When life gives you lemons...

..you can do so much more than make lemonade!

My mom, the wonderful chef that she is, introduced me to the brilliant idea of grilling lemons.  Tonight for dinner we enjoyed an organic & free range chicken with grilled veggies and our home-grown lemons.  The lemons were such a nice touch after having been grilled because they are SO MUCH juicier.  When you squeeze them over your food, they gush with zesty yuminess.  The lemon flavor also tends to be a little sweeter....Mmmmmm.

When prepping the lemons for the grill, you half them and cut off the 2 ends.  Grill them, cut sides down, until charred.  This usually takes about 1-2 minutes.  You may also garnish with herbs and/or garlic to give them a little extra pizazz.  Try this and I swear you'll love it!

Now that we are on the topic of lemons and how wonderful they are, I will share with you a couple of interesting facts.  The lemon is actually a hybrid fruit that is a cross between a lime and a citron (ancient fruit).  Lemons are an EXCELLENT source of vitamin C.  Some other nutrients they are also rich in are calcium, potassium, and vitamin A.  Lemons contain high amounts of flavonoids, which are the most common antioxidants found in fruits and are thought to have anti-cancer properties.  Flavonoids also block substances that can lead to heart disease.

Always choose lemons that are grown locally (if possible), with bright yellow rinds and smooth skin.  They will last at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, but will last the longest if kept in the fridge crisper, sometimes even up to 6 weeks!

If anyone ever needs/wants lemons, please come over and get them because we have way too many at our house.

Tea Time

When I lived in London for my study abroad experience, I became an avid tea drinker. The inspiration came from going to tea at the Kensington Palace gardens only one week into my stay. The experience made a big impression on me. How were there SO many different types of teas?? How could they flavor them so beautifully? How were their aromas so intoxicating? These questions led to some answers..

I've visited a few tea houses since my first tea time and have learned quite a bit of information. Teas are grown all throughout the world; the main growers being India, China, Kenya, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Turkey, and Bangladesh.  Tea originated in China about 5,000 years ago and made its way through northeast India to southwest China.  From here it was brought to Japan and then Russia was introduced to it in 1618.  Then it was introduced to England, where it became a sign of status and wealth.  Lastly, tea was brought to North America by the colonists.  Interestingly, iced tea was invented in North America and was first shown at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

The latin word for tea is camellia sinensis. We often think of "tea" in many different varieties including herbals such as peppermint of chamomile. However, true tea is made from the leaves, buds, and stems of the camellia sinensis plant.  So whether you prefer black, green, oolong, or white teas, they all come from the same plant.  The only difference between them is how they are processed.

• Green tea is made when the leaves from the camellia sinensis are dried right after harvesting.
• Black tea is made from leaves that are fermented right after harvesting
• Oolong tea leaves are fermented for a short time
• White tea laves do not undergo any oxidation and are shielded from the sun so as to not produce any chlorophyll.

Why do I love drinking tea so much?  It simply tastes delicious!  I love that subtleness of flavor, in addition to its many health benefits.  Most teas are a good source of flavenoids called catechins, which are very important antioxidants.  These antioxidants help prevent certain types of cancer such as oral, digestive, skin, ovarian, and lung.  The highest concentration of catechins are found in green teas, including EGCG and ECG.  These have the highest radical-scavenging activity.  Green & black teas are also superfoods, so that's always a plus!  (A superfood is a type of food that has high phytonutrient content that may confer health benefit.)

Caffeine is another aspect which I love about tea.  I love getting a little caffeine buzz on a daily basis, if not an hourly, haha.  Caffeine levels are usually higher in tea-bag form and range between 20-90 milligrams per 8-ounce cup.  This is not a lot compared to coffee's 60-120 milligrams.  The reason for this is because the finer grounds release more caffeine.

Now I realize that most of your are probably bored with my tea lesson...so down to the good stuff!  As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of (mostly eating) biscotti, and also making it.  The book that remains on my bedside table all the time, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life!, has delicious recipes using almost every food you can imagine.  In it, I found inspiration for a "Honey-Apricot Tea Bisocotti" recipe.

This recipe contains 5 superfoods
Yields 36 biscotti * Prep & baking time: 1 hr 20 min.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup light soy milk
4 tea bags of Honey & Lemon flavored black tea
1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp backing soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup whole almonds, lightly toasted
1/3 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots

Nutrition Fact Breakdown:
Calories: 80; Total Fat: 1g; Total carbs: 16g; Fiber: 1g; Sugar: 8g; Protein: 2g.

For complete directions, email me and I will be happy to send detailed steps of the biscotti making process.

Blueberry Meets Its Match: Lemon

Father's Day 2010

For Bobby's second favorite holiday, after Flag Day of course, our family decided to make him a blueberry pie.  I really should have been a better daughter and made it all by myself, but things just worked out so that my mother did 99.3% of it.  I picked out the blueberries at the Farmer's Market, so let's not forget about that.  It was a multi-step process in this artful production.

The blueberry pie was made with cornmeal crust.  This crust was surprisingly easy to roll out and work with.  You must do it between parchment so it will not stick.  By doing this, you will find a fairly malleable crust.

The filling was made by combining bluberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and a little bit of water; tossed lightly to blend.   This went in between the bottom layer of dough and the top layer, which was trimmed to 1 inch and then folded under to seal the filling.  From here, the edges were crimped decoratively.  In the picture above, we cut five 2-inch long slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape during baking.  While the pie was in the oven, we lightly brushed milk to the top crust to give it an extra golden glow.  After the pie was out of the oven, we let it cool completely on a rack before serving it for Bobby's Father's Day celebration.

The lemon cream is a glorious addition to the blueberry pie.  If you have leftovers, lemon cream also goes wonderfully as a spread on scones and toast.  I highly recommend this pie because it isn't overly sweet, and blueberries are it's main component

Health Note on Blueberries:
Blueberries belong to a group of flowering plants that are native to North America and eastern Asia.  The two major types available in the US are wild blueberries (lowbush) and cultivated blueberries (highbush).  Wild blueberries are one of just three berries native to North America; the others being cranberries and Concord grapes...interesting stuff...
Because wild blueberries contain less water and are smaller than highbush varieties, they tend to be more nutrient-dense when comparing equal volumes.  Fresh blueberries have an Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) value of 2400 per 100 grams.  Blueberries are rich in phytochemicals such as phenolic acid, a natural compound that may inhibit tumor growth.  Both fresh and frozen blueberries contain high amounts of anthocyanins but very little is found in dried forms.
There has also been evidence to suggest that blueberries help reduce morning sickness, coughs, and headaches.  The leaves were used to make tea and were thought to help purify the blood.  Several studies also show promising results for compounds in blueberries as effective inhibitors of cancers and protectors against cardiovascular disease.
Good things to keep in mind when eating this delicious dessert...

For the complete recipe for Bobby's Blueberry Pie please email me and I will be happy to send it your way!

It's a Christmas Party

Christmas Party? In June?  Yep, my family & godparents always have a ridiculously fun Christmas party.  This year we finally got around to celebrating it in June.  I know what you're thinking, "But that's almost 6 months after Christmas!"  Yes, true true; however it's really just an excuse to eat good food and drink delicious wine.

My family was assigned to bring appetizers and our choice of wine.  My mom and I (mom doing most of the work) prepared a lovely Antipasto platter for the party.  It included prosciutto & provolone wrapped asparagus, roasted bell peppers, grilled baby red artichokes marinated in spices, pepperoncinis, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, and of course fresh mozzarella.  It was both veggie & meat-lover friendly dish, which is always a plus in party situations.

Of course being my mom, she decided to go above and beyond her call of duty.  She made a wine bucket, from scratch I might add, in order to keep our Chard chilled.  Earlier that day she had gone all over town to find little Christmas trees and/or fat santas to put in the bucket mold; yet was unsuccessful as it is June.  Instead, we went more with a summer theme and got multi-colored (fake) fish & water plants.  You can see it in the midst of us all devouring the antipasti.

Getting on to the more important things, I brought a wine that I had been hoping to try for awhile.  The Coppola Claret was not only packaged in a way that made me already LOVE it, I had heard great things about it.  It is part of the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection.  The Coppola winery has made wines that celebrate Sonoma County from its beginning.  The term Claret was "originally coined by the British to describe Cabernet-based wines." This includes Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.  These 5 varietals blend together to create a deep, rich wine that offers wonderful aromas of wild berries, plum, and anise.  I have become especially knowledgeable of this particular wine because we sell it by the bottle at work.

For the main course, Jane & Howard prepared an ensemble of delicious Thai dishes.  The chicken was carefully marinated in a red curry paste for 30 minutes to give it an extra flare..then quickly transferred to a panang curry paste.  From here, Howard grilled it to perfect on their round red BBQ overlooking Santa Barbara. Along with the chicken, Jane prepared a flavorful green bean & Japanese eggplant dish, along with Thai noodles seasoned with fresh peanuts. Everything was stunning and prepared to perfection.  In other words, it was damn good!  I still regret not having a seconds and/or thirds.  I suppose at the time I was saving my room for dessert!  Which brings me to the piece de resistance...the Pavlova.

Served with fresh seasonal berries, the Pavlova (Meringue) was light yet decadent.  It was the perfect sweetness for the palate after a flavorful meal.  This of course, I did have seconds of.

If you would like recipes for any of these dishes/how to make your own wine cooler, you can email me at heathervanburen@gmail.com or just comment.

Pollock Party Treats

Here is Earthly Sustenance, a new blog all about Heather's life involving food, drink, and the dining experience.

I feel that it doesn't need much more of an introduction than this. It is what it is...and will evolve as time goes on. After all, everyone who reads this probably also has a minor obsession with food and wants to get on with it.

As HethonEarth has recently mentioned, I had the opportunity to attend the NIGHTS party at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art last week. The party was of course catered and offered delicious appetizers, bite-size entrees, and of course DESSERTS!

These little treats had a Jackson Pollock twist to them. Fresh fruit on a stick with splattered multi-colored chocolate. They were almost too pretty to eat. Though, I did had 5. Yummmm