I love tomatoes. I love asparagus. I love sugar snap peas. I love capers. I love Sherry vinegar. I love this recipe ~ hope you love it too!

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Today we’ll use two more of the 10 “cheap super-foods” I introduced you to on Sunday; sweet potato and mango.  I’ll leave it up to you on how to use the remaining “every day” five; low-fat milk, eggs, oatmeal, black tea, and dried cranberries.  Although, tossing a few “craisins” on top of this salad, wouldn’t be such a bad idea.  And… you could pump it up a bit more by serving this color-packed salad on a bed of very thinly sliced fresh kale. That would give you four of the ten “supers” in your supper.

PLUS, Happy Birthday to my dear friend and mentor, Barbara Pool Fenzl! Can’t wait to celebrate a week from today. Until then, have a lovely birthday week. I love you and adore you! xoxo

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Today I am using 3 of the 10 inexpensive “superfoods” I told you about yesterday; pinto beans, kale, and salmon. Although I have to confess that I cheated a little bit and used fresh salmon (more expensive) rather than canned (inexpensive)… but only because I had it on hand and it would have gone bad otherwise, which just would have been stupid and wasteful.

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Fresh Fig Ice Cream

2 pounds fresh figs, ends trimmed and each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1/2 cup of water
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
Purchased caramel sauce, if desired

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While I may be on the road in a U-Haul, towing a VW beetle behind, I still want to share with you some more of the fig recipes I created to use up the harvest from my tree.  The figs for this recipe and another one coming up tomorrow were all that I had left after I fought off the birds to get the last few.  While I was out picking, there was this one little finch who was mighty angry that I was stealing his figs.  I’m serious, he was acting like he planted, waters, and pruned the darn tree… and I was stealing from him! The nerve!  OK, honestly I don’t prune the tree, my yard man, Tony, does.  But hey, I am the one who pays Tony, so take that you selfish (and pretty darn cute) little bird!

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bouquets garnis

A cassoulet, which originated in the south of France, is a hearty cold-weather meal filled with meats and baked in a thick stew of beans and vegetables.  So why am I making a cassoulet when it is 109 degrees outside?  Answer – because I’m crazy, that’s why! Actually, along with the craziness, there is a practical reason.  I had just less than a pound of leftover lamb cut from a shank that I used for THIS RECIPE.  And I know, without a doubt, that if I tucked it into the freezer and waited till fall to make the cassoulet, it would be lost forever in the depths of my freezer and eventually thrown away.

Cassoulets generally take between 6  – 8 hours to prepare… plus the overnight soaking of the beans.  I’ve pared this down to about 3 hours and with only 1 hour of bean soaking time.  For that reason I am calling this a quick cassoulet, although 3 + 1 hours isn’t exactly quick, I know!  Bookmark this for winter and you’ll enjoy having the kitchen all warm and aromatic for that length of time, I promise. This recipe can be easily doubled or even tripled to serve a crowd.

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Dave invited a colleague over for dinner one-night last week. The only inspiration I needed while deciding what to serve was the newfound knowledge that our guest was of Spanish ancestry. Perfect, I love Spanish cuisine!

For the “1 pound meaty lamb bones” needed in the sauce, I purchased a small lamb shank that was just under 2 pounds. I trimmed off the meat, which weighed in at 12 ounces, and was left with the perfect bones.  The bonus was the trimmed meat, which was later used for a little lamb cassoulet for 2.

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It’s been 5 weeks and 1 day since I put my 23-year-old daughter on a plane to San Francisco to begin a new job in a new city, without a place to live. What a wonderful and caring mother I am! She has been homeless ever since. OK, not living on the street-homeless, thank God! But sleeping on a friend’s couch for what will end up being 6-weeks-homeless. I also thank God for her very good and kind friend, Amanda, whose couch she sleeps on! xoxo Amanda, can’t wait to meet you.

And I will meet Amanda next weekend when Dave and I pull up in the rented U-Haul, pulling Marissa’s VW bug behind, to her new home. Marissa, Amanda, and a new friend, Jessica, found a place to live together. This was the plan all along; it’s just taken all this time to find the place and wait for it to be ready. Sleeping on a couch for 6 weeks, wasn’t part of the original plan, but I’m forever grateful that it was an option.

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Don’t you just love that song?  “It’s Raining Men! Hallelujah! – It’s Raining Men! Amen! I’m gonna go out to run and let myself get Absolutely soaking wet!…”  Good song! But unfortunately, it wasn’t raining men over here at my house, it was raining figs.  My tree produces at least twice a year and it’s impossible for me to use them all, so the local birds feast well at the Hopkins’ house.

Three disclaimers for this post:

#1 – I didn’t use pork tenderloin. In its place – was a pork rib roast I had in my freezer.  But I’ve written the recipe for tenderloin, so you use that, it’s quicker and easier than dealing with a rib roast. 

#2 – I only made half of the onion and fig mixture, since there are only two of us. 

#3 – Something is set wrong on my camera, so all the indoor pictures turned out with a nasty yellow hue. I tried to correct the problem in Photoshop, but the color isn’t quite right, sorry about that. You’ll just have to imagine better color.

The good news is that the birds and I ate well and enjoyed our figs.  If you live nearby, give me a shout, and you can have all the Kadota figs you want… before the birds eat them all.

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Flavored vodkas are easily found in every liquor store and are even easier to make at home.  All you need are fruits, herbs, and/or vegetables of your choice – plus some high-quality vodka… oh, and about 7 to 10 days (with the exception of the jalapeno vodka, which will be ready in 3 to 5 days).  I’ll be making four different flavors today and will follow up at the end of the month with a cocktail for each flavor.  So if you want to join me, run out and buy the ingredients today and we’ll toast each other in about a week!

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