I get such a kick out of edible table decorations; along those lines, I like consumable party favors (or wedding take-home goodies), too.   This year, for Thanksgiving, I whipped up a double batch of apple fruit roll-ups and put a small wrap on each plate.  It was a seasonal palate cleanser and was a fun story-prompter.  I might’ve even convinced my uncle David to buy a dehydrator!

Ingredients for the Roll-Up:
apple sauce (homemade or store-bought)
honey
cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, ginger

Tools:
food dehydrator
parchment paper
scissor
string

Method:
Cook down apples into a sauce or scoop from a jar.  Heat on the stove; add honey and spices to taste.  Remove from stove and spread on a plastic dehydrating sheet (like this one) about 1/2 cm thick.  Turn dehydrator on at 135 degrees and dehydrate for 10-12 hours.  Peel away from plastic, rip or cut into thin strips and roll up in parchment paper.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe, gluten-free, nut-free

Quick pickles are my go-to recipe when the cucumber crop goes gang-busters.  But it wasn’t until this past fall, when I cooked side-by-side with Cammy at Super Chilly Farm, that I added apples into the vinegar brine.  We made this recipe six times in three weeks and since coming home to Arizona, my mom has kept the crisper drawer stocked with cucumbers.

Two things to note:

(1) Use the very best apple cider vinegar you can find.  If you can, seek out a local apple orchard and buy vinegar in bulk (we buy gallon jugs).  The cost isn’t prohibitive (in fact, it’s often comparable to grocery store prices, or cheaper when purchased in larger quantities); it only requires a bit of extra effort.  While I lived in Maine I tracked down Sewall’s cider vinegar.  I brought home a bottle for my mom who tried it and said it tasted like wine and was the best she’d ever tasted.

(2) At Super Chilly Farm I was fortunate to have a stock pile of heirloom apples at my disposal.  With each batch of pickles, I sliced up different kinds of apples — softer, crisper, sweeter, tarter.  My favorite pickle batch used sweet, only slightly acidic, very crisp crab apple varieties called Chestnut and Pipsqueak.  Close runner-ups were Red St. Lawrence and Garden Royal apples.  (Photographs here.)  I suspect that this recipe would be quite good with the conventional varieties Pink Lady, Fuji, Braeburn or Gala.  Or, if you live in apple country, visit an orchard growing out apples native to your area and try out a couple that strike your fancy.

 Ingredients:
4 medium-sized pickling cucumbers, thinly sliced
4-5 small/medium apples, unpeeled, cored
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 early onions/shallots
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup honey (or more, to taste)
1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Prep cucumbers: Cut off ends, discard, and thinly slice with a cabbage shredder, mandolin, food processor or sharp knife.  Place cucumber slices in a colander and toss with sea salt.  Let sit for 20 minutes.  Prep apples and onions using the same slicing utensil—aim for uniform thinness and size.

2. In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, water and honey until full incorporated.  Add cinnamon stick and pour dressing over apples and onions.

3. Rinse cucumbers and lightly dry.  Add slices to bowl with apples and stir well.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.  Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe, nut-free, gluten-free

We have 22 containers of pesto preserved in the frosty depths of our freezer. Even though I’m a pesto-eating champ (case in point: for snack-time I eat dollops of pesto on carrots; I pour an extra quarter-cup on top of my already-seasoned pasta), I’ve run out of Tupperware.

Instead of processing my most recent harvest into a sauce, I dried it.  That way I’ll have basil-flavor handy for dishes where pesto is unwarranted (do those exist?) or when the green goddess shmear runs out.

Home-dried basil is a zillion times more potent and scrumptious than its cardboard-flavored cousin on the spice rack in the supermarket.  What’s more, when you dry it yourself, you make bank.  (CHA-ching!)  To illustrate: We have multiple basil plants in our garden.  On average, one plant will yield three to four harvests of 9-12 cups of basil leaves.  I harvested all of what you see above & below from one plant.  Two weeks later I had over a pint of dried leaves.  This week I’ve used my dried basil in two soups and a frittata and the taste is to-live-for-good.  Here’s how easy it is:

STEP 1. Snip-snip: When harvesting basil for pesto, for cooking or drying, cut back the whole plant, stems included.  Giving your basil plant a big haircut will allow the plant to regrow stems, preventing them from hardening and turning woody.

STEP 2. Clean as a Whistle:  Gently wash each stem in a sink basin full of water to remove any dirt or dust. Give each stem a little shake and let them air dry on the counter top for several hours.

STEP 3. Twisty-tie Time: When the leaves and stems have dried, group stems into bundles and turn upside down.  Use a twisty-tie (or hemp or strong string) to tie the stems together at the base.  I usually tie four or five stems in each group.  Be mindful not to group too many stems together; there should be some breathing room between each stem so that all the leaves can properly dry out.

STEP 4. Forget about ‘em: Clip each bundle to a drying rack (like below) or use a string and tie each bundle to  a hanger.  Place in a cool, dry place for a couple of weeks.

I’ve had a couple days to rewind my September and October in Maine.  My two month stay at Super Chilly Farm — a homestead and genetic bank for apple diversity — served as an indoctrination into the technique, science and delectability of food preservation.  (I’m hooked.) I saved tomato seed and studied biennials.   I pressed grapes and drank cider; I canned tomatoes and made apple pectin.  I also read great big books about apple identification; I’m now somewhat versed in biological lingo like “mucronate” and “emarginate.”  I even helped resurrect an outhouse wall; I used my first power tools!  (Vrroom! Vrroom!)  Puttering around my cozy, Tucson home, I tend to perseverate on my unfettered access to electricity, running water and plumbing.  These conveniences seem somewhat extraordinary to me, and I’m a little embarrassed about my feeble comprehension of their mechanics.

I left Super Chilly Farm with a 50-pound (on the nose!) suitcase, bursting at the zippers with canned salsa, jam, apple molasses and a small bag of heirloom apples–Blue Pearmain, Sweet Sixteen, Black Gillyflower, Grimes Golden and Wagner among them.  Upon arriving at my southwestern doorstep, with no water to pump or chicken eggs to scrub, I felt a little bit stalled, unsure of how to spend my time.  I jump-started this slightly static homecoming by donning my cowboy hat, grabbing a pair of scissors and heading out to the garden.  I clipped basil (for drying) and dehydrated tomatoes, lemon rind, banana, grapes and fruit puree (for fruit leather).  That evening I made this salad; I shredded cabbage and chopped up the Sweet Sixteen and Black Gillyflower into thin matchsticks, giving my family a little taste of Super Chilly, here at home.

When Priya of “muffins on sunday” invited me to post one of my favorite fall recipes on her blog, this one surfaced to the tippy top of my arsenal of tested apple dishes.  If you’re in the mood for a seasonal, sweet and savory salad, please head over to her site for the recipe.  Be sure to scroll down and read her witty and laugh-inducing posts about killer pasta salads, soups, cookies and lip-smacking jams.  Priya recently posted a muffin recipe on my blog and in the last week and a half, I’ve made five batches.  She’s good, you guys… real good.

One final note: If you try out this slaw recipe, I’d love to hear how you liked it and if you have any recommended tweaks.  I’ll share your suggestions with my Super Chilly gang back in Maine; I know they’d love to hear from you.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe, gluten-free

For the last two months I’ve been collecting eggs from (very vocal) chickens roosting up the road, and harvesting baskets of veggies from the gardens surrounding my house. With these ingredients at my disposal, frittatas are a farmhouse standby.

Frittatas are exceptionally versatile (ie. chuck in whatever you have in the garden and it’ll taste terrific) and they’re minimal-fuss.  At the farm, we start our frittatas on the stove, sauteing whatever veggies we have handy, and once we add the eggs and cheese, we pop our cast iron into a preheated oven and let it do the rest of the work.

Frittatas are hearty, delicious hot, room temperature and cold, and are out-of-this-world-good when drizzled with a little salsa.  Below I’ve shared my favorite recipe, but I’ve left some wiggle room for you to add whatever vegetables are in season in your neck-of-the-woods.  (If Delacata or Butternut squash are popping up in your gardens or hitting the farm stand, give those a try!)

Ingredients:
1 small onion, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 cup roasted vegetables (eggplant, bell pepper, red onion, zucchini, winter squash, etc.)
4 eggs
1/4 cup pesto
1/3 cup farmer cheese
1/4 cup sharp cheddar/parmesan reggiano, shredded
pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a cast iron pan (or alternative cooking/baking, oven-safe receptacle) heat olive oil or butter on medium-heat.  Add onions and cook for 5-7 minutes, until wilted and beginning to carmaelize.  Add roasted vegetables and cook until heated through, another minute or two.

2.  Meanwhile, whisk eggs, pepper and pesto.  Remove cast iron from heat, add egg mixture and dollop with farmer cheese.  Sprinkle with cheddar or Parmesan and finish cooking in the oven.  Bake until set, between 15 and 20 minutes.  In the last minute of cooking, place under the broiler for 30-45 seconds to lightly brown the top of the cheese.

3.  Let sit for at least five minutes before serving.  Serve hot, warm or cold.  Top with salsa or avocados and fresh tomato wedges.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe and gluten free.

Oct 21 Update: I made a slight alteration to this recipe so that it jives with the SCD diet and fellas – no exaggeration – this is my favorite breakfast.  I’m smitten.  (See SCD diet notes at the bottom.)

Take it away, Priya:

is it ok to kick a guest post off with a confession? i’ll go for it: regina’s blog was the first food blog i started reading regularly. it was a couple of years ago and coincided with some big life changes. a recent convert to vegetarianism, i had also just moved across an ocean to germany to do a masters degree. while i assumed some major changes would accompany this major move, one thing i did not expect was just how central a role cooking would come to occupy in my new life.

for better or (more likely!) worse, eating out in america is pretty dang cheap. throughout college, i would often grab dinner out multiple nights a week and not bat an eyelash. what i discovered in germany was that this luxury was no longer affordable (excluding, of course, the university cafeteria, where thousands flock to each day between the hours of 12 and 2pm for a bargain lunch). in three years in germany, i estimate i ate out no more than 15 times. total!

the wonderful upside? learning to cook! mostly through reading blogs (thank you regina! thank you internet!) and fumbling awkwardly around in the kitchen, all the while trying just as awkwardly in broken german to reassure my new roommates that there was nothing to worry about (note: there was plenty to worry about). but i happened to discover that muffins were one thing i was particularly decent at. i started making them every sunday, in fact, and a cooking blog was born.

for regina, i wanted to make a tasty muffin that was gluten-free and autumn-inspired. these cinnamon maple muffins fit the bill. a batter of coconut flour, eggs, and yogurt is drizzled with cinnamon, maple syrup, and almonds right before baking. the result: light, fluffy, sweet muffins perfect any time of day.

gluten-free cinnamon maple muffins
makes about 6 muffins, inspired by comfy belly (http://comfybelly.com/)

Ingredients for the Muffins:
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/3 cup plain soy yogurt
1/2 cup maple syrup

Ingredients for the Topping:
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method:

preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. grease a muffin tin or fill with cupcake liners.

make the muffins by combining all the dry ingredients and mixing well. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way with batter.

drip the cinnamon and maple syrup topping over the top of each muffin. you can use a fork to poke the topping into the batter to get it to seep through into the muffin.

bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. enjoy!

Diet Notes: Gluten-Free.

This muffin can easily be tweaked to fit the SCD-diet.  Here’s what I (Regina) do:
Ingredients for the Muffins:
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/3 cup plain SCD-yogurt
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)

Tomorrow I jet eastbound to southern Maine (Irene, permitting)!  The following morning I’ll don my faded farming pants and begin a short term apprenticeship on an heirloom apple orchard/homestead.  I’ll be photo-documenting my first real-deal FALL (!) this October and in the coming months I’ll post a photo or two, along with some apples recipes.

But before I head out, it’s time to whip up a final batch of margaritas.  Akin to the semi-annual Fitz BBQ or Grandma’s wintertime delivery of peanut butter fudge, no drink sings of “home” more than this tequila-lime slurry.  My dad tweaked his tried-and-true blend to fit the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  While this version is not as authentic as its original counterpart, it’s lip-smackin’ good.

One important note: In addition to the mangoes, my pops adds one frozen banana or a pineapple core to impart a bit of sweetness, but not so much banana/pineapple that the flavor of either becomes detectable.  Alternatively, feel free to add additional honey or your preferred sweetener.

Ingredients:
1 cup lime juice
3/4 cup tequila
2 large mangoes, peeled and pitted
1 frozen banana and/or pineapple core
2-4 tablespoons honey
3 cups ice, crushed
sea salt

Method:
Combine all ingredients in a blender.  Taste and add additional honey if necessary.  Spread sea salt on a plate, about 1/8″ thick.  Dip the rim of each glass in a bit of the margarita liquid and place glass rim-side-down in the salt.  Twist until entire rim is coated.  Fill each glass and serve immediately.

Diet: SCD-safe, gluten-free, nut-free

It’s Friday and it’s pizza night!  While five-minute-pizza dough most certainly has its merits, if you have a hankering a gluten-free pizza alternative, grind up some beans (or buy ‘um ground) and whip up a socca tonight.

Soccas are like pancakes on MiracleGro, except they’re in the savory camp and don’t necessitate maple syrup dredging.  They require only a couple of ingredients: ground up garbanzo beans (garbanzo bean flour), salt, a splash of olive oil and water.  I’ve been adding dried herbs from our garden, too.  While soccas are great plain, hot out of the skillet, they also make a toothsome base for a pizza.  Our favorite toppings include garden zucchini, caramelized onion and fresh-picked cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:
1 + 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon Italian spice blend (rosemary, sage, parsley, basil)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water, cold

Method:

1.  Grease oven-safe skillet.  Place in cold oven.  Preheat oven & skillet to 350 degrees (or 325 on convection).

2.  In a bowl, whisk together garbanzo bean flour, salt and spices.  Add olive oil and water and whisk vigorously until all clumps dissolve.

3.  When oven is preheated, carefully remove skillet from oven and add batter to skillet slowly.  Be mindful of hot, splattering batter.  Place back in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, until the top is golden and slightly brown around the edges.  The sides will receede slightly from the edges of the cast iron.

4.  Remove from skillet and place on baking stone or sheet pan.  Top with favorite pizza add-on’s. Bake five additional minutes and one minute (keep a close eye) under the broiler to make the cheese bubble.

Diet Notes: Gluten-free, vegan, nut-free

Being a native Tucsonan, I’m not the kind to get sappy or nostalgic over summertimes.  I’ve bolted out of the desert each June and July since high school, fleeing to higher elevations, running water or — in the case of Guatemala — cities with giant floods and goosebump-nights.  About a month ago, shortly before I left for Santa Fe, I mopped my brow as I tried to yank out the pernicious mint crop that reappeared between my tomato plants.  It was nearly 8am and nearing double-digit temperatures; after some ferocious tugging (that proved futile), I stomped up the garden steps and told my sun-bathing dog that I’d like to fast-forward through the rest of summer thank-you-very-much.

As with all blanket statements, that one was spoken a bit hastily.  As tempting as Fall sounds at the heat of the day (or heat of dawn), it occurs to me that skipping summertime would yield a lifetime of mealy roma tomatoes from Safeway.  In the southwest, we eat our first tomatoes in May; along the east coast, we eat them in August.  Regardless of where you slice your tomatoes, you won’t be making salsa unless it’s toasty outside or you have a greenhouse at your disposal.

This soup is my summertime staple.  There are few ingredients, so make sure they’re high quality.  Heirloom tomatoes are key.  Here’s a tip: At $5.50 a pound, heirloom tomatoes can be pricy to chuck into a soup.  My remedy is to stop by the farmers’ market and ask for “sauce tomatoes.”  Sauce tomatoes are the squishy guys — the ones that are marked down to a buck-or-so a pound that farmers can’t sell alongside other pristine specimines.  These tomatoes may have a bug hole, a sunken top, a deformed edge or they might be a mutant.  Stock up on a few of these blemished fruits for your soups.  The flavor is outstanding.

P.S.  I like this brand of farmer cheese that you can find in specialty food stores.  (For those on the SCD diet, this cheese is a-okay.)

Ingredients for the Soup:
3 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped (approximately 2 cups)
1 medium, yellow onion, chopped
10 garlic scapes (or 4 cloves), minced
½ tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons pesto
sea salt & pepper, to taste
few basil leaves, for garnish

Ingredients for the Farmer Cheese Topping:
8 oz. Farmer Cheese (dry curd cottage cheese)
2 tablespoons pesto
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 small cloves garlic, minced
sea salt & pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a large pot on medium-high heat.  When hot, add onions and garlic scapes and sauté approximately 10 minutes until onions are wilted, but not caramelized, and scapes are al dente, but not completely tender.  If using garlic cloves, sauté onion only and add garlic just before adding the heirloom tomatoes.

2. Chop tomatoes in large, ½” hunks.  Add to onions and scapes and reduce heat to a simmer (medium-low).  When the tomatoes have loosened and lost some of their liquid and shape, add the pesto.  Continue simmering for 10-15 minutes until scapes are tender, the tomatoes have completely lost their shape and the soup is liquidy.

3. While the soup simmers, prepare cheese topping.  Combine the farmer cheese with pesto, minced garlic, thyme and lemon juice.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  (I often add an additional spritz of lemon or a pinch of sea salt at this stage.)  Set aside.

4. When soup has finished cooking, remove from heat.  Serve into individual bowls with a dollop of herbed cheese on top.  Enjoy leftovers up to three days; this soup also freezes and thaws well.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe, gluten-free

Some of you may already carol the merits of the two primary ingredients in this drink.  But if you’re not a member of camp-ginger or camp-lemon—if, let’s say, the title of this recipe induced a nose wrinkle, a stomach turn or a mighty urge to click away to a different hyperlink—let me quell your worries.

Let me preface by saying that lemonade makes me pucker, unless it’s diluted with plenty of water and a couple glugs of orange juice. Similarly, if I had to eliminate one spice from my spice rack, it would be a toss-up between a pristine jar of ground ginger or a plastic container of poultry seasoning re-gifted to me nearly a decade ago.  Ginger and sweetened lemon water are two things I figured—if I ever really thought about either—I could very easily live without.

But friends, life is full of surprises!  Five weeks ago my friend invited me to one of our favorite local coffee shops.  I happened to have a bit of an upset stomach that day and when the cutie-pie barista started listing off the slew of available iced teas—ginger and lemon was his favorite—I shyly smiled and said “Oo, that sounds good!” while inwardly eye-rolling.  I sheepishly figured that, if nothing else, it might be a tummy-soother.  My friend and I shuttled back to our table, sweating glasses in hand, and I took a sip, hoping for palatability.

To say I liked it would be a severe understatement.  I went back to Bentley’s Coffee Shop and ordered that tea nearly every day for the next two weeks (disclaimer: Cutie-Pie was only present a third of the time).  To everyone I dragged with me, I claimed that I was deflating my wallet for “testing purposes,” while I tried to master my own Ginger-Lemon Tea at home.  But while that was sort of true, I didn’t start any feverish duplication attempts until my summer job started 374 miles away in Santa Fe.

If you’re not sold on making this drink, let me make one last attempt. I’m under the impression that when you boil the heck out of a bunch of ginger and mix it with a dizzying amount of lemon juice, they somehow rule out each other’s less-than-savory attributes and harmonize—with a nudge of honey—in the most exceptional way.  I’ve made over a dozen batches of this sweet-tea blend in the last month and this is as close as it gets to the real-deal.  (Although nothing is quite as good as sitting in Bentley’s with an iced glass in hand, gabbing by the big window with a good chum.  The ambiance can’t be beat.)

This recipe is easily tweakable to your tastes: If you like it sweeter, add another quarter-cup honey.  If you want the lemon to stand out more than the ginger, add the juice of another lemon or two.  I’ve made this tea several times with just ginger tea bags (four bags total for this recipe) and it’s quite good—but nothing beats the real-deal ginger.  If you can, buy the knobby rhizome.  It’s critical to note that the recipe makes a concentrate.  I’d rather not expend the energy to bring eight cups of water to a boil.  Instead, when the concentrate has cooled, you can reconstitute with another quart of water and chill until serving.  (Usually, lacking shelf space, I simply leave the concentrate in a glass jar in the fridge and pour myself a half-glass and top it off with cold water.)

Ingredients for a 1-quart concentrate*
*Reconstituted, this recipe yields 2 quarts ginger-lemon tea
2/3 to 3/4 cup lemon juice (approx. 5 large lemons)
4 cups water
1/3 cup ginger, peeled and chopped in hunks
1 ginger tea bag (optional)
½ cup honey, high quality

To make a pitcher of tea:
3-4 cups water, chilled (added at the end)

To make one glass of tea:
Add equal parts chilled water and concentrate 

Method:

1. Peel ginger (perfectionism is unwarranted here) and chop into chunks.  In a medium saucepan, heat water to a boil.  Add ginger and simmer for 20 minutes; the water will turn an amber-gold color.  Remove from heat and steep an additional 10 minutes (if desired, add one tea bag at this stage).

2. Meanwhile, squeeze lemons and strain pulp and seeds.

3. Remove ginger pieces (and tea bag, if using) by straining or skiving off with a slotted spoon.  Add lemon juice and honey to the pot.  Heat and stir until honey dissolves, just below a simmer.  Remove from heat and cool completely.

4.  Add 3 cups of water and taste; add additional water if preferred.  Chill in the refrigerator and serve over ice.  A fun tip: Freeze an ice cube tray with ginger-lemon tea and serve drink over iced tea cubes.

Diet Notes: SCD-safe, gluten-free, nut-free