Steadily onward

Im moving on to something new. Pickle and Jam is where you can find me. It feels more suitable. I will leave this mess to my life once lived..

Long day, cold drink

I must admit, I did not grow up with the wisdom of good food. It took me a long time to get to the place I am at now. Most days would start off with a pop-tart, a bowl of rice krispies, or a handful of change for a vending machine honey bun. The days would progress thusly with fat, sugar, and salt. It wasn't until my first year of college, when I moved to Mississippi to live with my brother and sister-in-law that things changed for me. I dropped 70 pounds that year, and have never turned back. All of that to say, now that I am an adult and can take care of myself, I love to start my day off right..

Kohlrabi omelet- kohlrabi and basil from my garden, eggs from the farm hens, ricotta with strawberry, and good ol' cocolovin' iced coffee

Kohlrabi in the garden

Got me through the long day ahead, and kept me going. To round it out nicely, I came home and had a small salad and made a sweet drink with this lovely..

Best ever tonic water- with ginger, and other goodies. Qtonic. Along with pimms and ice cubes, best ever summer drink. Don't even think about trying anything else when cocktail hour strikes.

Perfect for a late night bath :)

Good night long day

Cocolove

For those who haven't been introduced, I would like you to meet young coconut..

A beautiful thing, full of sweet water that is full of electrolytes, as well as sweet meat with many benefits. I wont extol on those here, thats what the link is for. What I am here for is to expose my life's greatest secret. I have realized I've discovered something very special and it's time to spread the word.

Iced coffee with coconut water

It's that simple. Make your cold brewed coffee, add coconut water, milk if desired, and top with ice. Drink, and be fueled! Caffeine, potassium, and hydration. Seems like contradiction, but truly one powerful beverage.

We have pretty flowers blooming. They remind me of striped hard candy

And baby cucumbers!

Enjoy your day :)

Black Bean Beauties

When life is full of too many beans...

Make brownies.

Many recipes to choose from. I took my inspiration from them all and formed my own. Heres how it goes:

Black Bean Beauties

15 oz black beans, cooked, drained, and rinsed

1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder

2tsp espresso powder

3/4c egg replacement (I use 2 Tb ground flax whisked up with water)

3 Tb flour (I used a gluten free mixture)

3/4c liquid sweetener (agave here)

1 Tb butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c chocolate chips

chopped nuts for topping

Preheat oven 350

Throw beans-egg in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape down sides, add flour-vanilla. Blend again until combined. Stir in chips. Pour into 8x8. Top will chopped nuts and extra chocolate. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool. Cut and store in refrigerator. Enjoy!

And, a bit of advice: eat one and wait. They are deceptively filling. I got through two before I realized :)

Summertime lovin

Summer; It's hot. Pure and simple. You wake up, if you're an early bird, and have a few spare hours before the sweat begins to pour. Unless you are lucky enough to be in an air conditioned building all day (as I am in school), perspiration is inevitable. Drink plenty of fluids. My favorite lately has been cold brewed coffee with coconut juice (just try it!) Water of course, always water, but you have to mix it up sometimes.. And melons and pickles, homemade. My favorite food groups.

Favorite pass time is playing with kittens..

They grow so fast!

Also, drinking cold, micro-brewed beer and hanging out with people who enjoy such activities. Volunteered at Houston's first annual beer festival last weekend. Very hectic and disorganized, with hard labor involved. But, I had the opening/set up shift, so by the time the temps. rose past 100, I was well into enjoying the beverages. Made a few friends along the way, some of whom work at the local breweries.

What a delight :)

Boil for supper

I know I've been giving a lot of love to the South, and the great food we have to offer. I figured I would keep that theme running, because there is a lot to say. I just wanna talk a little about something we do here called a crawfish boil. Now, for those of you who have never seen a crawfish (crayfish, crawdad) or maybe have no concept for what Im talking about, you are about to learn.

See, you buy the fresh water crustacean alive and healthy, and keep them that way until you are ready to cook them. The best way to do that, especially when you've got 30+ lbs., like we always do, is to put them into your bathtub.

Then, you set up your equipment- a large pot on a burner with a straining basket inside, and another pot for scooping up the crawfish. When your water and spices are boiling in your huge pot, you scoop the crawfish out of the bathtub, picking out the dead ones and setting them aside, to dump straight in to boil.

They will take about 20 minutes to cook and become bright red. Any straight tailed ones should be discarded, as they were likely dead before being cooked. You will also have other ingredients that are boiled before hand- red potatoes, corn on the cob, mushrooms, garlic cloves, onions, jalapenos, and lots and lots of spice, mostly cayenne. Did I mention there is a lot of spice?

To eat, twist off the tail and pick out the meat. No forks required..

Nor are plates.

But, a good group of friends and family with a big table in a garage is key here. I am not particularly fond of the crawfish itself. But, because Tim was coming during season and had never experienced such a thing before, my mom was kind enough to get everything set up for the boil to happen so he could experience it. And, I have to say, he liked it alot and we had a really good time. It brought back memories of my childhood, playing with the crawfish in my bathtub and taking them out to the backyard to play. It was always a morbid experience for me, but I handled it much better this time. Etouffee leftovers!

To culture.

(Swamp Voodoo- Emily Peters <3)

Swamp Voodoo

The South holds many gems. Some become best kept secrets, and some travel as we are a mobile (and gossipy) creature. One thing the South is known for is its food. Heavy, rich, and very simple. Its cheesy grits, collard greens, cornbread, anything fried, and lots of gravy. They call it Soul food, cause it nourishes every bit of you, down to your very soul. Sure, we found plenty of these delights in New Orleans, but we found some unexpected things as well. Barring the gator nugget experience we had our first night, all of our meals were enjoyable. So much so that each meal we ooh'ed and ahh'ed and declared it the best thing we had eaten yet. Even the afternoon when we picniced on simple fare from the farmers market- goat cheddar curds, baguette, arugula- we delighted in the way each flavor complimented each other. Perhaps it is what a good vacation does to you, allowing each of your senses

to become enlightened as to what is to truely be savored.

Our first good meal came by way of a little juice bar/cafe down the street from our hostel. We were so happy to have discovered this place. It offered something for everyone. I had the lunch sandwich special- 1/2 veggie, cole slaw and gazpacho. House made foccacia, perfectly sweet and crispy cole slaw without too much mayo, and a well blended sweet pepper gazpacho. Perfect for a hot summer day with a watermelon lemonade.

Tim got the Cuban sandwich with potato salad. Mmm mm. You can't go wrong with that. We were so happy we came back for breakfast :)

The best meal we experienced was at Jacques-Imos Cafe, a local joint about 5 miles from the Garden District. A short and fun bike ride got us there, and a 15 minute wait with a shared beer got us a table.

Tim had never experienced gumbo, along with many other perks of southern cuisine, so of course when Duck and Andoullie Sausage Gumbo presented itself on the menu, we had to order it. Hands down best gumbo I've ever had, and Tim liked it alot.

My pick was something kind of outrageous, but impossible to pass up- Gator Sausage and Shrimp Cheesecake. A savory cheesecake made with cream cheese, gouda, gator sausage and shrimp, with a parmasean crust and some awesome sauce. Wow, super good and just my style.

Of course corn bread, because no good southern style meal is complete without. And this place was churning out the muffins, with a hot 30 or so count pan coming out of the oven every 5 minutes. And they top it with garlic butter!

We incorporated a trip across lake Ponchatrain to a small town called Abita Springs to visit the Abita brewery. Along the way, we stopped at a nature conservancy, and explored the lush swamp land, even spotting a gator!

The brewery experience was pleasant, due mostly to the fact that they give you a glass and allow you to pour your own brew straight from the tap. I just recently became a fan of Abita by way of their S.O.S (Save Our Shores)- a pilsner with a cause.

The tour was short and sweet, which allowed plenty of time for sampling tasty beverages, of which there were about 10-12 to choose from. The tour guides were genial, and very helpful with questions, of which Tim had plenty. Being a home brewer really gets one excited when in the presence of lots and lots of beer :)

Overall, our trip to the swamp lands was fun, tasty, and liberating. I came back home with a whole new sense of myself, my community, and my food. I hope I will never stop traveling. It is truly my greatest source of inspiration.