Garlic Pork chops and Green Beans

Green beans is by far my favorite thing to serve with pork.  And this time of year I can get fresh green beans from my own garden plot as well as from the farmers market.  We are using up the home-canned green beans from last season so I can make some new ones this year which made me think of this recipe.  I stir the canned beans into the pan drippings to warm them and enhance the flavor.

Apricots have a peachy-like flavor with a hint of sour that makes them a perfect compliment to the blank pallet that is a pork chop.  You can also make this with slices of pork roast instead.

Pork chops and Garlic Green Beans 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 1/2-inch thick pork rib chops
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 4 apricots, pitted and cut in wedges
• 2 tablespoons plain or herb flavored honey (lavender or a spice infused honey are perfect)
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed

Directions

In an extra-large nonstick skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat; lower heat to medium. Lightly sprinkle chops with salt and pepper. Cook chops in hot oil for 5 minutes, turning once. Add apricots, honey and 2 cloves of garlic to chops in skillet; cover and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until apricots are tender and pork is no longer pink in center.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart microwave-safe dish combine beans and one clove garlic and 1/4 cup water. Cook, covered, on 100 percent (high) power 6 minutes, stirring once; drain. (Or steam them with garlic slices in a basket steamer until crisp tender.)

To serve, spoon cooking juices from skillet over pork, apricots, and beans. Makes 4 servings.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, Recipe2019, or Recipe2020.

 
You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD for each month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2021 so you can find them all.

The themes are:
Jan 2021 – Baked Items
Feb 2021 – Breakfast Dishes
March 2021 – Italian Dishes
April 2021 - Chicken Recipes
May 2021 - Appetizers
July 2021 – Pork Recipes
August 2021 - Seafood
September 2021 - Pizzas
October 2021 – Mexican Dishes
November 2021 - Cookies
December 2021 – Gift Recipes

 

Honey and Lavender Cookies - Weekend Recipe

Make these cookies for a special occasion like Mother’s Day, a birthday, or a girlie gathering. They could also be packaged up in a pretty box and given as a beautiful handmade gift. If you grow your own Lavender, it can make them even more special to the lucky recipient. I save some of my own lavender to make baked goods with in winter.  My hubby loves chocolate lavender brownies, but I like these cookies.

Honey and Lavender Cookies (makes 36 cookies)

⅔ cup melted Butter
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup honey (lavender-infused honey would be great to use here)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
Coarse-grained sugar, for rolling
2 Tbsp. Lavender buds, fresh or dried

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F  Beat the melted butter, honey, and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well incorporated then fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt. The dough will be very soft so refrigerate for at least thirty minutes and until it has firmed up.

Take 1-2 Tbsp sized pieces of dough and shape it into balls. Flatten them with the palm of your hand and then roll in the coarse-grained sugar, coating the whole cookie. Sprinkle the tops with lavender buds and gently press them into the cookie.

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 10 minutes or until the edges are crispy and light brown in color. They’ll still be soft when you take them out so let them cool to room temperature before eating. Enjoy ~

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, Recipe2019, or Recipe2020.

 
You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD for each month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2021 so you can find them all.

The themes are:
Jan 2021 – Baked Items
Feb 2021 – Breakfast Dishes
March 2021 – Italian Dishes
April 2021 - Chicken Recipes
May 2021 - Appetizers
June 2021 – Mediterranean Dishes
July 2021 – Pork Recipes
August 2021 - Seafood
September 2021 - Pizzas
October 2021 – Mexican Dishes
November 2021 - Cookies
December 2021 – Gift Recipes

August in the Backyard Patch Garden

The weather has been a bit weird.  We had a Derecho and a Tornado in our neighborhood this past Monday, causing lost electricity for 21 hours.  I have been picking up sticks and branches for days.  We were out at the herb garden and found that branches from the forest preserve ended up breaking off the tops of a few plants, but no major damage.  The joy of herbs, they are very resilient.  

At home we were blocks from the Tornado that came from Wheaton into Lombard and ended in Villa Park.  The park at Grace and St. Charles lost the tops out of every tree.  The tornado jogged across the railroad tracks and ended up in Villa Park where it took out every tree in a baseball field and decimated the trees in the neighborhood.  I am pretty sure my neighbors in that area do not have electricity yet. We were very lucky, because if that powerful wind ended up in our yard, the old elm in our backyard might not have survived. If you want to get some info, read the Patch article 

My hops were the most injured, with a branch falling on the arbor and side branches being blown off the arbor.  The hops are just maturing, so I do not want to move the branches back into place and risk breaking them and loosing the hops that are almost ready for picking.  But you can see that the arbor is no longer thickly covered with branches like it was earlier this summer.

Don't the hops look wonderful?  I think the harvest this year will be twice that of last year. I might be able to make a ferment this year.  I am going to prune the hops this year because I do not ant them to overwhelm the arbor which cannot support a huge amount of weight.

The herb harvest is a bit delayed this year, but the fruits of the garden are abundant.  This week I cut lemon balm, lemon verbena, stevia, scented geranium, lavender buds, apple mint, chamomile, which to my surprise bloomed a second time, tarragon, basil and others.

I made some honey and flavored sugar, and will be working on herb vinegar in the next day or two.

My tarragon at home has flowered, so I harvested it to make into wreaths.  Some are formed on wire, others are only herb.  Those on wire will  be ornaments and those with no wire will become soup wreaths and used with my soup mixes this fall and winter.

I learned that a spot at home I thought got enough sun did not actually get that much.  This purple basil you can see is dark purple on the top which grew after I moved it and the green leaves at bottom are what grew in it former location.  Purple basil will turn greenish purple if not given enough sun.  So now it is going back the the rich purple I like to see!  And it should do so just in time for me to make herb vinegar with it!

The most exciting thing I did this week was make flower arrangements.  The zinnias are great for cutting and the cosmos, phlox and coxcomb are all ready and the sunflowers are getting there, being a bit behind the rest.  I made more arrangements than my hose is used to.  Here are examples.

Yes, my desk is a mess.  It keeps the cats off, allowing me to actually work!

Happy Gardening!

Capture Summer Flavor with an Herbal Honey - How Tuesday

I used up the last of my personal stash of lavender honey making frozen pops (see the how to on July 21.) So I needed to make a honey for flavoring my iced tea and grilling sauces.  I wanted something with a bright summer flavor and decided that lush summer herbs would be perfect.

The lavender was blooming,

the scented geraniums were flourishing and

Mabel Grey Scented Geranium

and the lemon thyme, well I grow a lot of that.

However this combination of herbs will make a citrus scented, flower accented honey that will capture the essence of a blooming warm summer day.

Here is how I made Summer Herb Flavored Honey:

lemon thyme, lavender, lemon rose geranium and rose geranium (lft to rt)

I gathered honey (I get mine locally from a bee keeper who used to be my neighbor) and my ingredients.

Warm the honey so that is it soft and liquid.  You can do this in a saucepan or as I prefer in a microwave.  Heat for 45 seconds and test to see if it is liquid enough.  I ten began by adding the thyme, then the scented geranium.

I chose two varieties, the small round leaves are old fashioned rose geranium and the irregularly shaped ones are a lemon/rose cross called Hillary (yes that Hillary).  They are two of my favorite scented geraniums and this year I am propagating them (POST TO COME SOON) several different ways.

I added the geraniums to the honey.  Note that the jar is not full.  It is hard to estimate how much displacement will happen when you add the herbs to thick honey, so you start with a jar half full.

The final herb added was the lavender flower heads.  I tucked them in and used them to stir the other herbs into the honey.

Once I got the herbs down into the honey, I put the lid on the jar and turned it upside down and let the herbs and honey flow to the other end of the jar.  Once it collected, I flipped it over and let it settle again. 

I did this for 24 hours until the herbs were well coated with honey.  Only then did I fill the jar the rest of the way.  

Now I wait two weeks before this honey will be fully infused with the flavor of these summery herbs and ready to use.

Flavor of Summer Honey

2 cups Honey

2 Tbls Lavender

2 Tbls fresh lemon thyme sprigs

1 Tbls rose Scented Geranium

1 Tbls lemon rose Scented Geranium

Directions: 

Warm the honey in a saucepan or in the microwave until thin and liquid.          

Here is a great recipe to use with this Flavor of Summer Honey.

Herb Salad with Lemon and flavored Honey (Serves 4)

This recipe originated from the Niagara Estate Winery and uses a wide variety of herbs to make a flavorful salad enhanced by the herb flavors in the honey. The lemon juice brings out the citrus notes in the honey.  It makes this salad a treat for the tastebuds.

½ cup baby arugula

1 bulb fennel, fronds attached

1 bunch basil (green or purple)

1 bunch tarragon

1 bunch dill

1 bunch of chervil or parsley

1 bunch of chives

2 lemons, juiced 

2 Tbls flavored honey (Flavor of Summer Honey is perfect)

2 Tbls olive oil

Directions:

Pick the green fronds from the fennel bulb and reserve. Cut fennel in half, vertically, and slice thinly. If possible, use a mandolin. Gently pick the leaves off of the basil, tarragon, dill and chervil and place in a bowl. Slice chives very finely and add to bowl.  Toss in the cut fennel and arugula.

In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, honey and olive oil, mixing well. Finish by seasoning your salad with salt and pepper to taste.

Vegetable Stir-fry - Meatless Monday

This vegetable stir fry is a blend of colorful veggies cooked in a sweet and savory honey garlic sauce that is two quick steps to make.  You won’t heat up the kitchen too much and you can enjoy fresh veggies.   You can use this as a side dish or serve over rice for a complete meal.  Remember to cut the veggies about the same size so you can insure even cooking.

Vegetable Stir-fry

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup carrots peeled and sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 3/4 cup bell peppers sliced, I used red and yellow
• 1 cup snow peas trimmed
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts drained and sliced
• 3/4 cup baby corn drained and sliced
• 2 teaspoons garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger minced
• salt and pepper to taste

• 1/4 cup vegetable broth can also use water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey (try an herb-infused honey for a richer flavor)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the carrots and mushrooms and cook for 4-6 minutes or until tender.  Add the broccoli, bell peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts, baby corn and 2 tablespoons of water to the pan. Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and water has mostly cooked off.  Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.

In a bowl, whisk together the vegetable broth, soy sauce and honey. Pour the soy sauce mixture over the vegetables and cook for 30 seconds.

In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water.  Add the cornstarch and bring to a boil; cook for 1 more minute or until sauce has just started to thicken. Serve immediately, over rice if desired.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr) more in 2021 also

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - Stir Fry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)

November 2020 - Pumpkin (again) (PumpNov)

December 2020 - Turkey Recipes (TurkDec)

Herbal Gifting

I decided to give my guests some holiday cash!  In addition to helping you make some herbal and edible gifts this Christmas, we are kicking off the holiday posts with a gift card giveaway.  Scroll past the recipe to find all the details.  And stop back for more recipes and entry reminders in the coming days.

Make a hand-made mustard and pair it with Herbal Honey for a perfect homemade gift.  They this sophisticated mustard that is very simple to make.

Tarragon Mustard

1/4 cup black mustard seeds

1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds

1/4 cup dry powdered mustard

3/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Mix mustard seeds, powdered mustard, and water in the upper pan of a lined, glass or stainless steel  double boiler. Let stand at least three hours. In another stainless steel or enamel saucepan, mix the wine, vinegar, tarragon, and allspice and bring to a boil. Strain the liquid into the mustard mixture and blend well.  In the lower pan of the double boiler, heat water to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer. Place the upper pan, containing the mustard mixture, on top. Cook, stirring, until the mustard is as thick as you like. It will thicken a bit more as it cools. Cover and refrigerate.

Mustard keeps for an extended time, so make ahead and give as a gift, just tell the recipient to keep it refrigerated and bring freshness into their winter cooking.

UPDATED to remove out of date information

6 Unique Ways to Preserve an Herb Harvest

There are many ways to preserve the herbs from your harvest.  Here are a few quick and easy ones to get you started.

Freeze leaves in water

Quick and easy, you just grab an ice tray fill the square halfway with water and add the herb leaves.  You can leave the leaf whole or chopped them fine.  Pop them into the freezer.  Once the cubes are frozen fill the tray the rest of the way with water and freeze again.  This two-step method makes sure the leaves stay covered by the water and ice so they keep their green color.

Once finally frozen you can pop put the cubes and place them in a zip lock bag for long term storage.  This will give you herbs for casseroles, soups, stews and long cook dishes all winter.  Discard the cubes once the spring harvesting begins.

Make a Bouquet Garni Bundle 

Bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs (thyme, bay, parsley, rosemary, savory) used in long cook soups and stews.  It is great in the crock pot where you can hang the bundle from the side and let the flavor infuse the dish, then remove the bundle when cooking is over.  You do not have to worry about leaves in the dish or picking out bay leaf.

You can use a bouquet garni fresh, or you can make fresh bundles and hang them to dry.  Once dry, you can wrap a cello bag around them and give them as a gift along with a soup recipe, or save their wonderful goodness all for yourself.

I have previously posted recipes to use with bouquet garni too!

Dry in a paper bag

Savory, Thyme and rosemary are all great candidates for bag drying.  The leaves have a small size and very little moisture, so you toss the cut stems in a bag, hang it on the wall and let the herbs dry.  Sometimes depending on humidity, I will give the bags a shake every few days. No other special treatment is needed and the herbs will be try enough to be stripped from the stems for storage in about a week.

Honey or Vinegar Infusion

Make an infusion of herbs transferring the flavor into another medium.  You can create a vinegar or honey.  See these posts for detailed instructions.

How Tuesday on making vinegar

Recipes using Herbed Vinegar

Make a compound butter

A compound butter is any plain unsalted butter to which you add herbs. You can create a single herb flavor or blend the herbs tighter to create a variety of flavors.  The general rule is 1/8 to 1/4 cup herbs into 1 stick unsalted butter.

Here is one of my favorite versions:

1 tsp parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp thyme leaves

1 tsp chopped chives or garlic chives

1 tsp tarragon

Blend the herbs into 1 stick of room temperature unsalted butter with a fork to get the herbs evenly distributed.  Then roll the soft butter into a sausage in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to eat in a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.  You can use the butter on fresh steamed vegetables, steaks, baked or roasted potatoes, rice, egg noodles are on your morning toast of muffins.

I have more recipes for making compound butter (also called Herb Butter) all over the blog, but here is one of my first. 

Make a salt

There are several ways to make herb salt.  My two favorites are just to layer the whole herb leaf in salt and allow the salt to absorb the flavor from the leaf then later remove the leaf and you have white salt infused with flavor.  Another way is to run the salt and herbs in a coffee grinder.  I start with a larger salt so that I get a fine salt with fine flakes of herbs in it. 

You can also make an herb salt with chopped fresh leaves that you stir into salt, then spread on a baking sheet and allow to dry in the open air for 2 to 3 days to a week depending on humidity.  This is a great way to infuse the salt with a mixture of herbs, like a blend of chives, thyme, parsley and sage.  You use about 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh herbs to ¼ cup of salt (I like kosher.)  Once the herbs and salt have dried, you can place the mixture in a jar where it will keep its herbal taste for at least a year.

We will be posting more ways to make herbed salt and flavored sugar later this fall.