It's been awhile...

Wow - the last time I updated this blog was almost three years ago! It's hard to believe how much has changed, and yet I'm still the same gastronerd :) In October 2013, I hadn't yet told most folks, but I was about 13 weeks along in my pregnancy with Julian. He's now nearly two-and-a-half(!) and the funniest, sweetest little person ever. I know I'm *beyond* biased, but I truly got a good egg.

Our dreams of a wildflower garden out front didn't materialize -- winter 2013 was so chilly that the newly-planted vines froze to death, and though some flowers from the seed mix came up in spring, so did TONS of weeds and invasives. There were so many non-flowers, we mowed the whole area and mulched it over to supress weeds... :(

If you look carefully you can see me pruning
the apple tree - a favorite spring ritual.

But out back, we've got a sweet little Gravenstein apple tree and some tomatoes growing. And now that I have time, I've been doing a bunch of fun food projects at home (scroll to the bottom for recipes).

Almost ripe enough to pick!

Getting there..

On top of cooking lots of daily meals for the fam, over the past few weeks I've made a bunch of summer-inspired treats: orange blossom tapioca pudding, lavender simple syrup, and some *amazing* strawberry sauce. The sauce was so good, I went back to the market yesterday for a whole flat of strawberries, and tonight I'm making sauce with all of them!

Strawberry sauce is different from jam because there's much less sugar in it. I'm also using corn starch as a thickener, rather than pectin, for a saucy consistency. This sauce has an incredibly pure, concentrated strawberry flavor - it's the essence of that fresh strawberry scent - brought out by the lemon juice and touch of salt.

Jam has more sugar, which makes it more shelf stable, but I prefer to use as little sugar as possible, for flavor and health. If this sauce had double the sugar, we could pressure can it to keep for many months; instead, I'll store finished jars in the fridge. Since it's boiled, stored in sterilized jars and refrigerated, the sauce will still keep for quite awhile, preserving that concentrated summery strawberry-ness for months after the season has ended!

Oh. Yes.

Both recipes below scale really well. I tripled the lavender syrup, and am about to make ~4x the amount of sauce as well.

Lavender Simple Syrup

makes ~2 cups of syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp dried lavender flowers

In a heavy saucepan, heat water and sugar on medium until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil. Add lavender flowers, turn heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Transfer to a glass container and store in the refrigerator - should keep indefinitely.

The Best Ever Strawberry Sauce

makes ~1 pint of sauce

3 cups chopped fresh strawberries (~3 big pints)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp lemon juice
tiny pinch of salt

In a heavy saucepan, heat strawberries and lemon juice on medium, stirring continuously. The strawberries will release a lot of liquid. When they begin to bubble, add the sugar, salt and lemon juice; stir to mix completely and turn the heat to medium low. Using a measuring cup or ladle, scoop out about 1/2 a cup of the liquid and set it aside.

Let the mixture continue to cook at a low boil until the strawberries and liquid are both a vivid red color and the liquid has evaporated down to about half its original volume, stirring and mixing as needed (it'll depend on the kind of pot you use). Whisk the corn starch into the liquid you set aside, then pour that into the pot and bring the heat back up to medium. Stir until the cornstarch has fully dissolved and the mixture has thickened.

I keep mine chunky, but if you prefer coulis-style sauce, blend with immersion blender or purée in food processor before transferring. Transfer to jars to cool. Store in refrigerator; should keep 3+ months.