garden goodies

Just picked these from the garden today. They look tasty, albeit tiny. There's another on the way as well. I'd say fall/winter tomato planting worked out okay this year -- I've just had to lug the pot in every time it gets below 50 degrees.

lemony one-dish dinner

After the last post I realized I haven't shared a recipe lately. I thought I'd share what I made last night which of course was highlighted by my latest food crush, citrus. Looking at the font, I think I clipped this recipe from Real Simple. Of course I changed up a bunch of things. I was afraid it would be too lemony, but roasting the lemons left them with a milder flavor that's positively addictive. I will definitely be doing more experimenting with roasting citrus.


pen loves paper's version of Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 large lemons, 1 thinly sliced, i juiced
5 large garlic cloves, minced
sprinkle of salt
dash of freshly ground pepper
1/2-3/4 lb. trimmed green beans
6-8 small-medium red potatoes, cut into 4-8 small wedges
4 thin-ish boneless chicken breasts, about 1 lb.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a large baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil. Arrange lemon slices in a single layer on the bottom of the dish (I had about 12 slices.)

In a large bowl, combine the remaining lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, & pepper. Add the trimmed green beans and toss to coat. Using tongs, remove green beans from bowl and place them in the baking dish on top of the lemon slices. Add the potato wedges to the same olive oil mixture and toss to coat. Use tongs to remove the potatoes and add to the baking dish in a ring along the inside edge on top of the green beans (see picture.) Dip the chicken breasts one at a time into the olive oil mixture to coat, then place in the middle of the baking dish on top of the green beans. Pour any remaining olive oil mixture over the chicken.

Roast uncovered for 35-40 minutes. Check chicken for doneness. Pull out of the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Place one chicken breast on each of four plates and divide potato, green bean, and lemon mixture among them.

sour obsession

It's winter in the Sunshine State, and while the weather may not give it away, the sunny-colored fruit all over grocery stores and farmer's markets couldn't make it any clearer. Yes, it's citrus season.

It all started with a giant pink grapefruit Tim and I picked up during a visit to the Oldsmar Flea Market in early December. It was the sweetest thing I'd eaten in a long time. Thus started my quest for more deliciously sweet grapefruit closer to home. I tried all the usual haunts: Ward's, the 441 farmer's market, the downtown farmer's market, and favorite roadside stands. Since then I have eaten a lot of grapefruit, but have yet to replicate the flavor of that sweet Oldsmar fruit. Along the way I've been picking up anything that looks interesting: sour oranges for Cuban cooking (mmm... mojo criollo marinade), ugli fruit (think orange, grapefruit,and tangerine hybrid), and honeybells (cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit.)

Now I usually have limes in the house for Cuban cooking and cocktails (Cuba Libre or Caipirinha, anyone?) Lemons usually come out for summertime tarts and lemonade. But when I visited Leesburg last week one of the antique stores had Ponderosa lemons on the counter for 50 cents. I figured it would taste more like a Meyer lemon, meaning it would be more sweet than tart. But when I sliced it open Sunday night with a mild chicken marinade in mind I was met with a super tart smell! I ended up using half of the giant lemon for a 3-serving pitcher of lemonade while Tim created a yummy lemon-garlic-Cachaça chicken creation for the grill. We indulged in a giant-sized pumelo (aka Chinese grapefruit) too. It had a really thick skin with tough membranes between the wedges of fruit. And lots and lots of seeds -- over 60! Some pieces tasted tart like grapefruit, some were more mild. It was deliciously messy.

I've certainly been having fun in my all-citrus kitchen, but I still have yet to find another perfectly tart grapefruit.

sew, thank you

The nasty head-cold has finally said good-bye and I am feeling much, much better. I sat down Thursday evening to embroider some holiday thank you cards. Originally I wanted to embroider onto holiday fabric but decided the look was too busy. I grabbed a sheet of white felt instead and some shiny red thread. Normally when I embroider I write my words with a pencil first and follow the lines. Unfortunately felt and pencils don't mix. So I ended up sewing these thank you tags freestyle.



To keep these notes simple I sewed a thin piece of red ribbon to the card using the same bright red thread and placed the embroidered felt pieces on top. I was worried about putting white on white, but I think the different textures of card stock and felt create a visible difference. I thought about sewing them on or tacking them with little x's or knots in the corners and ended up simply gluing them to the ribbon to stick with the simplicity theme. I know they're really late, but a late thank you is better than none at all, right? Especially when it's hand-made.

heartbroken

We had a freeze come through most of Florida in the first few days of the new year. It reached temperatures Gainesville hadn't seen in several years. For three nights in a row we had weather below freezing (29, 22, and 31 degrees.) I figured most of my plants were hearty enough to withstand the temperatures, although I did cover the citrus, birds of paradise, strawberry plants, and a few other young and/or cold-fearing plants.

I didn't expect what happened next. Everything froze. Hard.


The Blood Red Honeysuckle lost most of its leaves. What's strange is the hibiscus in front of it that survived with leaves still green. All the rest of the hibiscus lost at least their leaves.


This La France Hibiscus is my favorite plant. Its leaves died on all but one stem. How strange is that? Not to mention the mandevilla vine growing on the trellis behind it, which survived with blooming flowers and buds intact even though it faced the brunt of the southern winds.

I am so heartbroken. I spend many, many hours in my yard. I put every plant in the ground myself. And the worst part is that I have to wait until spring to see what actually survived. March just can't come quick enough this year.

new blog feature

I've added something new to the right -- a list of songs currently on heavy rotation on my iTunes/iPod. Just click to listen! I hope to rotate them every few weeks. I've been heading into classics (well, my classics anyway) territory lately, lots of Big Star, Replacements, Pavement, etc. What awesome memories some of these songs have brought back! This list will probably be 50/50 old favorites and new finds. I'll warn you I tend to be slow on the new music. I can guarantee there will always be a Mountain Goats song somewhere, since I am obsessed with the vocal stylings of John Darnielle. Know of something you think I'd enjoy? Drop me a note in the comment section. I love exploring new music but often find myself overwhelmed with choices. Recommendations would rock.

readability

What's your blog's reading level? I'm sort of surprised. As a former elementary school teacher, I thought for sure it'd be closer to an eight year old's...