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Quick Pickled Beets and an Orange Salad

Pickled Beet and Orange Salad

Quick Pickled Beets Bring More Flavor


Samuel took a big swallow and tilted his head back. I see what you mean. That is good. Here are some sandwiches, pickles, cheese and a can of buttermilk.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Pickled vegetables and particularly pickled beets,can add an immense boost of flavor to salads. This is an idea worth exploring. More flavor without more calories is always worth the time. I tried the “Use a Spoon” Chopped Salad from Paul Newman’s restaurant, The Dressing Room, in Food 52’s Genius Recipes. My favorite part of the salad was the pickled carrots, celery and bell pepper. I wanted more. Quick pickling beets turned out fabulously.

Essentials

It is just as easy to cook and pickle two bunches of beets as it is to prepare one batch. By making a double batch of the pickled beets there were plenty for this salad, and more to use during the week for another salad. The leftover vinegar can be used to make a bright red vinaigrette. All this multi use, cooking for the week ahead, is just the timesaving I crave. Homemade, healthy and with immense flavor, a winning kitchen strategy for the always busy cook. READ MORE . . .

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Lime Snowball Cookies

Lime Snowball Cookies

Sweet Limes

“ At noon on March 15 Tom sat on the bench outside the forge. The sunny morning was over, and gray water bearing clouds sailed over the mountains from the ocean, and their shadows slid under them on the bright earth.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

It took me almost three weeks to score these organic, tree-ripened Bearss limes. So yes, I do have more #CitrusLove to share. If you prefer lemons over limes, I know why. The dark green limes at the grocery store are so sour they often are bitter. These limes are picked before they mature. If limes are left on the tree to ripen, they are less bitter, similar to a tangy lemon. Ripe limes often are yellow too. A tree ripened Bearss lime is sweeter, seedless and often pale yellow. A Bearss lime can also be known as a Tahitian lime or Persian lime. If you can find sweet limes, take them home with you. It’s quite the winter surprise. READ MORE . . .

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Hippie Oatmeal Cookies with Hemp Seed Hearts

Hippie Oatmeal Cookies with Hemp Hearts

A Healthish Cookie

“February in Salinas is likely to be damp and cold and full of miseries. The heaviest rains fall then, and if the river is going to rise, it rises then.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Of course cookies aren’t very healthy, nutrition wise. Unless we add mental health, comfort and satiety. And a need for really good snacks. And hemp seed hearts. Hemp Seed Hearts are loaded with vegan protein and amino acids which is why they are typically added to smoothies or smoothie bowls. I’m not adverse to smoothies, they just aren’t a favorite. Making cookies is more interesting. Something I would do any day. READ MORE . . .

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Dark Chocolate Tart

Dark Chocolate Tart

For the Love of Chocolate

“Busy though as she was with her teaching, Olive longed for the metropolitan life, and when the young man who had built the flour mill in King City sued properly for her hand, she accepted him subject to a long and secret engagement.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

There are many types of love. As we grow older our understanding of love expands. The idealistic dreams of a perfect romance bend and sway, get shoved in the storm, often breaking. We try again and again. It’s bittersweet. Just like dark chocolate. READ MORE . . .

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Orange Scented Olive Oil Cake

Orange Scented Olive Oil Cake

Seasonal Baking in Winter

“It ballooned in great dark rolls above, and beneath it drew a long trailing skirt of rain, and as they looked the cloud rumbled and flashed fire. Borne on the wind, the cloudburst drummed hollowly on the fat wet hills across the valley and moved out over the flat lands.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

It’s been raining, raining and raining, just what the central coast of California needs. So much rain that the drought is almost over. We had a break filled with sunshine and cold mornings but it will rain again. This is the winter we have wanted for the last three years and now that it is here we can breathe again. California will be fine. READ MORE . . .