Solstice Musings

I love winter solstice.  Some people might feel depressed or down in the middle of winter but solstice to me is about hope.  I feel energized and powerful on the shortest day of the year.  Why?  Because we have made it to the depths of winter and are about to emerge.  We are marching toward spring and rebirth.  We are strong and resourceful.  We have survived the worst of it and are now moving into the light and the warmth. I love the feeling of rebirth.  The slumbering earth is stirring - just a bit.

So on this solstice - think about your plans for the future.  Feel the energy of the earth as it begins to stir and breathe deep.  Feel the power that lives inside each of us.  Embrace the turn of the seasons and the milestones we meet along the way as we circle the sun one more time.

Blessed be.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup - with a kick

Tonight was one of those 'clean out the fridge' kind of dinners.  Sometimes they turn out awesome, sometimes not so much.  I think this one wasn't too bad.

I was home sick all day, it was cold and snowy pretty much all day long.  Soup was sounding really good but I didn't want to have to go to the grocery store.  I knew I had a head of cauliflower and a chicken breast that both needed to be cooked before they went bad.  And so a soup was born.  I think it tastes great - let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower

1 chicken breast

1 tablespoon chipotle

4 cups of chicken stock (or a carton of low sodium chicken broth)

1 onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

a dab of Mongolian fire oil *if you are heat sensitive you can leave this out*

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

pinch cayenne pepper

salt and fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon of corn starch for thickening

sour cream for garnish

Start by rubbing the chipotle all over the chicken breast and letting it marinate for a few hours.

When you are ready to make soup - preheat oven to 450.

Cut cauliflower into florets, place in large mixing bowl with a little bit of olive oil and some ground garlic (to taste).  Mix well so cauliflower is covered well.  Place into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.  You will need to stir every 10 minutes or so to keep from burning the bottom of the florets.

Meanwhile, cut up the chicken into 1" cubes.  Chop the onion.  Cook the chicken and the onion in olive oil until onion is tender.

While chicken is cooking, mix chicken stock and spices in a large pot and begin heating.  Place the cooked chicken and onion into the stock.

When the cauliflower has roasted and cooled, grind up about 2/3 of the florets in a food processor or blender.  Cut up remaining florets into bite sized pieces.  Place all the cauliflower into the broth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I used a lot of black pepper.

Heat until broth is hot.  Mix the corn starch in enough warm water to make a thin paste.  Add to the soup and allow it to thicken.

Serve with a dab of sour cream to make it good and creamy.  You can also add homemade croutons on top.

ENJOY!

Fall is in the air!

It's definitely feeling like fall here on the Palouse.  And that has me thinking about two things - fall crops and winter sowing.

When you live in a temperate climate as I do - you really have to make the most of the growing season.  To do that you can employ several different season extending methods.  Probably the easiest one is winter sowing.  Winter sowing is a technique that allows you to have sprouting seeds when the first spring warmth comes around.  One definite advantage of winter sowing is that seedlings produced this way tend to be hardier and more able to withstand transplanting into the garden than those that are germinated inside the house under lights.

It's a very easy process - this is a great link that outlines step by step how to winter sow plants for early germination. 

 http://www.bachmans.com/files/GardenGuide/WinterSowingGuide.pdf

The other thing I think about during this time of year - is fall crops.  With a simple cold frame, it is easy to have fresh greens for several months into the winter.  Garlic is another crop that needs to be planted in fall for bigger, healthier bulbs.  This year we are trying something a little bit new. 

We scored some big tractor tires from a local farmer and we are going to use those for our garlic and fall crops.  We just cut the tops out of the tires, filled them halfway with compost, finished filling with a good garden topsoil, and planted.  For the garlic tire, we will just leave it uncovered over the winter.  The fall crop tire will have a cold frame installed to help keep our lettuce, spinach, and kale happy at least for the next month or so.