Tried and True- Warm Potato Salad

There is a restaurant out here called Earls and they have a warm potato salad as one of their side dishes. I've always liked it so I decided to try making it myself.

My mother in law said it's technically a German potato salad. I don't care where it came from. It's just good.

I love the colours of the roasted potatoes and corn

Just googling 'Earls warm potato salad' brought up lots of different options but I finally settled on this one: Playing With My Food- Warm Potato Salad

Some notes:

-I minced the garlic and tossed it in with the potatoes before baking

-I used fresh, uncooked corn and I can't imagine it with frozen corn

We had this with smokies but I barely touched my smokie and just chowed on the salad.

Try it this summer! It's amazing!

Jamming

My son was born in February 2013 and by the time June came around I was knee deep in home projects. One of the things I kept thinking about was making strawberry jam.

We lived in an apartment at that time and by the back entrance were two bookshelves for people to leave and take books. I was glancing through one day and came across this book:

It just goes to show how God takes care of us and encourages us in good things.

I grabbed the book and saw it had extensive instructions on the canning process and (among others) a recipe for old fashion strawberry jam.

I bought a canning kit, local organic strawberries and got to work.

That summer I made nectarine preserves, grape jelly, and lots of strawberry jam. It was lots of fun and it was all delightful.

Although I have 10 or so strawberry plants, they were just planted early in May and will not produce nearly enough strawberries for me to make into jam. Last week I managed to get lots of strawberries at the store for a good price so I was finally able to do some canning.

I had enough for jam (4cups) and for my son to feast on some.

I don't have a round cake rack so I use lids to keep my jars off the bottom of my pot.

Boiling the strawberries to make them 'jam'.

The finished product!

If you happen to see that book somewhere I definitely recommend it! This year I'm hoping to make raspberry jam, zucchini relish, and can whole tomatoes.

I saw this quote that said 'chop your own wood and it will warm you twice'. I know that's true from experience because we kept a fire going in our stove downstairs through the winter. I think it applies neatly here too.
Things like canning, making your own bread, making your own pasta give you a satisfaction you can't get any other way. It goes beyond knowing what is actually in your food. The taste is different, brighter, and better.
Give it a try, if you have the chance. It's a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Propagating

This is one of my happy spots: where I keep my roses. All of them have been propagated.

Roses are my favourite flower and in the city I live in I get to see them everywhere.

A few years ago I was attending a church that met in a hotel and every summer there was a gorgeous bush of mini white roses. We moved away and had to leave the church but before we left, I made clipped a small branch off and attempted propagating it.

Fast forward to now and I have four flourishing rose plants grown from clippings.

Little whites

I just love this colour

Mini pinks

The one plant not pictured is rose which I remember being very beautiful but its still very small and just beginning to become bushy. It may or may not bloom this year.

With all the roses that I see everywhere I go I can't help but propagate more. I'm hoping to have a rose garden one day.

The following is the propagation method I started using after reading a few articles about it.

You will need:

Rose stems with leaves

Sharp clippers

Pot

Clean jar big enough to cover the rose stem and leaves

Dirt

1- Prep the pot by putting dirt in and watering the dirt

2- Clip your rose stem so that you have leaves to soak in the sunlight (photosynthesis and all that)

3- Wound the bottom tip of your stem by scraping off the first layer of green (like my technical knowledge? Ha!)- I read somewhere that this helps stimulate root growth, 

4- Place stem in dirt deep enough for it to stand and, if your dirt is dry, water it

5- Put jar over stem and leaves

6- Place in a spot that gets good morning light but is shaded from the blazing afternoon sun. 

The ones I just propagated are on the middle level. I keep them close to my kitchen so I can watch them closely.

7- Keep an eye on it, water when the soil is dry: don't lift the jar, just water around the jar and tilt pot so that water goes under

I've noticed in the summer that new growth occurs really quickly and you'll see new buds growing out of the stem in a four to six weeks. In the winter it's taken longer- like six months or so. Just be patient and as long as the stem is green, you've got hope.

This is a clipping I propagated about a month ago. If you look closely you can see new buds forming just under the leaves. Also notice that leaves that fall off and die don't indicate the propagation hasn't worked.

Give it a try!

Patates Aujourd'hui

This meal is the definition of staple at our house. We always have all the ingredients (unless we're way overdue grocery shopping) and it is our go to meal whenever we just need something filling and comforting.

It all started at the beginning of our marriage when we would wake up on Saturday mornings fully intending to indulge in all the goodness of a hearty breakfast. My husband just started frying up potatoes, eventually onions were added and the rest is history. Its the meal we made when we got home from the hospital with our son, we make it when we get home from a long trip, and whenever we don't know what to eat.

My husband said that technically fried potatoes and onions are called 'Lyonnaise' but I call them 'Patates Aujourd'hui' (Today Potatoes) because I think it's funny and aptly descriptive.

So that is what it is. We have this for breakfast or dinner. It is the perfect 'breakfast for dinner' because it's filling, satisfying and easy. It also makes a good side dish for hamburgers, hot dogs, steak and what not.

Patates Aujourd'hui:

Ingredients:

3-4 big potatoes (we usually have either russets or yellow in the house and they both taste equally good)

Half a white onion sliced

2 tablespoons of oil (we use bacon fat)

Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment:

Mandolin

Not strictly necessary but it helps your potatoes cook evenly

Method:

1-Heat oil over medium heat while you prepare the potatoes and onions. Make sure your pan is nice and hot before you place any potatoes in it

2-Cut the potatoes- no need to peel- and put them in the pan

3-Spread onions over potatoes along with salt and pepper

4- Leave and let fry- leave it be for a few minutes then flip, spread evenly in the pan, let fry a few minutes, keep doing this until they're done. You want to give the potatoes time to develop crispiness and cook thoroughly.

6- It's done when you can easily slice through the potatoes with a fork

At this point I dump the potatoes on a plate and put in the microwave to keep warm (I don't microwave them). 

In the same pan I cooked the potatoes in I fry bacon, then eggs, and breakfast (or dinner) is done! 

The trifecta

I like mine with ketchup and siriacha, my husband likes it with ketchup and vinegar. It's just a good hearty, satisfying meal!