Berlin's Whimsy

Tomatillo-Tomato Salsa perfected.

Ah, fall... I've been waiting for you all summer long. With your warm-hued sunsets and crisp time-to-wake-up mornings. I feel I can relax again after an extremely busy and tiring summer.

I'd like to say that I've been away from this space perfecting salsa recipes, but unfortunately, it hasn't been all fun and cooking. School and life were quite hectic and busy this summer. That said, I have spent quite a bit of time making this salsa. Repeatedly.

My garden's tomatillo harvest is robust once again this year and they're finding their way into many of our meals. I've also grown fond of pealing them straight from the garden and eating them right then and there---- they're that good this year. So much better than the store-bought ones.

This has become my favorite salsa this summer. It's like my previous favorite salsa, only better.

It's sweet (from the tomatillos), salty, tangy, and it can be hot if you want to add hot chili peppers. As always, onions aren't welcome in these parts (sigh), so I make up for it with garlic. Go ahead and add onions if that's your pleasure.

 
The ingredients are typical, but do read through the method! I blend up a portion of the salsa to add a sweet-tart background to the chunks and to blend up the garlic so as to avoid any big chunks of raw garlic.

As with many salsas, I don't so much follow a recipe per se, but taste as I go. I encourage you to do the same. Frankly, this salsa is so yummy, I could blend the whole thing and drink it like a smoothie!

 
Tomatillo-Tomato Salsa

10 Tomatillos, husked, washed, and diced small

10 Roma Tomatoes, diced small (or whatever fresh tomatoes you have on hand!)

Handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Juice of 2 limes

2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 T. sea salt, or to taste

Optional add-ins: hot chili peppers, diced very small or white onions, diced and rinsed under cold water before adding.

Method: Dice the tomatillos and tomatoes. Stir them together in a big bowl.

 
Into a blender, add the garlic, lime juice, and about 1/4 of the tomato-tomatillo mixture. Blend until smooth. Add this mixture back to the chunky tomatoes and tomatillos and add the finely minced cilantro and salt to taste. Stir thoroughly.

 
Enjoy!

 

Beautiful Summer.

Though beautiful, my summer has been oh so busy and hectic. Hence this short post with all the essentials.

 
I made the Mariposa Dress from Handmade Beginnings last summer. It was too short and it hung in my closet for a year, waiting for a ruffle on the bottom to lengthen it. I learned that I must always lengthen my skirts and dresses. Always! I wore it out to a local brewery for a Friday night beer last weekend. What a fun summer evening that was!

 
And the next day, this fruit pizza went to a potluck. It's from the blog, Oh She Glows. Rather than spreading it with the Avocado Lime Whip, though, I used a Vanilla Nut Cream. I didn't want the avocado to turn brown while sitting on the potluck table. It was wonderfully good and beautiful like the summer. 

I am participating in Heather's 30-Day Vegan Workshop right now and loving it!

 
It's the perfect peaceful end to a hectic summer.

 

Summer Vegan links

This summer (as in summer's past), I'm eating more vegan meals. My pursuit of vegan inspiration has led me to some vegan recipes worth passing along...

 
This buckwheat porridge is amazingly good! Yeah, it looks a little like paste, but it does taste much better than it looks---- I promise! For the non-dairy milk, I used some hemp milk I made yesterday.

 
Do pop over to the blog Oh She Glows for beautiful photos and lots of other great recipes. In fact, her 15-minute Creamy Avocado Pasta is another discovery from her blog that I want to share. I was a little skeptical at first, but it is definitely worth trying. It's done in minutes, making it a great weeknight recipe. 

A few nights this week, we had grilled pizza for dinner. I made the regular fixings for the rest of the family and I made mine vegan. Here's how...

 
Vegan Cheese Sauce...

1 C. raw cashews, soaked

1 head of garlic

1 lemon, juiced

salt to taste

Method: Roast the garlic. Cut the top off and drizzle with olive oil (you might as well roast a few!). Roast in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. I used my toaster oven to avoid heating up the kitchen! When they're roasted, pop the cloves out of the peels.

In a blender or food processor, blend the ingredients. Taste for seasoning--- it's a little sweet from the roasted garlic. This sauce can be used for not only pizza, but as a pasta sauce or a ravioli filling.

For the Pizza... I slathered the dough with the sauce and for an extra layer of flavor, I chopped up some kalamata olives, some fresh rosemary, and a handful of basil in the food processor and added a thin layer of that, too. It was so yummy, I didn't miss the cheese.

***If you're considering trying more vegan recipes this summer, you might be interested in the 30-Day Vegan Online Workshop at Beauty that Moves. She's offering a 2-for-1 special enrollment and I'd love to find another participant to share the enrollment fee! Let me know if you're interested...

 

 

Cucumber Agua Fresca

 
Oh, thank goodness we are not suffering from the heat wave that hovered around part of the country recently. (Knock on wood). I swear on scout's honor that I reveled in each and every day that we enjoyed lovely temperatures around 80-degrees. Perfect days. Beautiful evenings.

But yesterday, the temps climbed up into the 90s and it was time for some refreshment....

 
This drink is absolutely perfect for a hot summer day. It's a fairly common recipe, but this is the blend I like the best---- an excellent balance of sweet and savory. Be sure to include the salt in the recipe (unless you're concerned about sodium--- though, it's not much). I find that the salt really adds an extra flavor layer.

 
I've been blending it up and storing it in the refrigerator to drink throughout the day.

And of course, you could splash in some gin or vodka, if the occasion warrants. Either way, it's delicious.

 
Cucumber Agua Fresca

~1 large cucumber, peeled

~juice of 2 limes

~3 C. cold water

~1/8 tsp. sea salt

~2 T. agave nectar (or other type of sweetener)

~8 ice cubes

Blend it all up until very smooth. Serve in a chilled glass and enjoy the summer!

 

 

Canteloupe Creamsicle Smoothie

 
Another yummy smoothie we're enjoying this summer: Canteloupe Creamsicle Smoothie. It's so simple, it doesn't need a recipe. But here it is, nonetheless.

Canteloupe Creamsicle Smoothie

1/2- 3/4 whole Canteloupe, seeded & cubed (the riper the better! I used a Tuscan canteloupe)

1 C. plain yogurt

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Sweetener to taste: I used Agave.

Method: Blend. Pour into a pretty glass.

 
Top with an umbrella. Admire the creamsicle hue and drink it up. That's it. Happy summer!

 

Out in the Garden...

 
My favorite aspect of summer is my garden. I start each morning out there, with a cup of coffee, the slanted morning sun, the promise of a new day, and the joy of discovering new growth and sometimes surprises. It was only a few weeks ago that I wondered if I'd ever get around to starting my garden. Our spring weather was not conducive to growing much of anything and the snow and grey clouds kept me inside. But then, the sun finally broke free and inspired me to start my garden. It's in full force now. In fact, these photos are from awhile back.

 
My garden isn't large by any means, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for in producing the kinds of things we enjoy eating. I'm speaking of tomatoes. I have eleven plants that I'm encouraging along daily. Alongside my tomatoes, I'm growing tomatillos, cabbage, zucchinis and pattypan squash, greens of all sorts, a couple pepper plants, peas, basil, onions, and herbs. I'm pretty pleased with my garden this year. We also constructed a bean pole teepee with visions of spicy pickled green beans in our future.

 
My garden has already offered up a few of its gifts for a recent family barbecue. I used a recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Heidi Swanson's, Supernatural Cooking Everyday. I made the 'Yellow Split Peas & Greens,' with inspiration from Knittingiris' improvisions here. It was oh so good!

 

Simplest Summer Smoothie. Watermelon. That's all.

 
We bought a watermelon the size of a small country. And not only was it seeded, but it seemed that this watermelon grew more than its fair share. The kids all discussed what to do with the seeds. Do you chew them up? Do you spit them out?

 
Well, I blend them up. They are edible and the blender just grinds them in. So simple. So refreshing.

I've started my day with a glass of watermelon for the last couple days. It's oh so refreshing on the hot days we've been experiencing and it's packed with vitamins.

 
If you really want to become fanciful, you can dice up the watermelon and freeze it for an hour or so before blending up your own natural slushie. Or blend in other flavors, such as blueberry, or a hint of mint.

Chocolate Cookies from my Mom.

 
 
My Mom has knack for throwing a bunch of ingredients together and making something perfect. As I'm a meticulous baker at heart (weighing ingredients out--- leery of diverging from the original recipe), her success with this technique surprises me. And inspires me, for sometimes I gather inspiration from my Mom's wing-it approach.

I tried some of these cookies at her house awhile back, and I had to ask her for the recipe. I wasn't surprised when she casually listed the ingredients off the top of her head.

 
These cookies are both hearty and perfectly chocolately, with the addition of both melted chocolate, chocolate chips, and flaxmeal! Even better, they're quick and simple to make. The butter is melted with the chocolate----no need for dirtying the electric mixer, which is another of my Mom's characteristic traits: she seldom uses electric kitchen appliances. 

So, whip some up and see what you think!

My Mom's Hearty Chocolate Cookies

Print Recipe

8 T. butter (1 stick)

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker's) 

1 C. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 C. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 T. flaxmeal

1/2 C. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Melt the butter with the chocolate either gently (being careful not to burn the chocolate) in the microwave, or over low heat on the stove. When melted, stir in the sugar and allow to cool a bit. Whisk in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Stir the wet & dry ingredients together just until combined and add the chocolate chips.

Drop by the 1 1/2 T. full (I use a #30 disher) and bake for approximately 15-minutes; until crisp around the edges but still soft in the middle. Makes approximately 16 cookies.

Celebrating the Now.

Sometimes it is difficult for me to take the time to stop the ever forward movement of our lives long enough to celebrate the milestone that click by along the way. My life is often a hectic flurry of doing the things that are right before me, demanding attention. Often, my hands are so busy with other things that I don't use them to pat my loved ones, and myself, on the back.

So, I'm trying to make a concerted effort to stop. Take a breath. Notice. And celebrate.

 
This year, my son began high school. Adolescence seems to bring on a whole new level of speed by which your children grow up and away. Believe me. For here is my son--- as impish and charming as ever--- yet the future young man is so very quickly taking shape. I can't stop it. Yes, before I know it, he will embark on his own life. If ever there was a time to remind myself to embrace each day with my children, it is now. Savor the moments, I tell myself. Over and over.

Thankfully, I have others who remind me of this, too. Recently, my son won academic awards at his school. It was a night I won't forget. Sitting on the rooftop of his school, as the sun went down behind the awards podium, his name was called. Twice. And we weren't expecting it. The sweetest of all, was the special English & Literature Award he received from his teacher, along with a very flattering letter. Later, at home, P said to me, "Amber, these are the times to celebrate. Savor this moment." And though I was enjoying it all, I hadn't really stopped to take notice---- not in that way of reflecting on all these years of parenting and the years ahead, and thinking this is a night to cherish. This moment.

 
This summer, I finish up the first part of my educational goals. No, I'm not done, but it's a transition from one school to another. I look back on these quarters of school---- all those classes---- and allow myself a little pride in my accomplishments. I've primarily received good grades, but those math classes have been a challenge for me. Slowly but surely, I've plugged away at learning what felt like a foreign language to me, and this term I received an A in math. A major milestone!  And this time, I'm allowing myself a little time to recognize what I've accomplished. What we've all accomplished. And it feels good.

I still knit. But not with cotton.

Remind me to never start another project in cotton. Silly me, I decided to make this baby sweater in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. It seemed sensible at the time: washable cotton for a baby. Well, that's only sensible if the sweater is completed and the baby actually receives it. Apparently for this wool-lover, that's a tall task.

 
 
Once again, I'm reminded of how tactile & sensual knitting is for me. The mere thought of picking up those needles and pulling stitch after stitch of dead-feeling, stiff cotton through loops makes me avoid picking up my knitting at all. That's because I told myself I could not knit any other project until this one is complete. And it's sooooo near completion. But then again, I don't relish the feel and for me, that's everything.

I'd much rather knit on this (Shalom Pattern).

 

It's in the scrumptious and squishy wool from Quince & Co: Lark. I love it. In fact, I'm fairly enchanted with all of the yarns from Quince & Co.  I love how alive wool feels. How it slides over the needles and fills in each stitch. How I can gather it up into a big handful and smell wool's earthy scents. How each wool sweater is unique. Lesson learned---I'll be knitting with wool from here on out! (Except for dishcloths, of course)... I guess I'm stuck with living in cold climates!