'70's Cookbooks Rule

A few years ago, I totally gave 70's/80's cookbooks the cold shoulder.

They aren't as flashy...they don't boast celeb chefs "As seen on the Food Network"...and they aren't usually peppered with gorgeous glossy photos.

What they do have - accessible, interesting, healthy and frugal recipes.

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1. Moosewood Cookbooks: I love Mollie Katzen and have made tons and tons of Moosewood recipes.
I love how Mollie hand wrote the recipes in this cookbook and drew great illustrations to go with.

2. Found this one today, The Art of Cooking for Two. The book guides small families on how to use really natural ingredients, spend less, eat better and waste less food.

A lot of the recipes are easily double-able for our family and some are even written for 4 servings so a 2 person family could freeze the leftovers.

Looking at this book to pick some goodies out with my Gramma tonight, she has recently begun the hard task of cooking for one.

Amazing cookbook. I want to make everything in it.

Some that I want to try:

• Zucchini Spaghetti
• Baked Broccoli Egg Supper
• Christmas Roast Chicken
• Curried Lamb Spare Ribs
• Whole Wheat Biscuits
• Baked Honey Custard
• Herb Salt
• Curry Mix
• Once-a-week Jam
• Fruit Chutney

3. Alice Waters is amazing at simple, basic cooking. I love the fresh combos of flavours and creative ways to eat from the garden.

Of course, a cookbook devoted to pizza, pasta and calzones is right up our alley.

• Spring Pasta: Pasta with peas, spinach and prosciutto. Asparagus and artichoke pasta.
• Summer Pasta: Pesto and New Potato. Pasta with Cherry tomato vinaigrette.
• Pizza: Shrimp, Green onion, Tomato. Hot Peppers, Coriander, and sausage.

Bring on the garden cooking.

Garden Greens and Beans

Our chard crop has popped up and is flourishing. This is my favourite way to eat it. Mr. Jibs cannot decide if he like the beans or the greens better.

Wilted greens with Poached eggs

1 bunch Swiss Chard

5 cloves of garlic,thinly sliced

2 shallots, thinly sliced

olive oil
salt & pepper
red pepper flakes (to taste)
6 sprigs thyme, chopped
1 can white beans beans, rinsed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbs vinegar (i use apple cider)
4 eggs

Warm olive oil in a pan. Add garlic, shallot, thyme and red pepper flakes. Once they are fragrant (about 1 min) add your greens and saute until wilted. Add beans. Add chicken broth and apple cider vinegar.

Simmer for about 4 minutes...until all the flavors meld.

Poach eggs.

Serve with eggs on top.

A few new things

~My first zucchini was harvested today...so beautiful.

~Clara and I were feeling adventurous today so we decided to try something new- Hand kneaded, rolled and cut pasta from the River Cottage Family cookbook. We plan on eating it with a certain roasted zucchini and this sauce. This recipe for pasta gives a really nice pictured tutorial with an identical recipe to ours.

~Sunday Suppers has a great recipe for an Herbed Flatbread...we made that too.

Clara made this bread almost entirely by herself. I read the recipe to her and got out the ingredients and she went to it kneading and rolling, forming and topping. She proudly served her daddy and baby brother the bread she made herself.
Clara rolling out the dough for the flat bread.
Loving the zucchini.

Rows of beautiful pasta.

Eating my garden

Clara-Very proud of the garden she helped plant.
Lettuce and peas.

Notice the nasturtium atop my salad...this is pure Jimmy. He got us into eating them.
Little Jibs loved this dinner and eagerly at two bowls full.

I cannot really express how excited I was the first time I harvested vegetables. My friend Shannon's Grandpa has a beautiful garden and let me fill up bags and bags of peas and cucumber and potatoes and peppers. Let me tell you, digging up potatoes is so thrilling to me that I kept saying to Jim, "Can you believe this, this is amazing!" So at the nearest opportunity Jimmy put in a garden for me so I could frolic around our yard picking vegetables while chanting, "Can you believe this?" It doesn't take much to excite me but, come on, this is exciting stuff. I ate a pea today straight off the vine and a salad whose leaves and petals were picked mere moments before being tossed with lemon juice and consumed. Ahhhh the summer harvest, such a thrill.
We had our first meal on the patio tonight of Sole Dijon and Summer Salad. It was wonderful.
This recipe is so easy and quick. Clara made the sauce independently while I chopped the veg and assembled. done.

Sole Dijon

4 Yukon Gold Potato sliced 1/4inch thick

1 Onion sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 green or red pepper sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4C butter -diced

salt

pepper

1C mayo

2T Lemon juice

2T Dijon Mustard

2lbs Sole fillets

Preheat oven to 400*. Line a 9x13 dish with parchment paper. Layer potatoes over the bottom, peppers next and top with onion. Dot the top with diced butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 30 mins uncovered in the centre of the oven.

In a small bowl stir together mayo, lemon juice and dijon.

Add sole fillets to the top of the par-cooked vegetables, pour sauce over fish and bake for 15 mins more.