Homemade Ranch Seasoning

In a previous post I talked about making roasted sunchokes and carrots with a Ranch seasoning.

Sunchokes Three Ways

One of the fun things about participating in a CSA program is discovering things you never knew existed... in massive quantities!  For instance...

These babies are sunchokes.  Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, which is a curious name for them, as they are neither artichokes nor from Jerusalem.  In fact, they are the tubers from a type of sunflower, and they were first cultivated by native North Americans, long before Europeans arrived on the continent.  You are starting to like them already, aren't you?  Good!  But let's not stop there.  Here are more things to like about them:

• They contain a good amount of protein, no fat, and surprisingly little starch.
• They have a mildly sweet flavor from fructose, so they are a better choice for people with type 2 diabetes than grains or other starchy vegetables.
• They are a good source of many important nutrients, including potassium, iron, fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper.  Not to mention loads of fiber!
• They are a great plant to place in your garden:  easy to grow and super pretty!
• Finally...

It's All Good...

Aloha.

St. Patrick's Day Aloha

Pyrex Snapware

I really like these storage containers.  They are made by the Pyrex company, who make so many fine products.  They are glass, not plastic, and are, therefore, safe in the oven and the microwave.  The lids fit snugly and easily and don't slip loose.  They are stack-able and don't take up much space in the cabinet.  They clean up easily in the dishwasher.

Ever since I started packing GrandDad Fabuloso's lunch (because I like to control what he eats... and he likes it) these have been especially useful.  Often as not, his lunch is last night's leftover's (because I am lazy... and he likes it) in one of these containers.

And if all that's not recommendation enough, these healthy, durable, indispensable containers are made right here in the good old U.S. of A.  Thanks, Pyrex.  Carry on.

Happy Box Week 2

Another week; another Happy Box!  Here are the organic goodies Fulton Farms sent me yesterday:

• more spinach (hooray!)
• a bag of Romaine lettuce
• a bag of carrots
• several potatoes
• several bananas
• two tomatoes
• two cucumbers
• a green pepper
• a mango
• a pile of monkey brains

Okay, they didn't really send me monkey brains, but they did (as they often do) send me stuff I've never seen before, don't know what it is, what it tastes like, how to cook it or how to eat it.  I LOVE THAT!  Seriously, I have discovered so many great things to eat through this program that I may never have tried on my own.

Anyway, the "monkey brains" are actually sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes.  They are not actually artichokes, but relatives of the sunflower family.  They were first cultivated by the native Americans, who called them "sun roots."  They are supposedly a great substitute for potatoes, with a similar taste and texture, but with far less starch/sugar.

Like potatoes, you say?  In that case I scrubbed them really well (since they also say not to peel them) and threw them in the crockpot with the brisket I made for dinner tonight.  They were good.  The best way to describe them would be, if a potato and a carrot got married, this would be their baby.  Okay, maybe that's not the best way to describe them, but it's one way.

Adding sunchokes to the list of things we like to eat...

Trash Becomes Treasure: Glass Planter

In this project I took an old brass candle holder and a glass bowl vase and turned them into a rather pretty planter for succulents.


The base of the planter started out looking like this -- not horrible, but kind of outdated.

I purchased it at a thrift store for 99 cents as part of an experiment in which I used oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to "de-uglify" a crazy assortment of items selected for that purpose.  Read more about that here.  I was so pleased with the result of that experiment, I decided to find some creative way to use my beautified little holder.

I found a fishbowl-shaped glass vase that fit it perfectly, and I knew just what to do...

First step, I filled the bottom of the bowl with some small, pretty stones.

Next I added some activated carbon, which I have heard is a good thing to include in terrariums and such to avoid funky odor build-up.  I found it in the fish section of a pet supplies store.

On top of that I placed a coffee filter that I folded to a shape slightly smaller than the surface of the material beneath it.  I used this to prevent the potting soil from filtering down through the pebbles.

I added a layer of soil directly over the filter, placed my plants in the soil, and gently added another layer of the pretty stones around them.

Here is my planter, happy in its new home.  (I'm happy, too.)