Iowa Adventures 2011

Like most people I take pictures here and there on my phone. I thought it would be fun to review 2011 using some of my random cell phone snap shots.

January:

If you were ever wondering how cold it can get in Northeastern Iowa, here is a bit of insight....

This was the temperature reading from my car on the drive to work on January 21, 2011.

Good news: there was a 30 degree increase during the day.

Bad news: the high was 7 degrees (F)

I learned one of the things to watch out for in a Midwest winter is the snow drifts. After a snow if the wind picks up the snow just blows every-which-way and can completely block out the roads and cover your parked car.

I took these photos at the end of the day when I was leaving work. My car was in the early stages of being devoured by a snow drift and I thought it was kind of nifty.

February:

I went to run some errands up in Rochester, MN and stopped in at a Savers (it's like goodwill or salvation army) and saw this little ditty on a T-shirt

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this was "I am sure there is some dude with a very large truck covered in a lot of offensive bumper sticks that would beg to differ" (Don't worry, I already know there is something really wrong with my brain)

March:

Proof that the price of gas is taking is toll everywhere....

I have to say that I have never tried a DQ taco and don't ever plan on it. Lets face it, what does a dairy queen really know about tacos and what business does she have even thinking she could!? There i said it. Stick to the ice cream sister, because you couldn't pay me $300 to eat 2 of your tacos! (Wait, if I get payed 3-hundred smackers, I might eat them)

April:

I was wandering and exploring the river trail that is next to Church in Fayette and found this turtle just hanging out.

I almost stepped on him and I have to say that he scared me stupid for a sec there. I am usually not that jumpy but I was not really expecting to see a turtle nearly 2 ft long at my feet.

May:

Spring has sure been taking it's sweet ol' time getting here. At the end of April we had about 1ft of snow dump one day. Insanity! Finally this past week its been warming up enough so the trees could put some leaves on their sorry looking twigs. Last Sunday it was a nice and sunny day so I did some exploring around Decorah on my bike and found a nice little spring so I stopped and put my feet in for a few minutes.

Not quite warm enough for wading feet in springs, so I would have to say it was more refreshing than relaxing but still completely worth doing.

Twin Springs, Decorah, Iowa

Sometimes I fall down and it's really funny

Today was the end of my second week back out in the gardens at Seed Savers Exchange. I had spent the day driving a truck all over muddy roads on the 1000 acre farm. It was a beautiful day. The grass was greening up, trees were budding and the sun was finally making an appearance after all this rain and gloom we’ve been having out here in Iowa. There were so many reasons why it was a good day but the best days end with a funny story and boy, did I have one today.

While parking the truck at the end of the day, I had my arms full of gear and went to reach for some poles that were in the bed of the truck when I lost my footing and started to trip. I almost caught my footing about three times in a row, which I am sure only added to the ridiculousness of my situation. I faced the facts and just let gravity have her way with me. I did about 2 or 3 revolutions as I rolled down the small embankment that the truck gets parked on. I just laid there in the muddy gravel laughing. It all happened so fast but the funniest part to me was that while I was mid tumble, the song “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood (link) was playing in my head. Anyway, tragedy in my little tumble was that no one was there to witness it.

On a side note, one of my top choices for supper power would be to have “Appropriate Theme Music” play at important, awe inspiring, or exceptionally comical moments in my life. It could be awesome and a great thing for all mankind!

Just a look at the aftermath

One more just to make my Momma proud. And Yes, I had to get creative and use my bathroom mirror to take a few backside shots.

Roasted Garlic & Artichoke Dip

While working in both the preservation and commercial side of seed savers, I’ve been blessed with lots of free garlic. An abundance of something free has forced me once again to seek culinary inspiration, so that I can get rid of the stuff before it goes bad. There is really not too much to this recipe, but I’ve been slowly perfecting the recipe for the past few months (admittedly, I have not been working diligently at the task). The first attempt was more of your run-of-the-mill plain old roasted garlic. My second attempt, I stepped it up a notch for a church potluck and added sour cream and parmesan cheese to the roasted garlic. On the third attempt, I went all out for a potluck and a friend’s house and add sautéed mushrooms and artichoke hearts to the recipe. I also took the leftovers to share with everyone at work and I had a few people ask for the recipe so I decided to post it.

Ingredients:

• Roasted Garlic
• Olive oil
• Artichokes hearts (about 1 can, coarsely chopped)
• Mushrooms, minced and sautéed in butter or olive oil
• Shredded parmesan Cheese
• 1-2 spoonfuls of Sour Cream
• Sea Salt & Pepper (to taste)

First step is to roast the garlic. You can do this using whatever method you prefer. I have been peeling the garlic by hand before roasting, mostly because I have been using leftover garlic from work, which has the occasional rotten clove so roasting the whole clove in this case, not optimal.

Tip: A friend from work showed me a really fast way to get the skins off the cloves using salt and a bowl, jar, or any container with a lid. Just separate the cloves from a couple of heads of garlic and put them in the bowl or jar and sprinkle with 1-2 spoonfuls of salt. Put the lid on the container and shake vigorously for a minute or so. The majority of the skinks will come off and congregate at the top so that you can just pull them out. Any skins still left on the clove can be easily removed by hand.

I roast the garlic by putting approx. 1 quart of garlic (you can use more or less garlic depending on how large or strong of a batch you want to make) in a glass container. Drizzle garlic with olive oil and cover with aluminum foil (or a lid). Place in the oven at 275-325 degrees F until the cloves are soft enough to mash easily with a fork. If you would like the dip to be a bit more on the spicy pungent side don’t overcook them, but if you want it to be slightly mild and sweet, than leave the cloves in the oven for just a little bit longer until they get slightly caramelize.

Mash roasted garlic until the texture suits you and let it cool (just until it is not scolding hot). Add sautéed mushrooms, chopped artichokes, sour cream, and parmesan cheese in a ratio that suites your personal fancy. Then add salt and pepper to taste. The salt really enchases and blends the flavors together, so I usually make sure to add the salt as I go along. Otherwise I’ll stand there thinking it needs more cheese or sour cream but really it just needs more salt to bring everything together. You can serve with it with fancy crackers or sometimes I use it as a spread on my sandwich.

Ruta-Toot-Toot Egg Salad

It seems like I am more likely to post a recipe, if I happen to come up with some incredibly stupid name for it. They just come to me, I can't stop myself. It's like an incredibly ridiculous and useless gift. My mom always use to tell me that I was "full of it!" Although she still has yet to indicated the proper pronoun that she had in mind, I gathered based on her tone and the intensity of her eye roll (and yes, I mean eye, the singular form of the word, that is her gift) that it was not the noble kind of "it."

A few weeks ago at work we had a bean tasting and pot luck. We needed to update some of the descriptions for the eating beans we sell, so to help stratify the work and for an excuse to have a party, we each took home a different bag of beans to cook up. We were instructed to cook them up plain and set aside about 1 cup for the taste test and then get creative with the rest.

The night before the potluck I had no idea what to do with my "Good Mother Stallard" beans. While I was cooking the beans, I was also making up some egg salad for my lunch when I had a crazy idea to just add the beans to the egg salad. It seemed just crazy enough to work so I boldly went with the impulse. I thought it was a pretty yummy dish, but felt it was a bit risky and likely that no one else would feel the same. I prepared myself for the high likelihood that I would be taking home a lot of leftovers. Too my surprise, people actually ate and liked it. Over all the potluck was a complete success. It was one of the most creative potlucks I've ever been to and I stuffed myself so much trying everything that I didn't even eat dinner that night.

Recipe:

I started out with 6 hard boiled eggs, couple of spoonfuls of Mrs. Clark's mayonnaise, little bit of pickle juice, fresh or pickled dill, half an purple onion (chopped), 1-2 cups of cooked Good Mother Stallard beans, and to put the "ruta" in ruta-toot-toot I chopped up and added some pickled rutabaga spears I had made back in November. I know not everyone is going to have Rutabagas laying around, let alone know what they are, but I got them for free and have only really come to enjoy them when pickled and added in things.

Collard "Gringo" Tacos

I’ve gleaned quite a lot of collard greens at the farm this fall and I am just now eating down the last of them. I just recently tried and became a fan of this close relative to cabbage. The best way I can find to describe them as a dark green flat leafed cabbage. The flavor is pretty mild and they are pretty easy to grow too. Just a tip, they are a cold weather crop that grows best in the early spring and late fall. In fact, the taste actually improves after a frost, which makes the leaves become slightly sweet. If you have not tried them I implore you to do so, at least just once.

Confession time! I like veggies but I sometimes don’t feel like eating them, so I have to get creative to keep my palate interested. The mild flavor of collards makes them complement almost any dish they‘re added to. The past few months I’ve pretty much tried putting them in almost anything I am having for dinner including stir fry, leek soup, potato salad, and yes, on my tacos.

Last week I came home from work and whipped up some tacos before I had to be out the door again. I didn’t have lettuce handy and was feeling guilty that I had not eaten some greens yet. The thought came to use the collards so I went with it. I wouldn’t say it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever made, but it was a nice twist on a classic. The only reason I decided to post the recipe was because the name, Collard Gringo Tacos was too good to keep to myself. The name came while I was eating and I started to laugh and it almost became a bit of a situation. Anyway, I had to make my Pa proud and show him that I am out in the world flapping my little bad joke wings.

Mo’s Collard Gringo Tacos:

• Taco meat
• Corn tortillas
• Steamed Collard Greens
• Top with the usual suspects: cheese, sour cream, cilantro, salsa, or avocado

For the taco meat, I usually just grill up some ground beef, chicken or pork with some chopped onion, olive oil, salt, few cloves of garlic and chili powder. Get the corn tortillas warm and crispy by putting them in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Assemble taco and devour.

Cooking Collards: The best way to eat them, as it is with most things in the mustard family, is lightly cooked. I prefer to steam them, if you don’t have a steamer here is the best way I have found. First, I chop collards to sizes suiting my little hearts desired (sometimes I cut the midrib out, sometimes I don’t). Place them in a pot and rinse thoroughly. Drain out excess water; place a lid on the pot and put it on the stove top under medium/high heat. Open lid once or twice to stir the greens while they are cooking. When leaves are slightly wilted remove from heat. I am not a fan of over cooking any greens. It tastes gicky-yucky, makes the texture bla and it’s not as nutritious.