Weekend Highlights: Super Simple Strawberry Tart, Pies and Peonies

I have had a bit of a three day weekend revelation: when you don't go anywhere, the extra day is a remarkable, open span of unexpected vacation. Most Memorial days past, I've gone to the Jersey Shore, which is always lovely, but as the getting there takes up so much time and I've never quite felt the luxury of free time. And while I was of course wishing fervently that I was there with my family, I definitely managed to make the most of my time off.


Above is the strawberry free form tart that I baked on Friday night. After being away earlier last week, I had a strong need to be in the kitchen and I figured a super easy tart would be a great way to start. This is literally the simplest tart:

Free Form Strawberry Tart
1 recipe favorite pie crust (or store bought)
2 c strawberries, washed and sliced in half
2 T unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Roll out crust until it's roughly a 9 inch circle (doesn't need to be perfect!). Place berries on top, leaving about an inch around the edges. Fold up the edges, then brush with a bit of melted butter (you can put a bit onto the fruit too, for good measure, but it's not necessary).
3. Bake for 25 minutes until crust is golden brown and fruit is bubbly. Remove from oven and cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or dusted with powdered sugar,

On Saturday we hosted a house warming party, so I spent the better part of the day in the kitchen getting ready for company. It was a potluck, which took the pressure off, but there was the issue that I wasn't quite sure what people would be bringing (apart from things to grill, which we specifically said they should bring), so I tried to cover the basics. I made a huge roasted vegetable pasta salad (farfalle, roasted zucchini, squash and onions, tomatoes, olives, mozzarella with balsamic vinaigrette), a skillet of cornbread and put out chips and salsa.

And for dessert, I made two pies, one apple and one strawberry rhubarb. To go with it, I also made vanilla ice cream and all of it went over extremely well. I've realized that even though making ice cream (with an ice cream maker) is the easiest thing in the world, it never fails to seriously impress guests. The strawberry rhubarb was sublime and I think I did a good job with adding enough sugar to balance out the rhubarb, but not so much as to kill it all with sweetness.

We also went for a long bike ride, spent many hours on the porch reading, and weeded in the vegetable garden. And stared at the lovely peonies. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did- and that you enjoy this short work week!

Inspired Image: Tara of Seven Spoons

Hello, my name is Tara O'Brady

You can find me at my site, seven spoons, and in the pages of UPPERCASE magazine.

This image comes from marthasnail's photostream.

It inspires me because it was the start of an experiment in abstract photography, which in itself is really rather nice. I think many of us forget to challenge our own creativity as often as we could. And, it appeared on flickr when all around me was grey and glum - that light, the blurred colours of tree and leaf, are filled with bolstering possibility.

I particularly love how the overall effect reminds me of trying to stare too long at the sun. 

It makes me feel like something marvelous is about to happen.

The 3 words it conjures up are warmth, forward, breath.

***

If you aren't familiar with Tara's food blog, Seven Spoons, please go check it out right now. Not only does she post delicious recipes with even more delicious images, but reading her thoughts on each particular dish is always a pleasure. Each post is a little journey and while I often don't know where we're heading when she starts a post, I'm always glad to go along for the ride. Just because I can't resist, here are some of her lovely food images.

She's like our very own North American Donna Hay, right?!

In other news, it's Friday of a three day weekend and if you're like me (or like anyone today, really), you're wicked excited about it. How could you not be? Three mornings to sleep in a bit and eat a lazy breakfast? More time to spend in the sun rather than behind a computer? Sign me up!

Growing up, Memorial Day weekend was always the start of the season at the shore. Much of my family will be heading down there to enjoy the beach and the boardwalk and so that I'm not too jealous, we've scheduled ourselves a little housewarming party. It's potluck, so I hope that our friends bring some goodies to share, but I'll be spending much of Saturday cooking and baking because I can't help myself, so I will meet you back here on Tuesday with a full report with recipes. Enjoy!

Watching Our Garden Grow

I got home from three days in nyc late last night and instead of doing my usual Thursday link love post today, I'm going to share some pictures from around my house. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the city (friends! family! shoes! Sex and the City 2 premiere, which you can read all about here), but it was Hot and I am thankful to be home in my quiet except-for-birds-chirping- house.

I was on watering duty this morning, so I had the chance to inspect the progress in the garden. More of the peonies have started blooming, which I am very happy not to miss. There are few things that I love more than pale pink flowers.

The plants in the raised beds are getting bigger every day and I am really excited about the prospect of going outside to pick dinner. We have two lacinato kale growing (we bought these as seedlings from the farmers market)...

A few heirloom tomato and pepper plants that seem to be doing well—the peppers look like they've grown about 3 inches since I last looked at them over the weekend. (In the background you can see our compost tumbler, which if all goes well will help us reduce the amount of trash we're curbing and give us much nutrition to put back onto our veggies).

Here are some beets, which will need to be thinned, but for now we are just loving the potential of them because there's a chance that the rabbits will get to them before we do—though we're working on a (nice) way of keeping them out of the yard.

And here's a bean (I'm not sure what kind) that I love because it grows so enthusiastically. We'll need to give this guy some support soon, but for now I am just enjoying how gangly he is. Be sure to check back tomorrow for a very lovely Inspired Image!

Fabric Reuse: Wedding Tablecloths Turned Throw Pillows

You might remember my friend Virginia (and her wedding or maybe her quilt). Well she recently made some throw pillows using up some of the fabric that graced her wedding reception tables, along with a bit of other fabric that she picked up just for the project.

See how pretty one of the fabrics was on the table? Well, look how pretty the fabric is in its new home in the living room.

I just love that V gets to live with some of the fabrics that helped set the scene in her mom's backyard nearly a year ago.

Friendship Bracelet Making: 15 Years Later, I Can Still Do It

 First, I'd like to thank everyone who signed up for the friendship bracelet swap—we have more than 30 people on board and I can't wait to see what everyone makes!

Over the weekend, I pulled out some of my old bracelet making supplies (I used to have stacks and stacks of floss wound around those little white holders) and gave my old skills a test. Turns out that I, amazingly, actually do remember how to make the bracelets—and I would guess that it's been, oh about 15 years since I've made one. So that was a delightful surprise (I guess making so many really drilled it into my head!). I started making two, using two separate techniques, though both involve knotting in what I can only describe as being in the shape of a 4.


The two styles show above are the only two that I ever made using embroidery floss—though I did make gimp bracelets for a while, but that's an entirely separate topic! I'd love to hear how the making is going for everyone participating in the swap- are you remembering how to do it?

Spring Kitchen Table Staples: Rhubarb Sauce and Chopped Salad

[Don't forget to sign up to participate in the Friendship Bracelet Swap! Click here for more info!]

It's suddenly summer here in Iowa and this weekend it was up in the 90s on Sunday. That didn't inspire me to turn on the oven, as you can imagine, so I relied on my CSA veggies to whip up a big chopped salad for dinner. This type of salad is my go-to meal in summer—it's flavorful, filling and is endless open to using whatever I have on hand.

Since this really isn't a recipe, but rather a method, here's what I do:
I combine a mix of lettuce (which I chop up if there are very large leaves) with chopped crunchy veggies like carrots, radishes and cucumber, then I add cheese (grated cheddar, crumbled feta or goat cheese, depending on what's around), a protein (like pinto beans, black eyed peas or walnuts), and tomatoes if I have them. Sometimes I throw in roasted veggies if I have leftovers or I add a cooked grain like bulgur or wheat berries.

Really, it's all about getting a few different textures and flavors in the mix—which is why I try to chop things up to be somewhat uniform and small. 9 times out of 10, I use this balsamic vinaigrette dressing:

Balsamic vinaigrette
based on the one in the Real Food Daily cookbook
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 glove garlic, grated on a microplane (or totally smashed)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp dijon mustard,

Put all ingredients into a small bowl and whisk vigorously with a fork, or shake in a small jar with the lid screwed on tightly.

I make sure to add cracked pepper and salt, and I try to made the dish at least 30 minutes ahead if I can because I think it's tastes better when it's had a chance to sit and soak in the dressing. I could seriously eat a version of this every single day!

Last week, I mentioned the vanilla coconut ice cream that I made and here you can see it, topped with strawberry rhubarb sauce that is my new favorite spring topping (simply those fruits, a bit of water, sugar and a tbsp of cornstarch cooked together until soft and thick). It's great on oatmeal, yogurt and ice cream, and made this a dessert I will surely make again. Though I might try it with light coconut milk—this batch was possibly a tad too rich!


These pictures were taken by my talented friend Bethany, who I am always saying is welcome to come over because I love seeing my life through her lens.

Inspired Image: Sharleen of Shartreuse Studio

You might remember this image that I posted last Friday for my mini-print of the month pick. It was also taken by Sharleen, a photographer who quickly moved to my favorites list. Read on to hear the story behind this image shown here.


Hello, my name is Sharleen Heist

You can find me at www.shartreusestudio.com and www.shartreuse.etsy.com

This image comes from my personal collection. It was taken by me, over ten years ago and is of my then two-year-old son and his kitty.

It inspires me because it was the first photo I  took that opened my eyes to the idea of an images ability to "speak" to it's viewer. The idea that an image can be more than just a documentation of ones life. The idea that an image can take you to another place or time, recall a memory, tell a story or inspire one...a good image can do all of these things. This photo made me want to learn more about the art of photography and in doing so led to a new career for me!

I particularly love the fact that neither subject is aware of the camera. Enabling me to capture a truly tender moment between my son and his beloved kitty.

It makes me feel nostalgic! Nostalgic for those days when my son was small enough to climb up onto my lap. Nostalgic for those days as a child, when you had noting better to do than sit and look out the window. Nostalgic for those long summer days spent with my sister, dressing our kitty in doll clothes and pushing her around the neighborhood in a buggy.

The 3 words it conjures up are tender, reminiscent and enlightening.

***

Friendship Bracelet Swap: If you missed the original post, don't forget to sign up to participate in the Friendship Bracelet Swap! You have until May 25th to sign up. Click here for more info!


Weekend plans: I have agreed to learn how to weed (because at the moment I'm not sure that I could tell you which plants are good plants and which are bad in our backyard), and we have a few more pictures to hang. Otherwise, I'm planning to relax, maybe read and sew a bit, and then pack for an early week trip to NYC. I'm lucky enough to be going to the Sex and the City 2 premiere, and while I've been stressing about what to wear, I'm trying to focus on how fun the experience will be and the time together with my family.


See you back here on Monday!