Kohlrabi Slaw

"You are one of the few," said the man behind the counter at TomatoLand. "Hardly anyone knows what to do with kohlrabi."

I just like the gnarly bulb – the way it looks. I had some image of maybe using it as a weapon. Irene told me it would be better to slice & eat it with hummus. Delicious, but no color contrast. Then somewhere I picked up this recipe. Be careful when slicing; kohlrabi is so dense it can slip off the cutting board ahead of the knife. Slice a piece from the bottom to make it lie flat.

Kohlrabi Slaw

Julienne 1 carrot & 2 kohlrabi.

Toss with dressing of:

rice vinegar

olive oil

toasted sesame oil (just a drop or two)

ground toasted fennel seed (Lightly brown the seed in a little iron skillet, then pulverize using mortar & pestle.

salt to taste

Threads

These threads helped finish my little Night Owls quilt. Quilters Unlimited says we can't discuss it ... so, shhhh! I hate not showing the final quilt. (It's for the annual members' challenge.) But here - take this inspiration, a video of Kiran Sethi, who believes in kids. I've begun tutoring, back fussing about what makes people learn. For me, it's color. And words.

Baked Onions & Rice

In the hot, slow weeks I've been changing, just like that Beautyberry bush I see. It's added purple clusters -- I've changed the way we eat. More fruits & vegetables. Clark hasn't complained. In fact, he's pulled in his belt a couple of notches. Here's a delicious combo we had the other night: Baked Onions & Rice, served with lentils cooked with that (expensive, delicious) Sukhi's spice packet. Easy. But the oven did heat up the kitchen. I should have made cookies too, but is that a vegetable?

Baked Onions & Rice

1 1/2 lb. onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 1/2 C. chicken stock, heated

3/4 C. long-grain rice

3 T. butter (optional)

1 tsp. salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place sliced onions in a saucepan & cover with stock. Simmer, covered, 7 minutes. Add the rice. Pour into a casserole with lid. Bake, covered, until rice is soft, 25-35 minutes. Add salt & butter, if desired.

*I think I cut this from one of Lee Bailey's beautiful big cookbooks -- City Food, I think. It has some pages torn out.

Snake & Eggs

This snake looks like it swallowed a dozen eggs. Bumpy. Susan spotted it by the side of the path when we were walking at Phipps a couple of weeks ago. Probably a gray rat snake, she said. It didn't move, & neither did Zing! We proceeded hastily past, as I kept the dog on a short leash. A couple of days afterward, I was chatting with a city parks employee who said learning about snakes is the best way to lose your fear of them. Stephanie, who now works at PetSmart, said she's heard of two dogs dying recently from snake bite.

Peanut Butter & Sweet Potatoes

Everyone loves peanut butter (except for a couple of people in my own family), but many think sweet potatoes are just for Thanksgiving.

Not true, of course. I love sweet potato wedges tossed in olive oil & chopped rosemary, then roasted at 375° until soft & golden brown.

Which led me to try this simple dish: Boil sweet potatoes, then mash with some cooking liquid. Add lots of chopped fresh garlic &, yes, peanut butter. Toss with cooked pasta & top with chopped green onions.*

"I wouldn't care if you didn't make this again," Clark said, as he returned his plate to the kitchen, nearly untouched. He can't deal with peanuts in his pasta.

I will make it again – next time as a soup. Just for me.

*I boiled 3 sweet potatoes, & mashed them with some cooking liquid, using my immersion blender. I added 2 cloves of chopped garlic, salt to taste, & about 3/4 C. peanut butter. For soup, I'll add chicken broth. Cream would be good too, but I'm trying to limit that. I might try cilantro &/or mint for garnish with the green onions.

UnspOILed

Horrible serendipity caused writer Susan Cerulean & others to collect essays & poetry to "speak with one voice across Florida" against drilling for oil. This was five months before the BP oil spill, so the collection that resulted, UnspOILed: Writers Speak for Florida's Coast, has potent urgency. Saturday I heard several of the writers read their pieces at Native Nurseries. I was impressed with their passion & how they seem to be able to put their words into action. They were: Julie Hauserman, Diane Roberts of FSU, Crystal Wakoa, Grace Jackson, & O. Victor Miller of Georgia & Florida.

Boston Cream Pie

All I have to do is say it's my mom's recipe: you know it's delicious.

Boston Cream Pie is festive but it's not hard to make. It's Mom's sponge cake, split & filled with vanilla cream, then topped with chocolate glaze. The heart pan made it special; I made it Wednesday for a little girl we love.

Mom's Sponge Cake

1 C. sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

dash salt

1/2 C. milk

1 T. butter

2 eggs

1 C. sugar

1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Scald milk with the butter. Let butter melt. (I use a glass measuring cup & put it in the microwave until little bubbles form on the sides, but it doesn't boil. Takes less than a minute.)
3. Beat the eggs a lot, until they lose that eggy look & become light.
4. Gradually beat in the sugar.
5. Then add the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed.
6. Add hot milk with butter & vanilla.
7. Pour into buttered & floured 9" cake pan (I used a heart-shaped pan.) Mom often used a skillet (an 8" iron skillet or a frying pan that is about that size. Mine is 7 1/2" at the base and 10 1/2" at the top.) Bake 30 min. at 350°.
8. Cool & then remove cake from the pan. (Don't use a skillet if you plan to remove the cake from the pan.),
9. For Boston Cream Pie split the cooled cake carefully with a long serrated knife & spread bottom layer with cream. Put second layer on top of the cream. Decorate with powdered sugar or a thin chocolate glaze.

*Other Sponge Cake options from Mom:

• Pierce the top (a lot) with fork tines as soon as the cake comes out of the oven & immediately pour lemon syrup (made with equal parts lemon juice & sugar, maybe a half cup of each, that you boil until the sugar melts) over it so it seeps into the cake.
• Lightly sprinkle sugar on the buttered pan, top with two peeled & thinly sliced pears or apples, & pour the cake batter on top.
• In a skillet, melt a little butter, add enough brown sugar to cover the bottom of the pan, & melt it. Then add fruit such as pineapple (fresh is best). Pour the cake batter on top for Upside-down Cake.

Mom's Cream Filling

Mix together in saucepan:

• 2 tbl. flour
• 2 tbl cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C. sugar
• lump of butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla

1. Add 2 C. milk. Cook over moderate heat until thick, stirring all the while or it will burn.
2. Remove from stove.
3. Add 1 egg, this way: Crack the egg into a little bowl & beat it. Then take a teaspoon or so of the still-hot cream & beat it into the egg. Then the egg is kind of prepared for the heat & is less likely to curdle. Mix the egg into the pudding. Stir in quickly & well. This is the trickiest step of making a pudding. If you don't do it right, the egg will start to turn to scrambled eggs. Don't worry – it's not hard to do it right, but it does take patience.
4. Put the mixture back onto the stove & cook 3 minutes longer, stirring all the while.
5. Remove from the heat & stir in the lump of butter & vanilla.
6. Cool.

*You can make chocolate cream by adding cocoa to the sugar mixture, or by stirring in good chocolate at the last step. If you use brown sugar you've got butterscotch pudding. I've never combined the two, but doesn't that sound good?

Chocolate Glaze

It's trial & error here: I mix some confectioner's sugar with some cocoa & add some water, a little at a time. Then I beat the lumps out.

You could also melt bittersweet chocolate with a lump of butter.