Quick Pickles

With our garden starting to pick up, we're starting to think about refrigerator pickles!  Quick pickles- or refrigerator pickles are totally scrumptious, and super easy to make.  There is no canning necessary, because you keep them in the refrigerator until eating, but they retain the added bonus of preserving bits of your harvest for a few more weeks.  They are great for those things (read: zucchini) that you simply can't eat all of before it will go bad.  But they're also good just because.  They are an excellent addition to salads, salsas, over stir fried veggies, in tacos, over fresh greens, and so much more.  And did I mention- they're simple to make?  I almost never follow a recipe (though I highly recommend this book for a more exotic quick pickle) and typically just use what I have on hand.  All you need is: vegetables, vinegar, water, salt, herbs & spices. 

Choosing your ingredients:

Vegetables

Cucumber pickles are always yummy, but other things are delicious pickled too.  And quick pickling is a great option for those things that may not can well, or for things you have an abundance of.  Among the many things you can quick pickle are onions, cabbage, beets, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, corn, peppers, tomatoes, turnips, radishes, winter squash, cucumbers and even fruit (which I've sadly never done.)  Though this kind of pickling still requires refrigeration, it does extend a vegetables shelf life for weeks- I've even kept some in the fridge for several months, depending on what it is and how much salt and vinegar you use (both help preserve the food.)

Vinegar

White vinegar does the trick, and we keep a gallon jug on hand for just such occasions as the quick pickle.  But any kind of vinegar will work: cider, red wine, white wine, umi plum, rice, balsamic... you get the picture.  Experiment!

Water

Typically I mix my vinegar somewhere in between a 1:1 ratio to 2:1 ratio with water (vinegar:water).  While I usually use water, you can also use any kind of juice (orange juice and citrus juice is great) and even liquor.  Some of my favorite zucchini pickles used tequila in the brine, and they were fabulous.

Salt

I usually use kosher salt, but you can also use pickling salt- or experiment with different kinds of salt, such as smoked salt or pink salt.  The salt helps preserve, but you can add less if you'll be eating them soon.  You can also add sugar instead of or in combination with salt.  You can experiment here too by using table sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, etc.

Herbs & spices

Naturally, my favorite flavor to add to quick pickles is garlic and dill.  But there are so many options, that this is where you can really perfect and personalize your own recipe.  Garlic, ginger, bay leaves, pepper, anise, cinnamon, celery, turmeric, mustard, hot chiles, onion, fennel, citrus zest- the list goes on and on and on!  It's particularly fun to make a Latin inspired quick pickle to go on tacos, or an Asian inspired pickle to go on rice.  Guests are always impressed when you have a home made pickle to complete the meal.

Once you've picked out your ingredients, the rest is easy.  Slice or dice your veggies.  Some people prefer to cook their beets before pickling, but any vegetable can be used raw, and I always use raw veggies.  Put them in a jar with their spices.  I heat the liquid ingredients (vinegar & water) on the stove with the salt- or sugar if you're using it- just enough to dissolve the granules.  Then I pour over the veggies, cover and put in the fridge.  They can be eaten in a few hours, but for most things I let them sit over night. 

They'll keep for quite a while, but I'm sure they won't last that long in your fridge.  They sure don't in ours!  I'd love to hear what your favorite combinations are!

Chive and Cheddar Cornmeal Biscuits

It is finally spring here in Maine!  (And BOY did we earn this spring after a long hard winter and a spring that took until now to arrive!)  While there isn't much fresh food to be had in our garden yet, those first signs of deliciousness have started popping up.  Namely, chives and fresh eggs!  A taste of things to come.  These biscuits are the perfect accompaniment to our fresh backyard eggs.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup unbleached flour (I pretty much always use King Arthur)

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 T unsalted butter

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped chives

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 egg (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt).  Use a pastry cutter, butter knives or forks to cut in butter, working it until butter is pea sized.  Gently stir in milk (don't overmix!)  Fold in chives and cheddar.  Fold the mixture a few times until it holds together.

On a well floured surface, roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with a round 3 inch cookie or biscuit cutter and place onto cookie sheets.  Beat the egg and lightly brush each biscuit.  (It gives it a nice sheen & color.)

Bake 12-15 minutes until golden.

Serve with some chive scrambled eggs (and some fresh greens and radishes if you're already harvesting/finding them) and enjoy!

We Are Bakers

This post originally appeared on my blogger site in Sept. 2014.

We are bakers.  The recipe on the bag of chocolate chips when the days are hard and we need a quick and trusted pick me up.  Cracking open a new cookbook and jamming to the tunes of Stevie Wonder when the days are good and we're feeling adventurous.  Filling bowls of berries under the warm summer sun, coming home to layer with fresh shortcakes and whipped cream and savoring as the sun sets on another summer day.  Pulling the same berries from the freezer on a cold evening and dumping them into a buttery crust to relish by the fireside months later.  He has been there, since the beginning, in a sling or on our hip until he got big enough to stand on tiptoes and steel fingers full of butter and sugar and sweet things and then ask for more. 

The absence of buttery goodness in our house is a sure sign of something amiss.  Like a puzzle whose pieces were all in their place, dumped out and now scrambled in a pile.  Our family of three is now four and fitting the new puzzle pieces together takes time.  Staring over the pieces, sifting through, until the "aha" moment when you find that one piece you were looking for.

And we've found one piece.  At least for today.  We found our time to bake, make, taste, and dance a little too.  A new recipe at that, though Stevie will have to wait for fear he'll wake the sleeping babe.  As my little boy sits on the counter, socks caked in flour, legs smeared with butter, mixing, mixing- my mind flashes forward.  To years from now, a little girl sitting on the counter in just the same way, her brother away at school.  Just as I flashed backwards the first time I put her in the wrap snuggled against my body.  To a baby boy nearly three years ago, in that very same position, that very same wrap, and almost that very same face.

This is just a season in our lives.  Just like the cookies we bake, it will be gone before I know it, and I'll stand there, wondering, where did it go?

It takes time to fit a good puzzle together.  For now, we'll savor this one moment when this one piece of us fit perfectly into our day.  And trust that we'll get there, find the rest of the pieces, fitting the intricacies of this new family together. 

Eventually. 

In the meantime, we'll share another cookie. 

Pesto Your Way

This post appeared on my original (blogger/blogspot) blog in September 2013.  If you have any links to www.threadandladle.com that aren't working, I apologize!  In moving over my url to this new platform I seem to have sent my old blog and posts into a tailspin somewhere in cyberspace.  I am not advanced at technology but I am working on the problem!  In the meantime, some of my favorite posts will migrate to this new platform.  Enjoy!

I am a pesto fiend.  FIEND.  My sweet son is taking after me.  Just this morning, I made us fresh backyard scrambled eggs with homemade arugula pesto for breakfast.  He ate spoonful after spoonful of the pesto.  All told I estimate that he had about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of pesto for breakfast this morning- and not a single bite of eggs.  (Since my petite toddler doesn't eat much of anything, I think the nuts, olive oil and arugula will do him some good.)

Over the summer months, when the garden is in full swing I make a lot of pesto.  Much of it gets frozen for use over winter and some gets put directly into the refrigerator where we put it on eggs, sandwiches, fresh tomatoes, homemade pizza, mix it with plain yogurt for a yummy vegetable dip or with a bit of oil and vinegar drizzled over fresh salad greens.  There are a million ways to use it -and use it we do.

The making is pretty simple: I never, ever use a recipe.  Mostly, I use what I have.  I'm convinced that it's impossible to make a bad pesto.  You throw all the ingredients in a food processor, process until it's smooth and you're done.  I've learned to tweak here and there, what types of cheeses and nuts I like best, but really any will do, and even if all you have is oil, garlic and greens- it will do. 

Here is a rough guide for you to use at home with whatever you have.  There is no wrong way to make it- just go for it, taste, add more or make a mental note to add less next time.  This is an excellent way to use up summer greens - those that are overly abundant, and those that you just aren't sure what to do with.  (And maybe a good way to get some green veggies into your little picky eaters too).

Basic Ingredients:

• 2-4 cups greens
• 1/4 cup-1 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup -1/2 cup nuts
• 1/4 cup - 1 cup of grated cheese - or just broken into small chunks
• 2-4 cloves garlic
• pinch to 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch to 1/2 tsp pepper
• optional additions

About the Ingredients:

Greens: Think beyond the box.  Basil is absolutely yummy.  But it's only in season during the warm months.  There are so many other greens that make an excellent pesto too (and I have used them all).  Arugula, mustard, mizuna, kale, chives, cilantro, radish greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, collards, spinach and my personal favorites - garlic scapes or mibuna.  Hardier green like kale or collards tend to be more fibrous so use more oil with those greens.  Anything goes.  If it's an edible green, you can turn it into pesto. 

Nuts: They aren't totally necessary, and some pesto's are just as good without them.  Though the traditional pesto maker goes for pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds and even pumpkin or sunflower seeds will do.  As an added bonus, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are MUCH cheaper and most who have nut allergies can safely eat these (always check first though!)

Olive Oil: Use a decent oil if you can- but for the sake of our food budget I never spend too much on olive oil.  In a pinch I've used other oils that we have had on hand such as sunflower seed oil, but prefer the flavor of olive oil.

Cheese: Hard cheeses like parmesan, asiago and pecorino all work well, however, you can leave the cheese out entirely in a pinch (I have before) and still have a delicious pesto.  I personally say, "Bring on the cheese."  If you add more than less cheese, you may need to add a touch more of oil, as cheese tends to dry out your pesto.

Garlic: To each his own on how much garlic you like.  Just be sure you won't be kissing anyone who hasn't had any of your pesto.  If you're using garlic scapes as your green there is no need to use additional garlic at all.

Salt & Pepper: Again- to each his own!  I like just a touch of saltiness, and find too much overpowers the other flavors.  Course kosher salt or sea salt makes a big difference in flavor rather than table salt.  We keep pepper grinders stocked and on hand, so our pepper is always fresh.

Optional Ingredients: squeeze of lemon juice, grated citrus rind, dash of nutmeg, tiny hot chili pepper... let your imagination run wild!  I learned in Italy to add a dash of nutmeg and a tiny ground chili pepper to pesto, and almost always make it this way.  It adds a hint of complexity and heat and is delicious.  We use tiny dried chili's that we brought back from Italy and grind them with a bit of salt in a mortar and pestle.  (We STILL have some left, nearly 8 years later!)  Experiment!

Whatever combination of ingredients you use, drop them all into a food processor and you're practically finished.  I have made pesto before without a food processor, and while it is entirely possible, it is a bit tedious.  If you don't have a food processor though, it's totally worth the work.

Share what you've tried!  I'm always in the neighborhood for a new pesto idea...

Steel Cut Oats with Coconut Milk

When I brought my boy to school this morning it was 0 degrees F.  Zero degrees!!!  Plus windchill!  Dear mother nature; please, please, take pity on us.  It's supposed to be almost March, almost spring for crying out loud.  We're crying Uncle!  I'm keeping a warm mug of tea in my hands at all times, and this.  The breakfast that sticks to my ribs and warms me up right down to my toes.

Stone cut oats with coconut milk.  It's so delicious.  And it's so easy that I can hardly claim to be offering you a 'recipe.'  Just follow the recipe on the side of the can, replacing anywhere from 1/2 to all of the water with coconut milk.  Top with some toasted nuts and coconut flakes (if you have them), a little maple syrup (a must), and warm your tummy and calm your soul.  (The end of) winter is coming.  Let's hope.

From the side of McCann's Irish Oatmeal:  Into 4 cups of briskly boiling water sprinkle 1 cup of oatmeal, stirring well. When the porridge is smooth and beginning to thicken, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Traditionally served with fresh buttermilk, Irish porridge is also good with milk or cream and brown sugar or honey, or with butter.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Thread & Ladle website & blog!  I'm so excited to share a new space with you!

When I started blogging in September 2012 I had no idea of where I was going.  I just thought "I'd like to do that," and off I went with no real direction or goal.  I've come to very much enjoy blogging, writing and photography as a creative outlet, but as life goes on my work as a knitwear designer is taking over much of my creative time.  (Which is so very limited with a 3 year old and infant in tow!)  I started feeling like I wanted a space that would better showcase my design work and have a lovelier aesthetic overall.  Thus my new website.

If I'm being honest, I'm still not quite sure where I'm going.  So while the knitting, crafts & food blogging will continue here, there will still be some parenting & personal blogging sprinkled in too.  Because as I said, I've really come to love blogging for blogging sake, as well as all the comments and conversation from parents, grandparents, knitters, gardeners and DIY-ers alike.  In that vein, some of my most favorite and popular posts from my old site will make there way over here to share with the new folks I'm sure I'll meet along the way.  (My apologies if you've been following already and it's a repeat for you.)

Also new is my logo!  Hurrah!  I'll be updating all my patterns with the new logo and making a few formatting changes in order to keep things consistent between patterns.  If you've already purchased a pattern it will automatically be updated in your Ravelry library.  But don't worry- they are still 100% knit-able in the mean time.

 But that's not it!  Come join me in the new Thread & Ladle Ravelry Group!  Pretty soon I'll be hosting my first ever KAL, prizes included!

I look forward to the same friendliness and community that I enjoyed on my old platform and hope you will too!