Lillie's Broiled Asparagus

Lillie's hands down favorite vegetable is asparagus. Grill it, saute it, or just leave it alone, she can't get enough. Although she requests it often, I usually don't have it on hand. Today was her day.


She was thrilled to help out so when I told her she was in charge of preparation and picking the flavor combination, she was beside herself.


We reused the Styrofoam packaging as a reservoir for the seasonings.


Lillie picked out Penzeys Mural of Flavor, olive oil, salt, pepper and a peach champagne vinegar.



Shake on that herbal goodness!


Coated with flavor and ready for the pan. She arranged them single file...


Last minute drizzle of champagne vinegar for a little acidity boost.


Stop eating them raw! We have a mission here.



Lillie's Broiled Asparagus

One bunch of raw asparagus (thinner the better)
1/2 tsp Penzys Mural of Flavor (or Herbes De Provence or any dried mixed herb selection)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp champagne vinegar (or any flavor, really. balsamic would be nice)
Salt and pepper to taste

Coat asparagus with olive oil. Then sprinkle on the herbs, salt and pepper. Lay flat on a baking sheet and drizzle (for rizzle) with champagne vinegar. Broil for 10 - 12 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately.



We whipped up a little monkey plate salad with some tomato, greens and microplaned parm topped with a champagne vinaigrette.


A little grilled chicken breast from last night finished it off.


Even Sadie is catching the asparagus bug!


Picking off the cheese - she is a Sauter! Lillie did a great job!

Whole Foods Sneak Preview

I received a last minute invite to the Whole Foods sneak preview last month (I finally found the photos on my phone.) After being asked by the manager of the other Whole Foods to stop taking pictures, I was nervous to snap away but they didn’t say a word.


The Grand Opening for the new Dr. Phillips store was just a few days away and I had no idea what I was in for. After signing in, we were given a generous gift bag filled with goodies from every department. Score! The place was almost empty and they were just starting to stock the items to fill out the store. When I say store, I mean warehouse. I’ve been to many Whole Foods from SF to Boston. Up until now, we were lucky to have a smaller store in Winter Park, just north of Orlando. Once a month, I would bring a cooler and hit them up for my golden beets, mussels, some hard to find cheeses and whatnot.


This place has its own smoker, dry-aged beef section, smoked seafood section, a finishing salt and sugar bar, homemade gelato, juice bar, etc. The prepared food section alone is over half the size of the entire Winter Park store and has over 150 restaurant quality offerings. Quaint it is not. A foodie’s paradise indeed.

The first stop was the 4,000 square foot produce department. In each section, the manager would give a quick overview on what sets them apart from products to new innovations. We were shown the locally grown board which lists every item grown within a 50 mile radius. I was just there today and the number was 123. Not too bad.

Each department had some yummy samples. My favorite was the smoked chicken wings – smokey goodness.

The salt and sugar bar was a highlight too. I picked up some ginger coriander finishing salt today for a sweet potato crusted red snapper. The cheese section was insane and wisely situated between the exotic beer and the gourmet pastries. Pull up a chair.

They feature 400 hand cut cheeses (put the cheese dagger down, dude!) including this Cave-aged Emmenthaler.

They always have some samples out and will let you taste anything. Their huge coffee roaster was going that day too so the olfactory senses were in overload. It was a great behind the scenes view with a champagne toast at the end. Check out their calendar for local events and tastings.

I’ve been back several times and will post the results of my WF harvests in the next week or so. It is dangerously close to my work so if I haul ass, I can be back in about an hour. It is good to be back on track with the blog. Lots of fun stuff to share about the girls and our culinary adventures too.

Pickles

Pickles
Originally uploaded by Bnice2mice

the ever clever bnice2mice is at it again.

Western Spaghetti

this is amazing! just watch it. -c

Melting...

Whooooo! It has been ridiculously hot the last few days here in central Florida. We lucked out with a mild (albeit dry) spring and once summer kicked in, the afternoon showers showed up to cool us down just a moment before we were scheduled to catch on fire. I bought a new GRILL last night and I am giddy with anticipation. The whole beauty is stainless steel - even the grill surface and burners. More to follow...I'm picking up the matching rotisserie this weekend so look out!

bird's nest in the mango tree

I was wandering around the yard waiting for the dog to find the exact right spot to pee and this nest caught my eye. It is about 6 feet up in the mango tree. I thought I saw an egg when I peeked in the first time but when I came back out to take a picture, it was empty. Weird. And NO, I didn't touch it! Lillie found the juice box straw wrapper and thought that was the coolest thing...


The tree has rebounded well since the late spring frost knocked about 10 feet off the top and killed all the baby mangoes. Boo! We probably would have had 40 or 50 this season. No mango pickles or mango ice cream for you! I picked up some golden mangoes from the Cabbage Patch and they are delicious! A little less "mango funk" to them - maybe a little more tart with a hint of pineapple? The flavor is really unique. We made blueberry mango smoothies - yum.

CheeseBob CrackerPants

Against my better judgement, I grabbed some roasted garlic easy cheese the other day. I am such a sucker for a new product. Yes, it is as gross as I remembered but the girls sure loved it.

The cheesefest quickly went from the simple squirt on a cracker to some more advanced cheese art. Here is my best Spongebob on a blue corn tortilla round. Not too bad!

Pizza With Piper

Piper Henderson stopped by the Pickles and Cake Kitchen to help Lillie and Sadie put together a cheese pizza. We bought the dough at Publix along with some good sauce and a giant bag of mozzarella .


After rolling out the dough, the sauce went down. Lillie couldn't keep her grubby little fingers out of the sauce and caused a power surge by not listening (it could happen!)



The girls took turns layering the cheese in just the right spots.


Careful cheese placement is key to the perfect home-baked pizza.


We used Victoria's pizza baking trick and it works like a charm. Instead of covering your entire kitchen with corn meal, Roll out and transfer pizza to pizza stone on parchment paper. Once the pie has firmed up, yank out the paper and let it finish on the stone. Preheat oven at 450 and bake for about 15 minutes.


Lillie chews with her eyes closed.


Piper was a big fan of the crust.


Sadie just pretends to eat.


It was a great visit - come back anytime, Piper!

Eat Your Lawn!

I stumbledupon an article in Time today that grabbed my attention. "The Incredible, Edible Front Lawn" is about a new trend that encourages us to evolve past the wasteful 50's inspired manicured front lawn to a more eco-friendly approach by shifting the edible garden from a small plot in the backyard to your primary landscape focus.


Here is a great quote from Fritz Haeg, the creator of Edible Estates, “The lawn devours resources while it pollutes. It is maniacally groomed with mowers and trimmers powered by the 2 stroke motors responsible for much of our greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrocarbons from mowers react with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight to produce ozone. To eradicate invading plants it is drugged with pesticides which are then washed into our water supply with sprinklers and hoses dumping our increasingly rare fresh drinking resource down the gutter. Of the 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater and 23 have the ability to leach into groundwater sources.
The lawn divides and isolates us. It is the buffer of anti-social no-mans-land that we wrap ourselves with, reinforcing the suburban alienation of our sprawling communities. The mono-culture of one plant species covering our neighborhoods from coast to coast celebrates puritanical homogeneity and mindless conformity.”

Check out the Edible Estates website for more info including some amazing examples. how to guides, and resources - good stuff!


Makes sense to me. I wonder what my Homeowner's Association will think?

Being the literal person that I am, I thought they were talking about actually eating the grass growing in a traditional lawn. I was psyched to find such a thing! The organization Plants for an Edible Future has a listing of edible grasses you can grow and cut back in your lawn! Click here for the link.

I'm buying a used riding lawnmower off of Craigslist today and I'm not happy about it! Our yard is too big, grows too fast and, well, I don't want to mow that damn lawn anymore! Eating it just sounds like a better option.

Make Your Own Cheese

This is too cool not to share! I like the guys tongue in cheek approach too. I'm going to make this asap!

you say tomato

The best flavor in the world is a fresh tomato right out of the garden and there is nothing worse than a tomato that doesn't taste like a tomato. We have all suffered through those flavorless, mealy off-season tomatoes. Yuck.

Our harvest happened at the right time considering the salmonella outbreak sweeping the country. I was truly caught off guard by how much flavor these beauties are packing.


Here is a recipe inspired by the new show Chef at Home - he recently had a whole show on garden-fresh tomatoes and did a great job showcasing their flavor and versatility. His enthusiasm is a bit much at times but by the end of the show I was hooked. He squeezed a ton of information into the half hour show and had some ideas I'd never considered. The message that resonated with me the most was to not over complicate your dish - let the flavor of your key ingredient shine through.


This one is too simple not to try. Combine all ingredients in a blender (or use your immersion blender) and puree for a minute or two. Chill for an hour and serve over sliced tomato and greens.

tomato vinaigrette

1 large ripe tomato
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
zest and juice from 1 small lemon
1 tsp honey
2 basil leaves
1/2 clove garlic
1 tsp fresh shallot

Purple Haze Carrots

The first batch of Purple Haze Carrots have been harvested. I probably should have waited until they were a little bigger, but my little ravenous rabbits were chomping at the bit. They will eat anything from the garden on the spot so I had to get these carrots in the kitchen fast!


The skin is so tender I just left it on and cut carrots into small bite-sized pieces.

After steaming them for a few minutes, I tossed them with a very light drizzle of olive oil and local honey.


Lillie picked them up with her hands and ate them one by one like popcorn.

Watermelon Lemonade

watermelon lemonade - refreshing!

Simply delicious and bursting with flavor - this one is too easy not to try. I found the recipe in the Greenwise flyer - I should look through that thing more often.


Ingredients:

3 lemons, juiced
2 tbsp honey
3 cups seedless watermelon
1/2 cup apple juice/cider



Combine ingredients in blender.


Serve over crushed ice with a silly straw.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! Click it or ticket, people!

God bless all those who have come before us and sacrificed so much.

Having no original thought of my own, I typed in a quick quote search for "memorial day" on quotegarden and this one rang true like no other:

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."

~From a headstone in Ireland

Truer words have never been spoken.

back to the food...