Kohlrabi Slaw

Perhaps I should have called this post "What the heck am I going to do with that?" or "What to make with the strange things in your CSA box." As I mentioned in my last post I am sharing a CSA box with my cousin and his wife. We have been getting delicious vegetables, lots of greens. We haven't had much sun in Maine, well we have had sun but we have also had A LOT OF RAIN. Like MEGA downpours and thunderstorms. The gardens around here have been a bit, um, damp. So we are just starting to see things like peas and summer squash. One vegetable that we have gotten for the past few weeks is purple kohlrabi. What is kohlrabi? Well apparently a lot of people who get CSA boxes ask the same thing.

Garlic Scape Pesto

How are the farmers' markets in your neck of the woods? The ones in Maine have been open for about a month now. We've been flooded with greens for the past few weeks and now strawberries, radishes, scallions and peas are showing up. Today I skipped the greens, I am sharing a CSA with my cousin and his wife and we've been eating A LOT of leafy greens for the past three weeks, and made a bee line for the fresh basil and garlic scapes. I may also have made a stop at one of the bakery stalls and gobbled up a raspberry and cream cheese pastry. A girl's gotta eat a sweet flaky freshly made pastry when she finds one. Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Mexican hot chocolate cookies or how to keep high school teachers relatively sane during final exams.  Emphasis on RELATIVELY.  We are probably never completely sane and rarely does that sanity line up with final exams.

Cranberry Maple Corn Cake

Cake!  What nutcase is making cake after the butterfest of the past two weeks?  This nutcase of course!  And let's be truthful, it was really a month long butterfest.  I saw this delicious recipe pop up on Naturally Ella yesterday and thought  that it would make a perfect Saturday morning breakfast.  Just a few changes, some stirring and 35 minutes in the oven.

Lemons

 

Look at those gorgeous Meyer lemons!  Just look!  And imagine how lovely they smell in the sunny window.  There are actually five on my little lemon tree, but one is on the other side and I thought it would be much more impressive to get a picture of four all together.  I've been coaxing these babies along since they were blossoms back in July.  It takes a long time to grow citrus up here in Maine!  All summer this little Meyer lemon tree sat on my porch enjoying the sunshine and the honey bees.  In September with teeny tiny green lemons on the branches I moved it inside to the sunniest window in the house.  And I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And now the lemons are ripe and I just have to decide what to do with these beautiful yellow treasures!

How appropriate to find this on The Kitchn!  Lots of delicious ideas!

Hats Hats Hats

Admittedly this is not the best picture.  But I thought I should give you a glimpse of what I had been working on, and rambling on about, and the hats have now gone to their owners so no chance of a retake.  These are two of the three hats I made for Christmas gifts.  The third felted strangely and because I thought it had turned into an epic fail I neglected to take a picture of it.  However when I gave it to Becky with the promise to make her a new one and that my feelings wouldn't be hurt if she didn't like it she promptly tired it on and declared it to be PERFECT.  Perhaps I can get a photo of her wearing it sometime soon.  I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and a Hap-Hap-Happy New Year!

Homemade Gifts

Still need to make a last minute homemade gift?  One that doesn't include ridiculous amounts of butter and sugar?  No that I am knocking butter and sugar.  Believe me I LOVE butter and sugar.  But if you have someone on your list who has more of a savory tooth these are perfect.