Purple Hulll Peas

I live in suburbia in a two-story white house that's a stone's throw away from our neighbors. There is a "lake" complete with fountains and I can walk to two different parks. I have a two car garage completely packed with cars, toys, and tools. We have very good schools and manicured yards.

But I love reading farm blogs. Bring on the chickens and goats! Produce has so much more flavor coming straight out of the garden.

I get fresh tomatoes, corn, and peppers from my dad and we have a small garden, compost bin, and rain barrel at the house. But how cool would it be have fresh eggs every morning. We are at the "legal limit" (3) of pets in our area but even if we weren't there are no chickens allowed.

I am smitten with these blogs right now:

The Prairie Homestead - a farm in Wyoming complete with goats, chickens, cows, ducks, pigs, ect. ect. A real live farm!

and Old World Garden Farms -  a farm in Ohio where they are slowly but surely building their homestead with chicken, bees, grapevines, a huge garden, and too many pergolas to count. 

My Dad has always had a garden and cooks like it. We just cooked up a big pot of his purple hull peas and it seems like the perfect farm recipe. 

Purple Hull Peas

Serves 6

• 1 1/2 pounds of fresh purple hull peas, shelled and cleaned
• 1 ham bone, complete with ham scraps
• salt, pepper, thyme
• 3 cloves minced garlic

Place peas and ham bone in a large pot with enough water to cover the peas by an inch.  Add salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic to taste.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 45 minute to an hour.  Peas should be soft but not mushy.  Remove from heat.  Remove the ham bone and pick off any ham scraps. Add the scraps to the peas and toss the bone.

Serve warm and refrigerate or freeze any leftovers. The leftovers will have a thick coat of fat at the top, just scrape off or heat up and it will go away.

Orange Pork Stir Fry

Man, between this and my Chinese Chicken and Broccoli I am nailing Chinese food. Or maybe our Chinese take out place is just really bad. Either way, winning. If I could just make egg rolls we would never order takeout again.

Orange Pork Stir Fry
Adapted from Simply Whisked
Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 - 1 1/4 pound pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth (or water if you're out)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoon corn starch

In a large skillet heat oil on medium high. Add the garlic and red peppers. Saute for a minute then add the pork.  Cook until pork is no longer pink, stirring occasionally

Add vegetables to the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes, uncovered.

In a small bowl whisk the sauce ingredients together then pour into the skillet.  Cook and occasionally stir until vegetables reach desired done-ness.

Serve over rice.

Next time: Will this freeze!? bc if I had this ready to nuke at any time I would be SO happy.

Tater Tots

In my dream world we have a couple of acres, a just-big-enough-for-us-house, and most importantly goats. Sometimes I feel as though my heart won't be full until I can have a couple of goats.  

We wouldn't have HOA fees or rules nor our neighboring house's shadow blocking sunlight from my garden.  A giant pantry and two deep freezes are a must to store all the food we'll produce. And as of today, these tater tots are going to be in my dream freezers of my dream home.

I was skeptical when the recipe said it was better than the tots in the freezer aisle, but I'm going to go further and say they're better than your typical restaurant. The dill makes them a great side for seafood!

Tater Tots
Adapted from Damn Delicious

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
• kosher salt and ground pepper

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover generously with cold water. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes, drain, and let cool.

Using a box grater, grate the potatoes onto a clean lint free dish towel. Roll the towel up and squeeze to remove as much water from the potatoes as possible.

In a medium pot heat the vegetable oil up to 360 degrees on medium-high heat.

Meanwhile add the potatoes in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Toss to evenly coat. On a paper towel form potatoes into tots. Mine were about a tablespoon to two tablespoons big.

Add tots to the vegetable oil 5 or 6 at a time and cook until evenly golden and crispy. About 4 minutes.  Transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet.

Serve immediately and freeze the rest. Reheat in the oven.

Greek Panzanella

Salads for supper are only okay if they involve bread. Those are the rules. Steven and I ate way too much of this while H just ate the bread and olives.  Balanced meals.

Greek Panzanella
Adapted from Shutterbean

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• french bread, cut lengthwise
• kosher salt
• 1 cucumber, seeded and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1 orange bell pepper, large diced
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced in half rounds
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup Calamata olives, pitted

For the vinaigrette:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Heat a grill pan or actual grill to medium high.  Rub 1/3 cup olive oil on the french bread, season with salt, and place on the grill for 4 to 5 minutes per side. Set bread aside and cut into cubes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix all the ingredients for the vinaigrette into an emulsion. Place the cucumber, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion, and olives in the bowl and toss.  Add the bread cubes and feta and mixed together lightly. Set for 15-30 minutes at room temperature and serve.

Apple-Pork Barbecue Sandwiches

Is this 'nesting'? I can't shake the urge to eat all the food in my freezer to make room for new food in my freezer.  When this baby is born (umm in like a million years) I want to be able to pick a quart-sized bag at random each morning, let it thaw all day, then nuke it just in time for Steven to get home. He will be in awe until I dump both kids on him and GTFO. Ha.

Apple-Pork Barbecue Sandwiches
Adapted from Everyday Slow Cookers
Serves a lot and freezes well

• 4-5 pound pork shoulder roast
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups hot and spicy barbecue sauce
• 1 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 12 buns

Place roast in slow cooker and top with garlic and onions. Add enough water to cover the roast. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours.

Drain and discard cooking liquid. Shred roast and toss with barbeque sauce and applesauce to coat. Sprinkle cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Cover and set on low until ready to serve.

We had it on a sandwich with coleslaw and pickles.

Slow Cooker Brussel Sprouts

I think I finally burnt Steven out on roasted vegetables. Nothing is easier than throwing a whole sheet of them in oven and living off that as sides for days. These weren't that much harder and the reduction was a nice spin on a classic.

Slow Cooker Brussel Sprouts
Adapted from Damn Delicious

• 2 pounds brussel sprouts, trimmed and the halved if they are large
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Place brussel sprouts in a slow cooker and stir in olive oil and butter. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours (or low from 3 to 4 hours).

Meanwhile make a balsamic reduction.  Place balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil then low heat until it is simmering.  Let the liquid reduce by half (about 7 minutes). Set aside and let cool.

Serve brussel sprouts with balsamic reduction and sprinkled with parmesan. 

HE PASSED!

Steven has passed ALL of his actuarial tests! He only has a couple of easy peasy projects before he gets whatever this certification is called. He has been working on this since the month we started dating in November of 2007.  Now it's time to party hard (or as hard as you can with a pregnant wife and two year old).