The Best Cookies Ever (seriously): White Chocolate Toffee Macadamia Nut Cookies

I saw this recipe a little while ago, and have been dying to make these cookies ever since. I finally had a chance go get the ingredients and WOW they are amazing. 

As soon as I made them, Robert ate seven and then told me he felt really sick, but knew it was his fault :). When I asked Elisheva if she'd had one a bit later, she said, "No, I've had four!" These cookies really are winners. 

Tomato Pie and Farm Walk-About

I love tomatoes! I didn't use to, but last year I decided I needed to, and now I think they're so delicious. A few are starting to turn, but it's really taking a while. Anna and I spoke to a woman at the pet store who said that everyone she's spoken to is having the same problem, that their tomatoes aren't ripening. However, we managed to harvest a quite a bit over a few days and I could finally bake tomato pie!

Peach Pie mmmm

Robert brought home a big bag of peaches from his daughter's landlady. They were a little bruised and not so pretty, and I was inspired to make peach pie. I am really glad I did; this pie is so delicious.

More Zucchini = Chocolate Zucchini Bread

The zucchini plants are still pumping out a ton of zucchini. The day before I made these, I made the zucchini bread I made last week, but there is really a lot and I promised Anna I would make more chocolate zucchini bread. I made these yesterday, about 24 in total, and today there are probably 6 left.

Muj delicioso. And I ate three today.

Silly Fun Times

A couple days ago, I bought a pack of moustache stickers, and told Mikey we would put them on and we could do more silly pictures like last time, when we took pictures with tomatoes in our mouths. We finally had a chance, and I must say, they are excellent.

Farm Walk-About: Squash Edition

The melons are getting so big! I over-zealously picked one despite Rigo telling me it wasn't ready, because I really wanted watermelon. Of course it wasn't ready, but it still tasted crunchy and fresh.

Farm Walk-About (and other things)

This morning was bright and wonderful, and I went to harvest all the things I could find. 

There is so much green in the garden! Thankfully, there is also the red, purple and yellow of ripened vegetables.

Zucchini Bread

We have SO MUCH zucchini! There are also some really big ones, so the best thing to do (obviously), is to make zucchini bread. I first made this last week, and it literally disappeared overnight. Last week, we had run out of cinnamon so I decided to sub in cloves and ground cardamom, as well as a little allspice.

Well. I think I really hit on something, it's crazy delicious, and doesn't taste like the usual zucchini bread. I also decreased the sugar from the original recipe, and I think it's plenty sweet. I would like to sub applesauce for half the oil, but we didn't have any so maybe next time.

Ginger Cookies

The other day, I got Anna and Rigo to take me to the mall, because as I told Rigo, it's my natural habitat and I could die if I'm away for too long. In return for the suffering of wandering the mall with me, I told him I would make him ginger cookies, which I had made last week and he absolutely loved. When I made them last week, I made them into ice cream sandwiches with vanilla ice cream. They were absolutely fabulous.

Evening Bounty Makes a Delicious Lunch

It's been really hot here, as usual. On Wednesday I did a mini-harvest, including a big bag of basil, green beans, zucchini, some cherry tomatoes, and snap peas. Oh, and a cucumber and eggplant. Of course me and Mikey had a silly time taking pictures, as usual.

I Really, Really Hate Bugs

I really, really hate bugs. Why do I hate bugs? Because they're gross, and crunchy, or slimy, and crawl away really fast...

Rainy Days Call For Chocolate Chip Cookies

The day didn't start off as rainy, in fact it started very hot. I think by the time it was 8am it was already up to the high twenties. I got busy killing squash bug eggs, but it was hot and boring so me and Mikey decided to have some fun and take some pictures.

Then I realized I could put the camera on a timer and take picture of both of us!

Beautiful Vegetables Make Beautiful Food

For shabbat Elisheva and I cooked dinner from vegetables in the garden. We made roasted carrots, roasted zucchini, and stuffed chard. The stuffed chard was all Elisheva, and it was something I would never even think to make, but was so incredibly delicious. She stuffed the chard with quinoa, chickpeas, ground beef (Fiji was his name), and spices. The rolls were put in a pan, chicken stock was poured over it, and then it was baked. Near the end she added avgolemono, a Greek egg-lemon sauce. It was outstanding and creative.

While prepping the carrots, I noticed how they were so incredibly beautiful and had to take pictures:

Shechita

I haven't yet written about shechita, but I have been meaning to. I finally had my camera ready for the latest one, and so I took a bunch of pictures. Only click to see further if you think you can handle it, some of the pictures are a little gruesome.

Marinated Garlic Three Ways

A couple weeks ago we harvested the garlic, but a lot of the stems were too dry and broke off. I don't think you can cure garlic for storage properly without the stems, so I decided we would peel them and use the cloves fresh. The best way to keep them is to put them in oil or marinate them so they don't dry out or get mouldy. I decided to marinate three different ways and see how each would come out.

Farm Walk-About

Dinner Last Night: Spicy Lentil Burritos

(this is actually from a couple weeks ago but still delicious!)

Farm Walk-About

Farm Walk-About: Can't Beat The Heat

It's still so hot here, and new vegetables are coming up! We now have zucchini growing, which will soon be growing like mad, eggplants, green beans, onions, basil, chard, etc. Delicious!

Onion Flower

The Farm!

This is Millie

It took a while to write this post but here it is! It's been pretty hectic but now it's slowing down as everything is planted and taken care of, and all that's left is to do some weeding and let everything grow. Since I arrived here, I have helped slaughter two sheep, built barn doors, done a crazy amount of weeding, and planted so many things. It is so very hot here, getting up to almost 40 C everyday (100F right now) and it makes it impossible to work during the day.

There is a herd of about 100 sheep, and they are really cute and also very loud. Above is Mille. She is the only friendly sheep who hangs around because she was bottle-fed (her mother died) so she is comfortable around people. Millie is just like a puppy and so so cute, and I know I would never be able to slaughter her or eat her.

There are also puppies on the farm:

I would tell you who these puppies are, but they don't have names

This is Tiny, the momma

 The farm itself is gorgeous, but a a very different landscape than I am used to.

Dinner Last Night: Deconstructed Hummus Chickpea Salad with Vegan Sausage

I saw this recipe about a week ago that I wanted to try, and last night I finally had the chance as well as all the ingredients. I'm always looking for a good chickpea salad, and I think this one is really awesome, and it doesn't require any weird ingredients. I also had leftover vegan sausages that I made from the ppk a while back and froze. I sliced them up and fried them, and they went really well with the chickpea salad.

Sugar Cookies

I was reminiscing the other day about sugar cookies that I had made in the winter that were so delicious and I had a lot of fun decorating:

Granola Bars

I have been making this recipe for almost 4 years, and it's awesome. I originally got it from a recipe by Ellie Krieger in Fine Cooking, but have modified the ingredients and method quite a bit to suit my wants.

I LOVE this recipe because there is no sugar or oil, just deliciousness to keep you full and happy. I tend to make a double batch, cut them up, wrap it in foil/plastic, and throw a bag of them in the fridge. These keep really well and are so handy to have for snacks or breakfast.