Good Eats

Under the Stars…with S’mores

claudiaJuly 5, 2016Good Eats, Inspiration, Stuff We Like

I remember it like it was yesterday. An overnight campout during my little sister’s and my first summer at Camp Skyline Ranch in Mentone, Alabama…and my first bite into a S’more. How was it that our parents somehow failed to expose their 6 kids to America’s easiest and absolute best-tasting dessert? What is it about this 3-ingredient campfire treat that makes even the most erudite adults wax nostalgic about childhood summers? In Dan White’s new camping and travel memoir, Under the Stars, the author, who lives in Santa Cruz, California, devotes pages to the S’more and deservedly so. It’s the object of every camper’s affection and out here at our place we serve them up regularly. In fact, one cold evening last winter, Arielle and I got a craving so strong we made some indoors in front of the Buck Stove in the living room. White gives us the origins of the dessert (tracing it back to a 1927 camping manual called Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts) plus much, errr, s’more on his adventures in nature all across America’s great woods and wilderness. Share your own camping memories and photos now on White’s new Facebook fan page, and you can listen to a special July 4th interview — “How America Fell in Love with Camping” — on Wisconsin Public Radio.

July got here just a little too quickly, don’t you think? So damn the calories — let’s celebrate Summer with gobs of gooey S’mores!

Rick Bragg’s Traveling Food

Into the Light

Are you a two-sided southerner?

At Heart, A Rural Poet

Lessons in Beekeeping

claudiaJune 23, 2016Friends, Good Eats, In the Garden, On the Farm

Well, we’ve gone and done it. Just added about 10,000 honeybees to our place — they’re out back in the orchard. Thankfully, we’ve got good neighbors who know a thing or two about creating a healthy apiary, so we’re really just apprentices at this point. But our best-laid plans did soon go awry when our one little beehive (Mike was adamant: we could only have ONE) decided it was doing so well that it would do this thing called “swarm” and subdivide. So now, after our friend Charlie rushed over to help capture the wayward bees that thankfully chose to hang out in a low branch, we have TWO hives. If these little drones divvy up again, I may have to start looking for a new husband because the current one might just quit. But let’s hope not. 🙂

Here are shots from our adventures so far, including installing the first hive (which came from a beekeeper on Lookout Mountain), capturing the swarm, and later helping Charlie rob one of his own hives and make a delicious 2-gallon batch of honey.

No stings to report yet — well, except for Lola, who just had to go and poke her nose into one of the boxes.

Rise ‘n Shine

In Search of Cantharellus Cibarius

our own giving tree

Lisa Makes Ratatouille

Rise ‘n Shine

claudiaFebruary 26, 2016Animals, Friends, Good Eats, On the Farm

We love to surprise friends and neighbors with fresh eggs from all the girls. With spring now on its way, egg production here is heading into high gear, so place your orders soon! 😉

Fields of Gold

A Holiday Walk

Portraits of Dane

Lessons in Beekeeping

Lazy Day Brunch

claudiaDecember 31, 2015Good Eats

Here’s a dish we made on Christmas morning. It was so good we might just make it again on New Year’s Day! From our breakfast table to yours…

Turkey Sausage & Grits Casserole

1 lb. crumbled turkey sausage

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup uncooked grits (quick cooking)

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (mild or sharp)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup milk

1 tsp white or black pepper

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

4 large eggs, beaten lightly

Vegetable or olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly brown sausage in a big skillet, stirring often. Set aside. Add salt to 4 1/2 cups water and boil in large pan. Stir in grits until gently boiling again. Cover grits and lower heat. Simmer 2-3 minutes, continue stirring.

Remove grits from heat, add cheeses and combine until melted. Stir in milk, thyme, pepper and eggs. Add sausage. Spoon contents into a 13×9 inch glass baking dish (lightly greased) and bake at 350° for about 50-60 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Once the casserole is done, let stand for 5-10 minutes then “gobble” it down! Serves 10-12.

Cooking Notes: 1. You can make this dish 1-2 days ahead. Follow recipe to assemble casserole, then place in fridge. When ready, bring to room temp (about 30-45 minutes) then bake. 2. After baking, if casserole doesn’t brown on top, place under a broiler for just a little bit but watch carefully!

Making Biscuits in the Black Belt

The best little rib joint in Alabama

‘shroom! ‘shroom!

In Search of Cantharellus Cibarius

claudiaSeptember 21, 2015Friends, Good Eats, On the Farm

One of our neighbors has been telling us the back woods are a great place to forage for chanterelles and after a recent rain she proved it, showing up for a visit along with her sister and a bag full of these freshly picked beauties. Years ago, a professor who grew up foraging for mushrooms in Germany’s Black Forest taught them the edible parts of the woods and now they’ve generously passed on some of those teachings to us. I admit we were more than a little nervous that night as we chopped up the golden mushrooms, sauteed them in a little olive oil with salt and pepper and cautiously ingested them (delicious!) with no signs later of intestinal distress (phew!). And now that Mike has realized chantarelles likes these are going for $25/lb. and higher at gourmet food markets, I think we’ll do some foraging of our own in the near future! Try these with eggs, on a pizza or in a creamy soup!