The Mosaic Kitchen is packed up and ready to start our trek west to Colorado.  We hope to be at least hanging out in the Mosaic Grandpa’s kitchen by Friday, August 5th.  In the mean time, don’t forget that you can enter an ingredient in the search engine on the right and it will reveal all the delicious recipes we prepare using it — a great tool for times when we can’t think of what to have for supper!

Hugs all around,

Janet and Larry

“But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew…” ~ Standard English Translation of “To a Mouse, on Turning  Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough” by Robert Burns, Scottish poet (1759 –  1796)

The cooking just gets easier and easier, as more of our food gets used up and more of the kitchen gets packed away (the microwave said goodbye 10 days ago). We’re down to one skillet and one baking sheet, both of which will be retired as soon as the sale of this house closes, hopefully later this week. We are eager to be on the road for the next chapter of our lives, but loose ends resist being tied.

A bright spot in all of the delays has been that we’re enjoying more of the fruits (or vegetables) of our labors in the garden than we expected to, thinking we would be gone by the first of July. The peas have come and gone, the parsley has simply gone wild in ecstasy over the recent rain, and the beets are pushing themselves out of the ground in their eagerness to please.

While the beet tops are our favorite part, it seems like it would be an unconscionable waste to send the roots to the compost bin, so we’ve combined them here in a raw side dish that is colorful, tasty, and very nutritious. Raw beets have a much fresher, lighter flavor than when cooked, so you might be surprised at who appreciates them.

Sesame Beet Slaw

Time: 5 minutes

For each serving:
½ medium fresh beet
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
⅛ teaspoon
toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon Maple Mustard Dressing or other favorite

Peel the beet and shred. Toss with remaining ingredients. Serve cold or at room temperature. It is especially good with whole wheat bread.

Note: This slaw is likely to change the color of your urine for a day or two. Please warn the kids so they don’t panic.

“We’re having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature’s rising,
It isn’t surprising,
She certainly can can-can!”~ Irving Berlin, American lyricist and composer (1888 – 1989)

We were lucky to have a really good crop of beets in the garden this spring and the current heat wave is really helping them to flourish. I am partial to planting beets because every plant contributes twice. We eat the root roasted, pickled, raw, or in a dip – and then there are the greens.

Beet greens are actually the most nutritious part of the plant, outpacing the root by a wide margin. What a shame that so many of us throw this part away.

When we have just a few very fresh leaves, we usually use them to make Sister Lucy’s Salad, but when we are lucky enough to get a good sized bunch, we like to sauté them up – stems and leaves chopped up together – to make a delicious side dish, saving the root part for another time.

Since nearly everything in the kitchen has been packed up for next week’s move (yes, the closing on the sale of our present home has been delayed for the 4th time!), we just picked up some locally made potato-filled pierogi to go with the beets, tossing them into the same pan at the very end, making a satisfying and flavorful Polish dinner in less than half an hour.

Lemony Beet Greens

Serves 2
Time: 25 minutes

1 tablespoon Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
¼ cup chopped onion
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
4 cups fresh beet greens, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic OR ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup lemon juice
Pepper and salt to taste

Melt the Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot to the skillet and cook until they are soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the beet greens and garlic and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the stem portions are tender, about 15 minutes.

Serve immediately as a side dish, or over whole wheat noodles for a high powered lunch.

“Perfect song on the radio
Sing along ’cause it’s one we know
It’s a smile, it’s a kiss
It’s a sip of wine, it’s summertime
Sweet summertime.

Temperature says 93
Down at the Deposit and Guarantee
But that swimmin’ hole
It’s nice and cold…”

~ lyrics from Summertime by Craig Wiseman and Steve McEwan

With almost everything packed up and out the door already, cooking is getting to be difficult. As a matter of fact, we’ve gone camping with a better equipped kitchen. Since we’re experiencing a huge heat wave this week, it doesn’t really matter much, though. The focus is all about keeping cool, including the food.

This is a perfect time to clean out the refrigerator – a great opportunity to toss together some unexpected ingredients for salads and dressings.

We had a jar of mustard with just a couple of tablespoons left, and a bottle of maple syrup with just about the same. It brought to mind the popularity a few years ago of honey-mustard dressing. Substituting with the maple syrup made it a little less sweet, with just a hint of the maple’s natural smokiness hiding in the background.

Use the kind of mustard you like best. My favorite is Kroger’s horseradish mustard – it contains no egg (most other brands do) and has just a little bit of a kick. With this being the bottom of the bottle, I just added the other ingredients to it, which not only gave me one less jar to wash, but  also saved us the trouble of trying to get the last drop of mustard off the sides.

Maple-Mustard Dressing

Makes ½ cup
Time: 3 minutes

2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil

Measure ingredients into a jar, cover tightly, and shake like crazy!!

For the salad in the photo, we poured a kettle full of boiling water over some sugar snap peas and broccoli florets to brighten their color, refreshed in cold water, then tossed together with some leftover whole wheat pasta, chopped red pepper, golden cherry tomatoes, a sprinkle of toasted sunflower seeds, and (of course) this lovely Maple-Mustard Dressing.

“Tea of course made the problem seem smaller, it always does…” ~ from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book series by Alexander McCall Smith, Rhodesian-born Scottish author (1948 – )

We were supposed to close on the sale of our house this coming Monday, but have just been informed that it is going to be delayed until later in the week. While somewhat disappointing, it isn’t all bad because we’ve been working really hard at doing the sorting, moving, donating and trashing thing and a couple of days to rest up before the long drive ahead could be a good thing.

The last time I was pedaling my bike past the local coffee shop, I noticed a sign mentioning that they were now serving a Rooibos Latte. Rooibos is a legume plant grown only the Western Cape province of South Africa, whose leaves are used to make a red tea, also known as bush tea. It contains no caffeine and is very smooth and richly flavored.

Rooibos tea is very expensive, however, so we were delighted to find that the people at Celestial Seasonings are including it in blends that allow us to enjoy its qualities in a more affordable form. When we spotted the Safari Spice Red Tea, the coffee shop’s sign mentioning the latte came to mind and how easy it would be to make at home, all spicy, cold, and creamy…

Iced Red Tea Latte

Serves 1

Time: mere minutes + cooling time

1 bag Celestial Seasonings Safari Spice Red Tea
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage
1 cup ice
Wedge of orange for garnish (optional)

First of all, make the tea by pouring boiling water over the tea bag in a small pot or measuring cup. Allow to steep for 10 minutes before removing the bag, then allow it to cool to room temperature, or chill it for later in the day.

Mix the brewed tea, the coconut milk beverage, and the ice together in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake very hard, until it is frothy. Alternatively, you can measure the ingredients into a blender container and process until it is frothy (the ice will be chipped this way, however).

Garnish with a small wedge of orange, if you wish, and serve cold.

This drink is, of course, best served while reading one of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. It helps give some real African flavor to the stories. I’ve already checked Blue Shoes and Happiness out of the library for this weekend and have plans to spend a significant amount of time in the shade.