Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

THANKSGIVING SWEET POTATOES FOR for 8 - 10 potatoes Use only really good red garnet yams if possible
Use a large pot. Place water in pot as early as possible to let chlorine etc evaporate or use filtered water.
Cut 10 organic garnet yams in large pieces, maybe thirds. Let water cover yams, but not more than that.
I prefer to peel off skin after cooked. Bring salted water to boil and place potatoes in that. Bring to another boil and let simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit until tender. They also will slightly cool down. When completely tender, drain out water and remove skins (keep them if you want but for Thanksgiving, I prefer to remove for the whipped style).
Whip potatoes (use potato masher and then by hand with wood spoon or a batter mixer):
add:

½ stick organic butter (I only use unsalted at all times )
juice of ½ lemon squeeze by hand (keep pulp in) save rind
juice of ½ orange (same as above) save rind
1 - 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (according to your personal taste) you can always add more when you taste the batch
grated whole fresh nutmeg (¼ of a nut)1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg is so fragrant, i don't use any other form of nutmeg
¼ cup brown sugar
1 T grated orange rind (and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest is optional)
1/2 cup whole Pecans (approximate amount)

taste when all ingredients are added and correct to taste...

place in a serving/baking dish, so you can bake and travel and serve in the same dish. Ceramic/glass casserole dish

TOP WITH WHOLE PECANS, ARRANGED IN ANY DESIGN YOU LIKE.

Bake in oven conventional oven 350 degrees for 20 min to 1/2 hour to let the spices and juices blend (confection oven 325)


Whole Foods was selling gourmet square marsh mellows that I could not resist so I topped the dish with all of these and pecans in between the marshmallows. This was so yummy and huge. Probably enough for more than 14 people

if you should chose to use marshmallows, there's a little problem. when this dish gets to it's destination, will you want to reheat? if you plan to re-heat, don't put marsh mellows on until then. otherwise put them on when you bake them.

i

Oatmeal nut butter cookies

Nut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Photos below by H.D. Hasselbarth)

1/2 stick butter, room temp
1 smashed banana
1 cup pecan or walnut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 + 1/4 cup rolled oates
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts and pecans combined (more if you like) chopped

1. Beat together butter and banana. Add your pecan, walnut, and/or peanut butter. (Try to use organic/natural nut butters. I used Pecan butter.)

2. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until well combined.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats, cranberries and nuts.

4. turn oven on 375 degrees.

5. Drop batter by teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

6. Remove to wire racks to cool

tues night (after colonoscopy) dinner

well, I survived my first colonoscopy and now it is done and it went well. a polyp was removed but i should be fine. i did eat a little on way home but now i am ready to cook dinner. 2 days without food is more than i am used to. believe it .... i actually prepared some food for my wonderful husband and didn't even lick my fingers. I was a very good girl. I have such wonderful organic fresh veggies from shopping at the organic stands on Sat. mornings at Sarasota's Farmer's Market, particularly Peter Burkhart and Worden Farms both Organic stands that will spoil you for life............


4 small,crisp, organic red potatoes cut in quarters and placed in filtered salted water in covered pot. bring to boil then let sit.
1 delicato squash cut in quarters, seeded (place in yard to grow your own) in microwave for 4 minutes then let steam and sit
1 large heirloom tomato with one beautiful green scallion we got over the weekend (remember?) with crumbled bleu cheese and our dressing set out to warm down from the fridge, and fresh ground tri color pepper and fresh basil chopped
i am also going to make a small burger from grass fed beef i got at whole foods. yes i eat red meat. but you don't have to, either way this will be a great meal with or without the beef.
I am only putting in the spicy rock salt (my sister Jane gave me) and fresh oregano tiny leaves(from my potted plant) in the meat. then grill on my stove top grill pan. Option would be a good salt and cayenne and oregano. proportions are up to you.
when you are ready to eat and burgers and squash is done, get your masher and smash potatoes and add a bit of black pepper, salt and olive oil. cayenne and fresh herbs are an option, it's a mood thing. i am making it simple tonight just evoo and salt and pepper and easy on all of it.

My husband dennis is out at Home Depot to by big huge bolts to mount a big public sculpture at a prime location in 5 Points Park downtown Sarasota for the "Intersections" exhibit. He went out at 5:30 and it's time for me to eat but i will wait. He is working hard and we are proud of his project. Pretty soon there will be a web site to view his installation but until then check out his website: www.denniskowal.com
OH! i learned to play "Teenager In Love" on the Ukulele and am practicing every day. I now know 4 chords.... it's fun.
have a good night and sweet dreams.....

chicken soul soup

It is a cool saturday morning Nov 6, 2010. The temperature is 50 degrees which is a welcome change for us in Florida. I decided to make a chicken soup with all the goodies i have from our local farmer's market and my organic chicken in the freezer. Here's what i have to work with:

one whole chicken (Whole Foods)
12 cups filtered water
fresh organic dill (1 large batch approx 1/2 cup chopped more is ok too)
3 - 4 organic turnips and greens
3 - 4 carrots peeled
1 white or yellow onion, greens of scallions
(i have no celery and it'll be the first time i have made chicken soup with out it but that isn't going to stop me from making it.)
by the way all my veggies are organic! the recipe serves about 8 people, or freeze half and eat for a couple days.

place the whole chicken in water with 1T rock salt turn on high heat. (my chick. was still frozen and it works fine)
cut a large onion in medium pieces and put in water. At the farmers market, I bought a huge batch of green onions with really long greens. I cut some of the greens off and then in 3'' long pieces and threw it in the pot. It's looking very pretty .
Next peel your carrots(3 - 4) and cut in large pieces keep them round, and 2" long.
Now the turnips... cut the greens off and save. clip off tips of turnip, don't peel, cut in half then quartered, and once again, so long as the pieces stay big. veggies won't be too soft and overcooked when soup is done.
Cut entire batch of dill in large bunches and throw in pot and cover. Keep on a low heat. Keep pot covered at all times.
Now it's time for my Ukulele lesson.
I am back an hour later.
Turned the very low flame off. I want to remove as much skin off the chicken as possible, which i do with a pair of stainless tongs, fork and knife. i just manage to do it while the process also separates some of the chicken parts, like the legs. throw the skin away. (this step is definitely optional)
Taste broth and add salt and/or pepper if you want. I also like some ceyenne or red pepper flakes. It's up to you.
Wash your turnip greens well. there's sand in them. Take the entire batch and cut in one inch strips and drop into soup.
Turn heat on again, bring to simmer for 5-10 minutes and turn off and let sit. you'll know when chicken is done when it falls apart easily which is what we want.
i just tasted the turnip and it's yummy. We started at 10:30 am and it's done at 1:00.

Quinoa salad

Clean Quinoa Salad:

please use organic produce whenever possible....

cook 1 cup Quinoa in 2 cups boiling filtered water, as directed. cooking doesn't take long. use 1/2 or as much as you want of this amount of quinoa. you can save some for tomorrows salad.
In your favorite salad bowl add:
finely chopped romaine, 4 - 6 leaves
1 - 2 diced green onion (optional)
1/4 cup currants
handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
1 cup rinsed defrosted green peas
1 fine chopped plum tomato
very fine chopped peeled carrot
1 - 2 T finely grated garlic
1/4 cup crumbled feta
add fresh herbs if you have them


 add your cooled quinoa to the salad and top with the feta.  Pour your favorite dressing over , toss and eat.  You'll feel great.

Dressing:  1 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 (or more) red wine vinegar, splash of apple cider vinegar or even balsamic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 5 whole cloves of garlic.  Make dressing in a jar and keep it in the refrigerator to use at all times and replenish as needed.  clean jar once a month. My mother taught me how to make salad dressing and i've been doing this for a very long time.  I never measure the ingredients so alter the ingredients to your liking.

october highlights

10/19/10

Organic collard greens, black eyed peas and more

This next entry is impossible to recreate exactly, but worth documenting as it can still be made in a new variation. Well, my husband Dennis went shopping and came home with a bag of frozen black eyed peas (very unusual). Next day was farmer's market and the collard greens were organic, fresh cut and just huge. I bought about 8 leaves each at least a foot long. Then a light bulb went off in my head and took out the b-e-peas. While rummaging through the freezer to get the peas out, I found a frozen piece of ham from mother's day. Took that out. I also had ½ of jar remaining from our tomato sauce I have documented in my cook book from earlier this year. I chopped the greens and place in 2 cups filtered water(little dash of rock salt), added the peas, the ham, 6 cloves of whole peeled garlic, one large onion chopped and a dash of red pepper flakes. Topped it all with the tomatoes and onions I had jarred and froze last spring. WELL... it simmered in a covered deep flat pan. When it starts to boil, I turn it off and let sit. I cooked it this way for a couple hours at the most. THIS DISH was so delicious we went crazy. Cooking is so much fun and this dish was low in fat and high in fiber and extremely flavorful. One could just add some fresh diced tomatoes on top to replace the sauce I used.

October highlights

10/15/10

today was cooking day. Microwaved a delicato squash, sweet and delicous, steamed swiss chard drizzle evoo and dash of rock salt, then my PORK CHOPS:

I took 2 chops out of freezer, bone in. thick cut. Whole foods chemical free. I had some champagne open in fridge so I poured some over to help defrost, added a drizzle of soy sauce and dash of worstershire sauce, and some o.j. then waited an hour. Then added lots of semi dried fresh rosemary from my sister jane's garden, and dry thyme, and topped with a peppery rock salt from a salt gourmet store also gift from jane. Well I let it all defrost and just before cooking I drizzled a few Tblspns of molasses over each chop then  put them on the grill. These are the best I ever made. About 7 minutes for first side then 4 or more on next side on hot gas grill. Now ours happens to not be working very well, even though it's on high, it isn't super hot, so i'd say hot/medium. After 7 minutes turn over. Let them get nice and brown/black. Don't over cook and remember they still cook when removed since they are still hot.

I have lovely organic yellow potatoes. Cut in medium size piecesand place in pot with clean water, 2 bay leaves, pinch of rock salt, bring to boil and turn off and let sit. When everything is ready drain potatoes, drizzle evoo, little dash of salt and fresh cut herbs, today I used my own basil and black pepper. Smash. 
 Menu:

mashed delicato squash, steamed swiss chard, mashed herbed potatoes with black pepper, and grilled pork chop. More than anyone deserves. This is also enough for tomorrows lunch, or friends to help enjoy. We are listening to Sweet Black Angel by the Rolling Stones, gotta be one of my favorites by them. "Free de sweet black slave". Quite a song.

Kenyon Kowal's individual pizza

Sweet Salt in Toluca Lake with Jackie Sharp

Here I am having brunch at Sweet Salt in Toluca Lake California.  Jackie Sharp and I walked from her house for a late morning brunch.  I ordered their fabulous BLT.  This was loaded with thick, crisp, smokey bacon, loaded with tomato, lettuce, and a bleu cheese mayo that rocked my world.  We also shared their pureed Black Bean, Cocoanut soup.  I cool ice tea to drink topped off this satisfying meal.  

Target Show at Cinefamily

JIll and Jackie at the Target Video show during the Don't Knock the Rock Festival

Had a blast at the Silent Movie Theater last week.  Loved seeing my old pals Joe and Jackie!

Super Lobster Lunch

Just had a fabulous lunch of curried lobster at Chinois on Main.... of course with my friend, Jackie. Later we went to the Bluff and Paradise Cove. We finished the day at Mo's for a quick burger to go. While waiting we checked out the classic cars in the Bob's Big Boy parking lot.