My Secret Recipe

  With summer humming along here in the Northland you will find my posts easing up in frequency a bit but don't fret! I'll do my very best to do at least a weekly one.

   I've realized recently that my life revolves around food: raising it, growing it, finding it, and cooking it! Often on social media I'm asked for recipes. I'm very sorry to disappoint but I can't really give you anything you can't find in the top five hits on a Google search. Mostly because I don't really do recipes. Or I halfway do them?

  Here's the secret to my toddler/child approved culinary success: science!! Once you understand the chemistry in your food you can fiddle with the details. For instance I have a go to super simple bread recipe yet I continue to wow people with my breads. The base recipe is a basic yeast, water, salt, oil, sweetener (sugar, juice in place of water, honey, etc etc) and flour situation. Once I have all that going on I can get creative with mix ins. Like chocolate chips and a few drops of vanilla, or craisins and sunflower seeds!

   Another favorite in this house is stuff stuffed inside pastry crust. With one simple dough recipe I can create pasties, bolis, small fruit pies, and even some sort of wierd samosa mutant thing I accidentally made once. Get comfy with a few basic ingredients and have fun with fillings.

   Stir fries and soups are also pretty high up on my list of favorite dishes. Why? Because we seem to be chronically broke at the moment and making those is an excellent way to use up those odds and ends hanging out in the fridge and pantry. Stir fries in particular are also fun to forage for since you are putting it over rice or couscous and therefor need less of any given ingredient than what you would use for a soup.

   Cooking has a few very basic principles that need to be recognized especially in regard to chemical reactions and flavor pairings. Once you have those down a whole wide world of fascinating tastes and smells opens up to you. So in the words of the immortal Ms. Frizzle, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!!"

 Birthday peach rhubarb pie for my husband's birthday because I had rhubarb and he likes peaches. Yep, my reasoning in cooking is always that simple. 

Foraged and farmer's marketed stir fry! Mmmmhmmmm healthy goodness!