Plain and Simple

at the cottage....

I think, I will change Plain and Simple to Thursday, Wednesday seems to come up on me way to fast. :0)

Yesterday, hubby was home so I stayed away from the computer. He hurt himself at work and so we went to the doctor to get him checked over and then ran a few errands.

Today's Plain and Simple I thought I would share some things I do in the kitchen or have recently discovered.

My son is working towards being a chef for a career and he wants to cook Italian. So we bought him a how to book on italian cooking. I skimmed thru it a couple of weeks ago and found a recipe for these wonderfully tasting potatoes.

We had just gone yard saleing with my mom and I bought a counter top convection oven for our outside kitchen (it was $1) and thought this would be a good recipe to try in the oven while we were grilling something. These potatoes are so good! A very nice change with oven potatoes and very tasty using fresh ingredients.

Potatoes (I used our homegrown reds) and I cut them up, cut up the amount you will need for your family.

1 medium purple onion cut up or I have used a sweet onion. Like vidalia or walla walla

8 cloves of garlic peeled

fresh rosemary to taste.

butter (we used our homemade yummy goodness)

olive oil

I am a throw in the pan kinda cook so this of course is not exact measurements. This was cooked at 350 for an hour or until everything is a nice camelized color. Stir things up a bit thru out cooking this helps everything stay coated with the butter and olive oil. The garlic and onion carmelize so well. I did prefer the purple onion over the sweet.

We have switched pretty much to wheat on everything we bake. I don't buy white flour anymore or white sugar though I did buy some in June to make cookies for the fathers at church. Yguy used it all up yesterday making cookies. :0)

My hubby's stomach has a hard time with red wheat so we stock white wheat and I sprout it so it breaks down so we can absorb all the goodness these little grains hold. I sprout it for 3 days about and then dehydrate it in the dehydrator.

They grind up beautifully and make lovely rolls etc.  Above are some grains I ground the other day for pizza, see the dry little sprouts on them?

I will sprout and dry a #10 can size of wheat at a time. This amount fills up my dehydrator they take about 2 days to dry and I will grind up what I need as I use it. It is better to have fresh ground.

Roasting tomatoes I love the smoky flavor this imparts on any veggie I'll grill. Tomatoes are quite easy, These were picked and put right on the grill I have a 1/2 a bushel to do today that we picked yesterday. We grow heirlooms and they are so good. Cut up fresh with olive oil and lemon juice tossed in is so good they are so much tastier than store bought to eat fresh.

To grill I fill the grill up like above and turn the burner on low since this is a gas grill, on an open fire which is even better you don't want lots of flame just hot coals. The skins will crack and the bottoms will brown turn them over and let that side do the same things. I will fill a bowl up and then let them cool before peeling chop them up and make what you want. Right now I am grilling, peeling, dicing and then freezing till I have a big batch for salsa. I will also do it for canning just plain diced tomatoes.

I hope this finds you well and you have a blessed week...

Love,

Erika