Aw, honey honey!!

Last week I shared about my Mom's Garden and one of the things I mentioned they have up there is a beehive.  My parents purchased their own bees and harvest the honey every summer.  My dad even has the cool spacey bee suit! Too bad I don't have a picture of that!

I didn't win the Farmers Market Photo contest but this is one that did.  Taken by Staci Longest of Newton at the King and Queen County Farmers Market near Richmond, VA. I thought it appropriate to share her beautiful photo with this post.

Honey is amazing.  It can go with just about anything sweet or savory.  Use it as a sweetener in baked goods or in your tea.  Its awesome with certain kinds of cheese. I love it with feta cheese!  Sometimes I'll make scrambled eggs in the morning and top them feta cheese and a sprinkling of honey...its so yumma yumma!! The salty savoriness of the cheese combined with the sweet stickiness of the honey is delightful! I'm not a huge fan of maple syrup so I like to use honey on my pancakes and waffles instead. 

Check out these homemade secret-recipe waffles Superking made with some fresh blueberries straight from the farm, sprinkled with a little powdered sugar, a little dab of butter, and drizzled with honey from my parents hive!! Delish!

There are so many subtle flavor differences you can get from one honey to another. It all depends on what flowers and other pollinating plants are nearby the hive.  As the bees travel from one plant to the next, what combination will they come up with to flavor this year's honey?

There's something sort of mysterious about honey too.  It has these ancient healing qualities that have been around since the dawn of time that are still used today! Did you know honey can used as an antiseptic and promotes faster healing for cuts and scrapes? It can used as an antioxidant and cleanser for your whole body and skin.  Many natural beauty products include honey.  I love Burts Bees products!! One of my favorites of theirs is a cleanser that has royal jelly in it (which is a special honey made just for the queen bee)! I have very dry skin and that stuff makes my skin feel as smooth as a baby's bottom!

Honey can be used to fight infections and reduce inflammation.  As a singer myself and a voice teacher, I always tell my students the best thing they can do if their voice is sick or to prepare for a performance, is to drink a warm cup of tea with honey and lemon juice.  It does wonders to heal and soothe your throat and also lubricate your voice.

one of my favorite mugs with my bee themed tea infuser in my bee themed kitchen (see below)

yes even the curtains have little bees on them behind my beehive wind chime

Honey is an excellent remedy for digestive issues.  Have tummy trouble or maybe heartburn after eating a bunch of heavy fried foods? Take a spoonful of honey!  Mary Poppins sang about a "spoonful of sugar", she shoulda sang a spoonful of honey! Honey has been known to cure diseases and correct other health disorders such as yeast infections, arthritis, even fighting cancer.

Its great for an energy booster and building up immunities as well. So next time flu season comes around, try a spoonful of honey each day! Its at least worth a try. If nothing else, it'll help make your day a little sweeter!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Oh man, theres nothing like a good fried green tomato! The movie was good too.  But when you get a plate full of crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside-slightly-greasy tomatoes, its like a trip to another time.

Recently I shared we went on a trip to my parents house and toured my mom's garden which was full of all kinds of produce.  Tomatoes were everywhere!  All sizes and colors too! I couldn't help but snatch a few of those beautiful bright green ones to take home! I was dying to make some delicious fried green tomatoes.

Start by slicing up your tomatoes.  A medium to thick cut slice.  They should be nice and crunchy!

Next the dredging station...you should have a bowl of all purpose flour, a bowl of about 2-4 eggs whisked with about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of heavy cream or buttermilk, and a third bowl of about 1 cup fine breadcrumbs, I cup cornmeal, and your choice of seasoning such as a little salt and pepper, maybe a little paprika or even Old Bay, whatever your tastes are.  Notice there aren't strict measurements.  Its all about your tastes and how many tomato slices you're frying up.  Experiment a little! Have fun!

Heat up some veggie oil or peanut oil, if you prefer, in a big semi-deep frying pan.  You'll want enough oil to cover your tomatoes once they're swimming in there. Once all your prep stuff is ready and your tomatoes are sliced, let each tomato slice take a dip in the flour to get a nice even coat.  Then dip in the egg wash and shake off the excess. Next, dredge the tomato in the breadcrumb mixture until well coated.

Carefully put 3 to 4 slices (or however many can comfortably fit in the pan, don't crowd them too much!) into the hot oil.  Let them fry a couple minutes on each side or until you see a beautiful crispy golden coat!  Set them aside on a papertowel to drain any excess oil before serving.

We decided to have an all-out southern comfort dinner that night...fried green tomatoes with a dollop of fresh goat cheese on top and cheesy grits topped with grilled Old Bay shrimp.  Yumma Yumma indeed!!

we used some quick cooking grits...

and some sharp cheddar cheese!

Mom's Garden

Before these last few weeks of summer fade away, I must share some lovely summer adventures we've had.  A few weeks ago, Superking and I went out to visit my parents who live in the mountains of northern Virginia countryside.  They have about 10 acres of woods just above the beautiful flowing Shenandoah River.  My dad is an avid outdoorsman and has been in the building industry in one aspect or another for most of his life.  My mom is a country girl at heart. They designed and built their own house up there in their own little quiet paradise.

One of the things my mom loves to do is gardening.  And she's always had a knack for it too. I, on the other hand, have the Black Thumb of Death when it comes to all plants, be they fruit, veg, or flower, with the exception of weeds.  If it was acceptable to grow weeds and make them look nice, I would be the Queen.

Anywho...as my mom took us on a little tour of her garden, it was bursting with greens and reds and yellows everywhere we looked.  Just about anything you can imagine growing in a garden, it was there.  Tomatoes (so many tomatoes of all different kinds), cabbages, squash, carrots, strawberries, peppers of various kinds, herbs, cucumbers. They even tried to grow peanuts but they didn't turn out so well unfortunately.  But everything else was vibrant and colorful.

my mom being goofy

one of their dogs, Buddy or Bella?

And she doesn't use any kind of pesticides either. So it doesn't get much more local and organic than that!

For our lovely dinner we had with them, my mom used plenty of her yummy produce in our meal, including this delicious tomato salad.  Beautiful red and orange cherry tomatoes mixed with a tangy balsamic vinagrette and fresh herbs and chunks of creamy mozzarella cheese. It was sweet and tangy and juicy; a perfect companion to a good juicy steak hot off the grill.

We also had luscious strawberries stuffed with a marscapone cream cheese and dipped in chocolate for dessert.  I could've eaten the whole plate they were so yummy!

And before we left we stuffed our pockets with as many tomatoes (even green ones...another post to come) and peppers and squash and cucumbers and honey (yes they have their own beehive too...again another post to come) as we could carry away!  Can't wait to share some more recipes with you from Mom's Garden!!

beehive full of bees and fresh honey!!

 

Happy Summer!

Twelve Years...

Today Superking and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  Twelve years...in some ways it seems like a long time, like we've been together forever; and in other ways its gone by so fast it seems it was only yesterday we said "I do".  Either way its been a happy twelve years.  Not that we haven't had our ups and downs because we certainly have, as every couple does. But every day we have stood by one another and loved each other more and more than the day before.

Last night, we went out to a fancy dinner to celebrate these wonderful 12 years. This past Christmas, a family member had given us a generous gift card to a restaurant called Ruth's Chris and we decided to save it for a special occasion.  So this was it!  Ruth's Chris is an upscale steakhouse and isn't particularly unique per se, but the cuisine it offers is amazingly good.

We started off with an appetizer of Seared Ahi Tuna.  Mostly raw and perfectly sliced, the tuna was tender and flavorful and served with a ginger mustard sauce with hints of beer and horseradish.  A lovely way to start the meal with our complimentary crusty bread and creamy soft butter.

We also shared a Caesar salad, beautiful crunchy greens with bright red sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh thinly shaved parmesan cheese, and a few salty anchovies on top.  If you like fish, and you like salt, you should totally give the anchovy a try.  It really adds a nice salty touch to your salad (or even a pizza).

Now I am not a huge fan of steak.  So at most steakhouses, I usually go for a seafood option (which I love a good crab cake).  However, I'm discovering more and more that its not so much that I don't like steak. Its that I don't like steak that has been cooked badly.  Growing up, the only steak I ever had was whatever the cheapest cut of meat was and it was cooked to death to the point where it took me an hour to chew and swallow just one bite.  There was also no flavor so it had to be slathered with an entire bottle of cheap steak sauce just to make it palatable enough to choke down...Ok I'm exaggerating a bit. But not much (sorry mom, love you)...

Last night as I was looking at the menu, I was leaning towards the usual crab cakes, which I'm sure would've been awesome, but I wanted to go for something different than I normally would've chosen.  Superking encouraged me, "when in Rome..." or the steakhouse...go for the steak.  This was the first time I have ever ordered a whole steak for myself at a restaurant!!

I went for the Petite Filet with the Blue Cheese Crust topping.  Now you must know that "these aren't your ordinary steaks", as Amanda Freitag from Food Network would say. All of Ruth's Chris steaks are cooked at 1800 degrees, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and topped with butter which melts and sizzles all the way from the kitchen to your table.  Very simple preparation which makes for the best steaks I have ever eaten. And this from someone who's not a steak fan.  

My steak was so tender  and juicy I probably could've cut it with my butter knife.  So full of savory meaty flavor! The butter added a sweetness to the meat and the generous topping of blue cheese that had been roasted on the steak added the perfect tanginess to it as well.  I love me some blue cheese! This blue was fairly mild which was nice so as not to take away from the flavor of the steak but to enhance it. And parts of the blue cheese were slightly browned and crusty adding a lovely textural element.  Superking also got a filet but instead of the petite, his was a regular size and though he didn't order the blue cheese on his, he promptly became jealous of mine and had to steal some of it to try!!

They serve the side dishes a la carte and family style so we ordered some potatoes to share.  When you look at the side dishes, they have three categories...salads, vegetables, and potatoes.  And you think, "potatoes have their own listing? How many different kinds of potatoes can you serve?"  On their menu, seven.  We chose the Lyonnaise potatoes.  They are sliced and pan-fried in butter with thinly sliced sauteed onions and other seasonings.  They were slightly crispy and salty and tasted sort of like french fries but way better!

We were so stuffed for dessert but since the restaurant knew it was our anniversary, they said a dessert would be on the house! So of course we HAD to pick something! We couldn't disappoint our wonderful waiter! :)  So we opted for the Chocolate Sin Cake.  Might as well go all out since its free, right?  This cake was so dark and dense, almost fudgey, it was easy to see why they called it Sin Cake.  It was packed full of dark chocolate and espresso flavor, topped with a shiny layer of chocolate ganache and surrounded by this beautiful deep red strawberry sauce and a fan-sliced fresh strawberry.  Absolutely gorgeous and decadent, to die for!

Thank goodness they're not too fancy to neglect offering doggie bags!! Food like that is way to good to let go to waste no matter how full you are! We've been here for past anniversaries and as the waiter wished us, "to at least a dozen more", hopefully we'll be back at Ruth's Chris before another twelve years has gone by.

Happy 12th anniversary, my Superking! I love you to the moon and back!