and makes me want to get my hands into some spoon oil.

Stephanie wrote:

Last weekend I gathered all my wooden spoons, bowls, cutting boards and serving pieces and polished everything with spoon oil. Spoon oil protects the wood from drying, cracking, staining and collecting unwanted bacteria. It was a really relaxing activity and would be safe and fun for even small children (the making of the spoon oil would be for adults-only, but the polishing is totally kid-friendly).

Spoon oil is a blend of beeswax and mineral oil and is completely food safe and non-toxic. I made my own, but you can also buy it bottled. I developed my spoon oil recipe after lurking around a few woodworking message boards when we were installing our wood countertops in our kitchen (which are also finished with spoon oil). All you need is natural beeswax (check craigslist or your farmer’s market for a local supply) and mineral oil which is sold in the laxative section of the pharmacy or supermarket (right there next to the milk of magnesia). For every 16 ounce bottle of mineral oil, I used about a quarter of a pound of beeswax (that’s a one pound brick in the photo). This makes a quart jar of spoon oil which should last you quite a while if you’re just treating kitchen items.

• In a large sauce pan of boiling water, I placed a quart mason jar with my beeswax (a quarter of a pound) cut into small chunks. Once the wax was melted, I placed another jar with the 16 ounces of mineral oil in the water to gently heat. Then I poured the mineral oil in with the beeswax and allowed them to continue to heat and emulsify, gently stirring until smooth and even. Take your jar out of the water bath, allow to cool and it’s ready to use.

To treat the wood, you may want to sand surfaces that are stained or nubbly with fine grit sandpaper, then simply dip your hands into the spoon oil (it’s a thick consistency) and rub into the wood. Any spoon oil left on your hands can be just massaged into your skin (it actually makes a great moisturizer for weather-beaten winter hands). Allow the wood to sit and absorb the oil for anywhere from a few hours to a few days, then buff dry with a clean cloth. That’s it!

http://refresheddesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/green-idea-diy-wood-counter-and-table.html

Complete with instructions!

He was kind enough to give me instructions on how he managed to get that rich, dark, ultra-smooth finish, and so I’m sharing his secret with all of you.

1.  Top is made from 2′ x 4′ x 3/4″ knotty pine plywood (you can purchase from hardware stores in 1/4 sheet size).

2.  Edge is made from 1″ x 2″ x 4′ pine.

3.  Cut plywood to size and draw and cut out the hole for your sink.

4. Attach edging with water-based carpenter’s glue and by countersinking a finish nail on each end. Make sure to wipe up any excess glue with a damp cloth right away. Use a non-shrinking and stain-able wood filler to fill in the holes – he likes LePage.

5. After drying for 24 hours, sand with 320 grit sandpaper.

6. Apply wood sealer as per manufacturer’s instructions.

7. Apply 3 coats of stain (waiting 6 hours between each coat) in your choice of colour- he used Flecto Varathan Diamond Wood Stain in Dark Walnut. But here’s the trick- DO NOT wipe off excess stain when applying the coats. It allows it to sink into the wood for a darker finish.

8.Once dry, apply 5 coats of latex polyurethane – he used Flecto Varathane Diamond Wood Finish in satin. Sand with 320 grit paper in between each coat until smooth to the touch. Make sure to use tack cloth to wipe the counter down after each sanding.

Some things no longer work quite right.

Like my poor car, this site is in need of some strenuous overhauling which supposedly will be finished sometime.  Feel free to browse in the mean time, but know that you’re only getting a chunk of the picture.  And a kinda odd chuck at that.

Tchau,
Josh

-A riff of of a sausage & tortellini tomato soup some friends served me.  Unfortunately, kielbasa has a habit of overpowering the whole dish when it sits for lunch the next day.

W:Grilled elk loin steaks vacuum marinated with balsamic, olive oil, basil, pepper, and lemon juice. Mashed sweet potatoes, oregano roasted broccolli and a simple spring salad with a fresh orange-balsamic dressing rounded off dinner

-Lunch became a brocolli chicken alfredo dish from ____________.

F:Roasted a Rump Roast, mashed some potatoes, oven-fried some zucchinis, tossed a spinach salad with some fresas and balsamic dressing, then congratulated myself for the homemade blueberry sherbert and gazpacho to be enjoyed at their leisure.

-Roasted a smaller pork roast for an Asian Cabbage Slaw with Pork that I must try again with meat that hadn’t been thawed and re-froze.  Some mixed wild rice sauteed with diced onions and carrots rounded off the meal at about 550 calories.

SS:I braised some elk with mushrooms ala this recipe, and served it with a simple salad and spaghetti squash parmesan for dinner.

-A couple thin crust pizza‘s and a personal favorite Greek chop salad formed lunch.  A meatlovers was created with ground beef, extra roasted pork, slivered onions, and some mozzerella and cheddar.  The veggie pizza starred home-grown tomatoes, zucchini, more onion slivers, and mozerella and shredded parmesan.  I love how good healthy food tastes.

Recipe, pretty straight from http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/beef_bean_chile_verde.html

Elk/Beef & Bean Chile Verde. 4 servings, ~1 1/2 C each

30 minutes total seemed about right to me 

• 1 pound 93%-lean ground elk/beef
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (we only had some random thai spice. it worked)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 16-ounce jar green salsa, green enchilada sauce or taco sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 15-ounce can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed

1. Cook beef, bell pepper and onion in a large saucepan over medium heat, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin and cayenne; cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
2. Stir in salsa (or sauce) and water; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in beans and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat just before serving.

Cornbread.  Buy a packaged mix and follow the directions.  I used a 160 calorie/serving “sweet cornbread” bagged mix that I cooked up in a special skillet.  Whatever you use, I recommend preheating it to get the oil/butter/pam all sizzly before you pour the cornbread in.  It’s just right.

Wedge Salad with Tomayo Dressing (from the VitaMix recipebook)

• Romaine lettuce hearts, quartered & cored.  Plan on 2 quarters per person.
• Tomayo dressing
• Bacon Bits (or crumbled bacon fresh from the skillet for you with time)
• Figure out how to put the lettuce wedges on a plate & sprinkle stuff on ‘em.

For the dressing: (this makes 1 cup, enough for 4)

• 1 lg tomato
• 1/2 C low fat/cal mayo (we had a 10 cal/.25 cup jar to use…)
• 1/2 t dried Basil (or way more if you’re like me. at least double it if using fresh basil)
• 1/4 sm, peeled onion (or a shallot, if you have a bunch on hand…)

1. Toss it all into the VitaMixer or food processor and whiz away until it’s smooth. 
2. Tada.  It actually tastes wonderful, thick, and unhealthy.  But it’s less calories than a vineagrette.  Funny, huh?

I first recall trying mostaccioli last night before prom.  One of my best friends had been regaling me with how she was trying to get a recipe from her childhood but wasn’t sure if the nice old lady who prepared it was still alive and able to share it.  Yesterday the recipe arrived.  Very cutely phrased.  There was a warning not to use too much cheese because it’s “caloric.”  Made my day.  Especially after I got to taste the dish last night too.  Mmmhmmm.  I used a different recipe because it already had caloric values calculated.  Still pretty tasty.

Today’s recipes were inspired (read: straight from) Taste of Home’s Healthy Cooking magazine and website.  Ms B gave me a bunch of the mags & I was just picking something simple.  The Dinner was served to Ms B and her guests, and everybody spoke contentedly of the mostaccioli.  The green beans were good, nothing spectacular, and the salad received no accolades because it was standard in that household.  My personal gripes were that the green beans were a bit softer than I personally prefer, and the salad may have accidentally been drowned in the tasty dressing.

Dinner. Truncated.  My adaptations included

Baked Mostaccioli.  35min prep, 30 min bake, 6 servings (I found this pretty true)

• 8oz uncooked mostaccioli (penne in my case)
• 1/2 lb lean ground turkey (elk from my employers actually)
• 1 sm onion, chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained, & 1 (6oz) can tomato paste (I just used the 26 oz jar of chunky spaghetti sauce that was 70 cal/serving…)
• 1/3 C water
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t pepper
• 2 C (16oz) fat free cottage cheese
• 1 t marjoram (or italian spices or whatever green leafy mix you have on hand.  I used “Fine herbs”)
• 1 1/2 C (6oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese & 1/4 C grated parmesan (lazy me, the pkg of pizza cheese comes in w 4 different cheeses, so I went with that.  All 8oz’s of it just for spite)

1. Cook the pasta like the pkg says.  Meanwhile, cook the meat in a big saucepan.
2. Toss in the tomatoe stuffs, water, oregano & salt & pepper.  (I add: Take a second to pour the measured spices into your hand to get a feel of how much you should be adding so you can gradually quit pulling out so many measuring spoons.) bring it all to a boil, reduce it to a covered simmer for 15 min (covered? so that’s how there was supposed to be liquid…)
3.   In a sm bowl, like the one you bought it in, mix the marjoram & cottage cheese, then put it aside.  Drain your pasta if you’ve forgotten.
4. 1/2 C red stuff goes into the 11×7 pam sprayed dish.  Then half the pasta, red stuff, and mozzarella.  Next all of the cottage cheese & repeat with the remaining pasta, red, and mozzarella.
5. Bake, uncovered, 350o, for 30-40 min till is bubbly & heated through

About 300 calories.  And tasty.

Green Bean Medley.   gets done somehow during everything. serves 4 by my generous portions. 

• 1lb fresh green beans, trimmed (takes time or costs extra)
• 1 sm sweet red pepper, fine chopped
• 4 green onion (scallions), chopped
• 1/4 C sliced fresh mushrooms (or a full cup if you’re like me)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 garlic, minced, ran thru the press, or from the minced jar
• 1 T sherry vinegar (we had seasoned rice vinegar on hand…)
• 1/2 t dried basil (I like basil… so more like 1 T)
• 1/4 t salt & pepper (measured?  yeah right.)

Cover beans with water in a large sauce pan, like your now empty pasta pot, and bring to a boil.  cook ‘em for 4-7 min until “crisp-tender”

meanwhile, prep your fresh veggies.  Then toss them all into another skillet & saute them with the oil & garlic till they’re tender, or till you’re just about ready to serve.  Toss in the beans, drained please, and everything else.  Heat it “through.”

The end.

technically, every 3/4 c serving = 59 calories.  Or figure under a hundred for a quarter of the total.

Organic Spring Salad with Strawberries and lemony dressing

• one ziplock baggie of salad from the local food basket people
• the leftover strawberries from something or other.  The small ones were the best.
• The homemade salad dressing that used something vinegary, lots of lemon-olive oil (from Newzealand I believe), and a nice bunch of dried herbs.

1. Slice the strawberries & toss it all together. 
2. Realize you forgot the feta cheese.
3. Ponder if you’ll ever get a real recipe…

somewhere around 100-150 calories, if you know what’s in your dressing.

Mediterranean.  Butternut squash soup with a slew of veggies (even kale) and  a bit of bacon.  Chop Greek Salad, or green beans and tomatoes with homemade dressing.  Thin crust pizza.

Just about killed myself trying to come up with multiple menus for them to choose.  They liked it.  They’re even letting me come back another time.

Hallelujah, thine the glory.

What a couple, what a kitchen, & what an adventure.

Eventually, I’ll even post caloric values,  maybe recipes if I’m feeling particularly spritely. 

There were more apples than my taste buds could handle.  The nice little old lady let me take way too many from her tree.  So I baked, stewed, syruped, curried, and did everything I could think of.  And there were still apples.  Wonderfully shaped, untouched by any chemicals, exploding with crunch at every bite.  I couldn’t resist the allure of them all over again.  But I had no time to bake, stew, curry, or do anything fancy.  And I needed some punch to rev my apple-overloaded taste buds. 

Basil.  Dried and from the spice jar.  It just fit.

Before I give you the tasty recipe, I have to say  bit more about grandma, or Mima as we call her. I love Mima. Aside from being her own whirlwind of wisdom and opinions, she really likes to talk with me about –and give me- food. Last summer, I spent an awesome week with her and Grampa (yup, he’s just Grampa), and we talked about pataste. Related to soup? Yes. Pataste is what Mima (& a lot of Central Americans) call the light green form of a fun fruit that sits innocuously in many supermarkets’ produce stands, and what to me was previously a boring chayote. Mima told me all about it’s growing conditions, different varieties, what she tosses it into, all sorts of jazz. I remember that growing up, mom would buy a few on impulse, halve ‘em and stuff them with something tasty. But the chayote seemed to be just tasteless filler, not bad, memorable mainly because Mom was so excited about them. And until I was talking with Mima about it, I never realized that the much tastier version she put in her soups was the exact same. Somehow, soup makes chayote better. Or maybe Mima makes chayote better.  We talked about a lot of other things, and at the end of the week I was shocked by the massive amount of chayote she gave me. Without a single actual recipe, Mima sent me home with bags of the stuff and memories of conversations.

After they sat for a while, I tasted one. You’d be surprised at the crisp, clean taste of slightly nutty, honey-kissed-pears, I sure was. Turns out, chayote is actually pretty decent chilled, peeled & raw. Even better as soup like Mima makes it. But until I can faithfully reproduce hers, or you get to visit some day, try this one.

The Soup

First you have to peel the chayote. I don’t normally like wearing latex gloves to do things, but every time I start peeling them, I wish I remembered to put some on. Raw chayote gives off a strange, slippery sap that dries out my hands and leaves them scaly for a couple of hours. So grab some gloves. Or rinse often.

After you admire how innocent and dew covered they look, you can cut them in half and take out the flat, fleshy seed from the middle.  I think it actually tastes good and isn’t worth the effort, so I just started chopping the whole thing.  Having some bacon from breakfast still on the cutting board helps too, rounds out the flavor.  And then we dice some garlic, green onion (scallions), my last jalapeño, and a bunch of unrinsed cilantro. Who thinks of rinsing things until after they’ve started chopping?

Once everything is sprawled out in little piles, the onions and jalapeno get sautéed with a bit of butter.  *there is actually more chayote out of the picture, but I was going for a mise en place picture, and a second pile of chayote just seemed strange.  And showed just how crowded the counter was*

Then some cilantro and the chayote get thrown in. Sauté, sauté, and sauté till you realize the whimsy of the word.

Then, when you decide that sautéing may actually not be that much fun, add water and chicken bouillon and cover. Or use homemade chicken broth if you have some. I did once, and my friends got furious when my roommate dared to spill the finished soup all over the kitchen floor. They were ready to hang somebody. It was that good. Their fury had nothing to do with the mess, of course.  Or use plain salt –or Adobo!- for a vegetarian friendly version.  Here’s the next, very difficult part. Everything so far should have taken less than half an hour. Now it has to simmer for 15-25 minutes. All by itself.

You can’t help it. You can stir it, but that’s it. It just sits there, covered. Eventually, it gets to cool, and then go through the blender with the rest of the cilantro in a few batches that should not be allowed to explode and cover the kitchen. So do small batches of chayote, blend, add some liquid, blend, new batch.

Don’t make unnecessary messes – especially if there’s no nice friend offering to clean.

For some odd reason, I really enjoy this particular soup after its chilled. It’s the only soup I’ve tried chilled, and normally I don’t even like the idea of cold soup, but this one works nicely hot or cold.

If you need a cut and dry recipe, here’s what I used yesterday:

Chayote Soup – adapted from Epicurious.com http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chayote-Soup-107958

· 5 chayote – I’ll go with 6 next time

· 1 tbsp buttr

· 3 cloves garlic

· 4 scallions

· 1 jalapeño

· bunch of cilantro, rinsed & chopped

· chicken bouillon

· 1.75 cups water, but I’ll go with 1.5 next time, or add another chayote

-Peel & halve chayote. Remove seed if desired, then chop roughly & set aside.

-Chop garlic, green onions and jalapeño, then sauté them with the butter in a large sauce pan 2-3 minutes.

-Add the chayote and half the cilantro and sauté 5 more minutes. Sprinkle some bouillon, add the water, and simmer, covered for 15-25 minutes.

Once the chayote are nice and soft, remove from heat, cool slightly, then blend in small batches. Include more bouillon and the remaining cilantro to taste. Serve and enjoy. Or chill and enjoy. Or chill, pack with lunch for tomorrow and enjoy.

Yeild: 6 or 7 cups.  Placed in 1 cup jars, lead to several servings as a side dish for my lunches, and several –healthy- snacks