Food Art Garden

Herb Vinaigrette Dressing

All the lettuce is up in the garden now,  the herbs are in full glory too. I hear both begging me to make salad.  I stopped by the farmer's market and picked up cucumber and carrot to make this simple salad with herb vinaigrette.  A little effort to make the dressing, but it will keep a day or two on the counter and a week in the refrigerator, just getting a fuller taste over time. To impress yourself, just throw in a few nasturtiums or pansy flowers. 

Herb Vinaigrette Dressing

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

l garlic clove crushed

2 ½ tablespoons chopped mixed herbs, such as parsley, chives, watercress, thyme, mint, basil or tarragon

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a jar.  Salt and pepper to taste, Shake well.  You may also use a food processor for a few seconds.

Substitution of  wine vinegar or lemon juice.

 

Use about four cups of salad greens, grate finely one carrot, peel and seed the cucumber, add to greens.  Toss with salad dressing. 

 

You're never to old to try something new, how about rhubarb and pound cake?

Sometimes even at 20 or 30 years old we just have the idea that we are too old to do something, go back to school, learn a musical instrument, or find true love, but the truth is at pretty advanced ages people are accomplishing amazing things.  While in her 80's, one of my heroines, Leah Chase, has resurrected Dookey Chase’s Restaurant, in New Orleans after the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina. The day I met her she didn’t have a lot of help either, except her niece and a few other family members.  She was expecting a full dining room of people for dinner and wrestling a huge pan of green beans to the stovetop.  Now with that in mind you should be encouraged to cook a little something in your own kitchen today.

“She’s not resting on her laurels; she is in her kitchen, ten to twelve hours a day still cooking”. (At 83)

Carol Allen, about Leah Chase, international food judge, writer and chef.

Rhubarb Sauce

Rhubarb is available for a short time during the spring months.  Rhubarb is well worth trying if you haven’t before for its vitamin content and tart taste.  It is often combined with the first delicate strawberries of spring.

3 cups chopped rhubarb

¼ cup dark brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup water

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan, bring to boil then lower heat.  Cook at low heat for approximately one hour until rhubarb is soft and liquid  has thicken.

Pound Cake with Rhubarb and Strawberries

Ingredients:

Pound Cake

Whipped Cream Topping or Cool Whip

1 Quart Sliced Strawberries

Rhubarb Sauce

Slice pound cake in thin slices, layer with  strawberries, pour 2 tablespoons of rhubarb sauce over strawberries, top with whip cream.

Rhubarb Freezer Sauce

Yield: 4 cups

2 cups orange juice

1 cup honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 cups rhubarb, cut in ½ inch pieces

½ cup sliced fresh strawberries

½ cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

Bring orange juice, honey and cinnamon to a boil in a large saucepan.  Add the rhubarb and raisins. Cook, stirring for 1 to 10 minutes until rhubarb is tender and liquid is syrupy.  Add grated orange. Serve warm or cool.

To Freeze:  Prepare recipe as directed.  Cool, then pour into small freezer containers. Freeze, leaving ½ inch head space.  To serve; partially thaw the frozen sauce in the refrigerator.  Transfer to a saucepan, and simmer over low heat, until warm.  Can be microwaved until warm.

 

Mary’s Pound Cake

This pound cake recipe is from my friend’s mom Mrs. Irene Subasavage.  I ate this pound cake growing up and now my children have also enjoyed this easy recipe.  It makes lovely shortcake with any variety of seasonal berries or peaches.

Pound Cake

1 pound salted butter

1 box confectioner’s sugar, or four cups
5-6 eggs
Flavoring (vanilla or whatever)
¼ cup sour cream
3 cups all purpose flour

Crème butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time.  Stir in flavoring, sour cream and flour until blended.

Bake 1 hour @ 350° in tube pan.  No need to grease pan.

Spring inside and out, pansy project and granola

I am always inspired by the everyday domestic art of ordinary creative women and men, their encouraging efforts haunting me like ghosts to explore all the areas of painting, gardening, sewing and cooking.

"If you possess no more than basic skills, there is still a huge amount you can do in the way of creative self expression. In fact, there is a lot to be said for "outsider" art and craft, the sort of thing that is made by ordinary people with ordinary skills. It has directness, sincerity and individuality often missing in more sophisticated, refined knowing art". Jane Brockett

Spring is everywhere around me here in Oregon, the bright and cheerful pansy faces  inspired this simple pansy template and the spring flower pot for my porch.

I wanted to give you a few projects so you can get a little bit of spring inside your abode, as well as out. Spring Pansy is a very basic pattern to paint as a watercolor painting, or with fabric paint on the edge of a tablecloth, the center of a pillow or embroider on napkins for a Mother's Day or birthday surprise. The granola recipe included would make a lovely gift in a tin for Mother's Day on its own or with a couple of pansy decorated napkins.

Pansies are one of the first flowers that can be placed outside in spring. In my neck of the woods, they are on sale because the warmer weather annuals are coming available for purchase. This means a bargain can be found at your garden center. The pansies will last as the weather warms up and can be moved into the shade in warmer areas of the US. They are prolific at reseeding themselves next year right in the garden spot where they were planted, making them a value added plant. I took cuttings from my apple trees and placed in the center of the pot, about 3 or 4 inches deep. These cuttings will continue to sprout their leaves. Place 3 to 5 pansies around the stems, depending on the size of your pot. Any kind of flowering shrub branches can be cut and used for this project.

Spring Pansy Project

Supplies for Painting

#7 round brush

Watercolor or Acrylic Paints in the following colors

ultramarine violet

ultramarine blue

cadmium yellow

permanent rose

spring green

undersea green

If you already have paints on hand, experiment using shades of red, pink purple or even orange. Pansies come in all these colors.

Download then copy the image to the appropriate size of your project. Use tracing paper or a light box to transfer the image to your paper or fabric.

Begin by painting a base layer of permanent rose on each petal. Let dry or dry with a hair dryer. On the edge of each petal paint permanent rose. Using only water, pull the paint gently into the center of the flower. While that paint is drying, paint the leaves and stem with spring green. While the spring green is wet, go over the stem and leaf with undersea green on the edges only. Mix the ultramarine blue and violet together, about half and half, paint over the three lower pansy leaves. Finish flower by painting the center with cadmium yellow. 

Spring pansy pot with branches                                  Granola Mary Wilder Style