grilled balsamic asparagus

We’ve been eating our weight in fresh asparagus for the past week thanks to neighbours who are harvesting more than they can eat themselves. This is our favourite way to prepare it (even the small squeaky kid admits that this is tasty - and nobody can argue that asparagus is exciting to kids).

This, a baked potato, steak and a big glass of wine just might help you get through the weekend when your husband thinks it’s a good idea to allow the children to invite 3 friends over for a sleepover. And then they spend 24 hours giggling, screaming and breaking the odd window.

• 1-2 lb fresh asparagus
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Rinse and snap off the tough ends of the asparagus.

Place asparagus spears on a platter or cookie sheet, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil (a couple of tbsp of each or more, depending on the amount of asparagus). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll the asparagus around in it until well coated.

Heat grill to high heat and grill for a few minutes on each side or until asparagus is done.

Linked to Frugally Sustainable, Wildcrafting Wednesday

slow living update – april 2013

I’m following the example at Slow Living Essentials again this month, and using her categories to summarize my month and list some things I’d like to accomplish.

{Nourish}:

We’ve eaten a lot of large extended family meals this month. There has also been a few meals provided by friends and neighbours, for which we were very grateful. I wrote about Butter Chickpeas, since butter chicken is a quick dinner at our place and when I am out of ideas at the end of the workday, it’s an easy dinner to put together. We like to add peas or chopped spinach to ours for a little extra colour.

{Prepare}:

I’m not sure if this counts as food preparation, but the dad’s aunt and uncle gifted us the entire contents of their food cupboards and freezer because they were moving out of province and didn’t want to haul food. I guess that cut down on food needs for a while and filled the pantry (and then some!).

{Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Repair}:

I made a few gift bags using worn out kid’s jeans and even the sleeve from an unwanted sweater. I’ve been accumulating quite a few items of clothing that I will keep using up in similar ways. Nothing else really to report here.

{Green – cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies}:

I also inherited the entire contents of the aunt and uncle’s cleaning closet, so in the interest of using up what we have, I will make my way through all of it before I make my own again. I know some of them might not be as environmentally friendly as I might otherwise use, but it seems wrong to waste anything.

{Grow}:

The grass is growing quickly enough that the horses are being kept in the barnyard and out of the field to avoid getting colic and the dad is getting up early in the morning to pick up the lawn mower from the repair shop in order to mow the lawns before the weekend. There is a lot more lawn over here at the farm. I’m just happy that the tall hormonal kid learned to drive the lawn mower last year.

The garden isn’t planted yet, but we did place a seed order which should arrive any day. We will still have to buy a few plants for the peppers and tomatoes. There is a greenhouse here at the farm but some wildlife has been in and out of it over the last few years, so a clean-up this spring will be necessary to get it ready for use next year. In the meantime I don’t mind purchasing some plants that have already been started.

{Create}:

Nothing to write about here this month.

{Discover}:

I read a few books this month while the dad was staying overnight at the hospital with his dad. Eighteen years must be the magic number of years that it takes to get used to the snoring, because I found that I missed him when he wasn’t here.

And who knew Pierre Berton wrote a cookbook? There’s a long-winded historical explanation of each recipe, but I guess that’s to be expected.

{Enhance – community}:

The tall hormonal kid has been babysitting at the school during Parent/Teacher council meetings. It has given her a little taste of the working life (she’ll get a bit more when she finds out that she is going to be picking stones for the neighbouring farmer who leases and plants land here at the farm).

We’ve also hired a friend’s 15-year-old son to help with the clean out of the flower gardens and general lawn raking. He has been an awesome help – he has the work ethic of the dad, but the back and arm strength of a 15-year-old. He makes some extra pocket-money and we get a lot of work done that we couldn’t accomplish otherwise. Everyone wins.

I’ve also hired a local woman to clean the house twice a month (her name is Dusty – I figured it was meant to be). She does a lot of work that it would exhaust me to do and I am able to spend some of my weekends resting. Again, everyone wins.

{Enjoy}:

We had a lot of family around in April, we had mini-cousins, cousins and the dad’s aunt and uncle as house guests. We had many weekend meals together while my father-in-law was in hospital and family was down to visit. He passed away in April, but we will continue to remember him this weekend at a Tribute of Life that is being held at our local community hall.

Linked to Wildcrafting Wednesday, Frugally Sustainable

my new favourite meal in minutes – butter chickpeas (or butter chicken)

This is my new favourite meal in minutes. I read about it on Stone Soup - you can find her recipe here. Mine is only slightly different because it would be hard to make this recipe any easier. My kids will eat butter chicken without any complaint – probably because it is such a mild curry. I used to buy the canned simmering sauce to make it but this is even more inexpensive and just as fast and easy since I have the spices around anyway. Instead of using a can of whole tomatoes, as she did in her version, I used passata (strained tomatoes). It’s easy enough to make it spicier by adding more chilli powder or flakes, but I keep it mild so the kids won’t complain.

To get it on the table quickly, I start some basmati rice in the rice cooker right away and let it cook while I assemble the rest. And if, like me, you find you used up the last of the basmati rice, nobody will complain if you make it with regular long grain rice.

It’s a bit of a cheat on the original slow simmered butter chicken, but it works. It’s also very good with some frozen peas or some chopped spinach added in just before the cream. I freeze leftovers to take to work for lunches as well.

Butter Chickpeas (or Chicken)

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp garam marsala
• 1-2 tsp dried chilli flakes (I used 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, 1/2 tsp chilli powder)
• 1 can chickpeas (~ 2 cups), drained or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
• 1 jar strained tomatoes (passata) (400g / 14oz)
• 2 – 3 tablespoons cream

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan, add spices and cook on medium high heat for about 30 seconds.

2. Add drained chickpeas (or cooked chicken) and cook for another minute or so.

3. Add tomatoes and bring to a fast simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced to desired thickness.

5. Stir in the cream. Taste and season.

Linked to Gastronomical Sovereignty, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday