because it doesn't. it tastes a thousand times better. it tastes like summer. i would even say it tastes so good i would drink it without the gin. if you were here right now i would mix one up for you. until then, please do make your own:

bella fragola

(recipe for one)

 

1 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice

4 basil leaves

2 strawberries

2 ounces good gin

1 ounce simple syrup

seltzer water to taste

in a mixing glass, lightly muddle 1 strawberry and 3 basil leaves with the lemon juice.

add gin and simple syrup to the mix and toss in a few ice cubes. shake it real good. 

strain over ice and garnish with a strawberry, a basil leaf and a lemon wheel.

enjoy!

taste this : infused homemade ice cream

it came in a holiday gift basket, tightly sealed in a decorative container, snowy flakes of white chocolate sprinkled with lavender buds and juniper berries. there were instructions for steeping in hot milk and straining to make a fragrant white hot chocolate. but all i could think of was how tasty this would be as ice cream.

and finally, for may day, i brought together these unlikely flavors. first i soaked the mixture in a warm standard french vanilla recipe and carefully poured it thru a sieve. then i assembled the old donvier and cranked the paddles in the slowly freezing scented cream until - voila! lavender-juniper-white chocolate-french-vanilla ice cream. and it tasted exactly as i imagined it would.

what a way to welcome the month of may.

big flavors: a dinner too good to stop eating...

these are the pickled beets

that went onto the salad
with the baby greens and red onions
that were tossed in the vinaigrette
that sat on the plate
beside the sea salted baked french fries
and the bbq brisket open faced
on a toasted pretzel roll
that was too good to stop eating
and take a picture of
at dinner last night