Asparagus Pasta

• 1 lb pasta
• 1 lb ground lamb or beef
• 1 lb asparagus
• 1 roasted red pepper
• 3 green garlic stalks
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt, pepper, fennel seeds, cinnamon

Roast a red pepper by baking at 350 for half an hour, or until skin begins to peel.  You can do this the day before, or do a couple and keep them in your fridge.  Cook ground lamb or beef in a cast iron pan.  Season with salt, pepper, crushed fennel seed and a little bit of cinnamon.  When it’s mostly done, add the asparagus and cook until bright green and still crunchy.  Cook the pasta.  Chop green garlic and roasted red pepper.  Drain pasta, put it back in the pot you cooked it in, and stir in the meat, asparagus, garlic, red pepper, and a handful of grated Parmesan.

Wow, has it really been since November that I’ve posted anything on Cast Iron Idaho?  I had somebody ask yesterday whether the blog was still alive so….

It turns out that being a mom, working full time, and building and moving into a house takes a toll on ones’ ability to blog.  We moved into the new house in early February, though a lot of small details are still unfinished, no decorating has been done, and I’ve yet to get it uncluttered enough for the indoor photos people have been asking for.  Our little guy turns one on Thursday, so hopefully before his birthday party next Saturday, we will achieve that level of photographable bliss in our home.  (Starts at 1 pm, if you’re local we’d love to see you!)

Oh yeah, and today is the first day I have internet working at the new place! 

Anyway, we’ve been thinking, of course, about how far we’ve come this year!  Last year at this time, we were still living in the old trailer, I was waddling around, waiting for the little bug to arrive.  I wish I had more photos of the trailer so that you could understand the contrast between that and our current beautiful abode.  I mean, mice lived in our walls.  All we have living with us now are one cat and 15 teenage chickens in the unfinished downstairs bathroom.

And of course, having the little guy has been life-changing.

What I do have are some photos of the old bathroom that we took while making a belly cast right before Rio arrived, and some photos of the new bathroom.

Then:

Now:

And finally,

How to make a Belly Cast.

Materials:

• Plaster strips, we got ours at Quality Art Inc. in Garden City.
• Scissors
• Water
• Belly Balm, vaseline, or something else for oiling the belly
• Bare belly
• A partner, two partners if you want to take photos.

Grease belly generously. Get a flat pan, fill with water.  Cut some strips into the size you want. The person being casted should hold very still while the other person applies several layers of strips to the belly.  As the plaster begins to dry, you really have to hold still, so taking these photos was kind of difficult.  Ladies, you will be amazed a the care and attention your partner may take at applying something smooth and wet to your bare, well, you see what’s going on here.  You’ll have to stand there till the plaster is mostly dry, and then pull the whole thing off!

You can also do this with a not-pregnant belly.  Casey O’Leary at Earthly Delights Farm actually did an exhibition of these one year – lots of women made them, decorated them, and displayed them in her garden.  Here’s one from that event in 2008.

I haven’t decorated mine yet and not totally sure what I’ll do with it.  Now it’s just a cool memento of how gigantic I was, and how much I enjoyed those days with Rio on the inside.

Also, not sure about doing this on a male belly.  Might be a little painful on a hairier belly, be sure to lubricate well!!!

– Katie

The smell of sawdust gives me a buzz, not unlike, one too many beers.  Cutting wood lets me relax and concentrate on the task in front of me, all other thoughts fall away like a useless scrap.  And at the end of a long day spent creating things with wood there is little else as satisfying as stepping back to see what I have built with my own hands. It took me years of hacking away at lumber to find this zen state of builders satisfaction. And like the happy drunk who thinks he can jump small mountains, after building one too many chicken coops I thought I could build a house.

If only it were that simple.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) in Garden City, ID, you can’t just walk out back and start digging a foundation for your future home. You must ask the city for permission. So I went in search of an architect who could help me jump this hurdle. Two years later here we are finally building our home. During this process I decided building the whole house by myself wasn’t going to work. We have patched together a team of professional tradespeople that I am very happy with starting with the artist and architect Byron Folwell of Studio Malestrom.

– Marty

After quite a bit of house shopping, we decided we’d rather build at our existing homestead in Garden City.  Turned out that other houses we could afford weren’t a block from the Boise River and Greenbelt, didn’t have as much land, and needed a lot of work anyway.  So, about the time we found out we were expecting Rio, we decided to take the plunge.   We then applied to two different banks and waited OVER A YEAR before finally securing a construction loan and breaking ground for our new home.

We are doing as much of the work ourselves as we are able and as makes sense to do with our skill set and timeline.  Marty and a few brave friends tore down the old trailer.  He also built the foundation with some assistance from a neighbor, and we’ll do a lot of the interior finish work once the framers, plumber, and electrician have finished their jobs.  If you happen to be looking for contractors, we  could provide you with a list of people we like and trust.

– Katie

So, here’s what Rio was for Halloween.  We inherited the monkey costume from his cousin. Found some Yellow Hats online for the Man and the Woman with the Yellow Hats, and dyed a pair of thrift store khakis yellow for Marty.  Halloween is such a blast again when you’re a mom.  There was a lot of eye rolling from Marty, but all three of us had a great time at the party we went to, Rio loved watching all the other kids.

Can hardly wait to come up with our costumes for next year!  Moms, whatever you do, don’t go to Pinterest and type “Baby Halloween Costumes.” 
–Katie

So, get out there and bring your stuff in!  If you have ripe tomatoes to can, check out the photos from our recent workshop with the Global Gardens’ ladies!  Tomatoes are one of the simplest items to can.  First sterilize your jars in a dishwasher or boiling water bath.   Fill each jar with  peeled tomatoes, squished in enough of their own juice to fill the jar, leaving about 1/2 inch head space, plus 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice and 1 teaspoon canning salt.  Soften the lids in hot water, screw them on the jars, and boil for 90 minutes in a boiling water bath.  No need to use a pressure canner for tomatoes!

We’d like to thank Ariel Agenbroad at Canyon County Extension, her volunteers with the Master Gardeners/Master Food Preservationists, and the Ahavath Beth Israel Synagogue for the use of their kitchen!

For more detailed canning info and all kinds of recipes, check The National Center for Home Food Preservation!

–Katie

Rio is about a month old in this photo. So tiny! So light!

I do want to finish the “Birth Art” series, though maybe now it should be labeled “Baby Art.”  Rio got so many cool creative gifts, and there’s so many fun things you can make to welcome a new little one.  I made this baby ring sling myself, and you can make one for the fraction of what one costs, and only about an hour of time, if you’re already a proficient sewer.  It’s a great baby shower gift.

We’ve done a lot of baby-wearing with Rio.  Right from the start, he loved being snuggled close to mommy, and mommy had to get some work done other than baby-snuggling.  Even now, if he’s fed and dry and still fussy, putting him in a front pack of some sort is almost always the answer.  We also wear him at the garden, which is quite a workout!  We have several different ones.  While I wouldn’t recommend a 10 mile hike in the ring sling, it’s great for around the house because it’s so easy on and easy off, and you can take it off and lay him down without waking him up, which isn’t so true of some of the more comfortable but more complicated carriers.

Now that he’s bigger, I’m in search of the perfect backpack, preferably one that’s easy for one person to put him into.  Suggestions?

I got the instructions for making this at the Maya Wrap website.  I don’t know why they give instructions on how to make their product at home, but they work pretty well.  There are also thorough instructions on there on how to wear your baby in the sling.

It’s best to order the rings online at slingrings.com.  I prefer the largest size.  You can also purchase something similar at horse supply stores, I think they use them as part of the bridle on horses, but they tend to be heavier.   It’s best to select a medium-weight woven fabric that looks the same on front and back, since you’ll be able to see both sides of the fabric.

Other variations I’ve seen are to add a pocket to the extra fabric in front, and to stuff a hem along the edge of the carrier to make a long narrow pillow to support baby’s head.
– Katie

Behold, dear readers, my first canning as a mom.  I’m super proud.  As you may have noticed, doing everything one-handed or during Rio’s naptimes has set me back a bit, and getting things done for my job and laundering diapers have been taking priority over blogging or interesting cooking.

Anyway, we recently came into a large quantity of blackberries, and now that Rio is such a big boy that he can sit in his Bumbo seat by himself and watch me cook and play with toys for a bit, I decided to try this jam.

The cool thing about this jam is it’s low sugar content, making it taste more like blackberries and less like, well, sugar.  I love making summertime jam, and my usual is the strawberry freezer jam that my mom always made when I was a kid.  The traditional recipe, though, uses as much sugar as fruit.  Last summer, I bought a packet of “low sugar” pectin (the product that gels your jam), and had a major freezer jam fail, ending up with a dozen or so jars of fairly useless peach syrup.  It just didn’t set up right.

Then last fall, we visited Upper Rogue Organics in Prospect, Oregon, and were treated to the best jam we’ve ever eaten, Strawberry-Raspberry, courtesy of Amy Navickas, the lady of the house.  Amy revealed the secret to perfect low-sugar jam, and I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing it here.  It’s this:

Pomona’s Universal Pectin.  I found it at the Boise Coop for $4 something.  The packet contains powdered pectin plus a second white powder that you mix with water to make “calcium water.”  Just follow the instructions on the packet.  I used 1 cup of sugar to four cups of fruit, though the included recipes give several options, including fruit-only and honey options.  Pectin gets mixed with the sugar, mysterious calcium water gets mixed with the fruit and boiled, then you put it all together and jar it and voila, perfectly gelled jam that is more fruit than sugar.  There are also freezer jam options, hoping to try one of those soon.  Maybe I’ll thaw my peach syrup and see if I can turn it into jam.
– Mama Katie
PS, here’s a picture of Rio, since you might be missing him.  He helped me with some pies we made the same weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day, everybody!  It’s my first one.  I thought you might enjoy these photos that we did just before and just after Rio was born.  I could have done a little better job making sure the lighting was the same for both sets, switching to black and white helped a little, but oh well, new mommyhood is too crazy for perfection!  Enjoy!

–Katie, Marty and Rio!

City Gardens’ CSA members got pea tops in their share this week.  We took ours to Lulu’s Pizza and had Owen make us a pizza.  You can, of course, make yourself a pea-top pizza at home.  Make your whole pizza with whatever other toppings you want to use.  Toss your pea tops in water, or balsamic vinegar like Owen used, and place them on your pizza when it’s almost done.  Put the pizza back in the oven just long enough to wilt them.  The same technique works great with arugula or basil.

Pea tops taste just like peas!  You can also eat them in salads or stir fries.  For gardeners, you can snip the tops of your peas once or twice before they begin flowering, and enjoy some delicious pea tops.

– Katie and Marty

City Gardens’ CSA started up last week, the first of May!  Good work, Farmer Marty, on getting the produce rolling so early!  He might be able to add a couple more members if you’re still interested, click on City Gardens CSA.

If you’re already a member, you might be wondering what to do with that gigantic head of Chinese cabbage.  Beautiful, but maybe not something you eat every day.  And maybe something you’ll get again this week!  There are lots!

I made this recipe with it.  Originally a Bok Choi recipe from my Thai cookbook, but it works with any kind of cabbage.  (You also got pak choi, but a smaller head.)

Pak Choi/Cabbage with Coconut Lime Dressing

• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 3 Fresh Red Chilies (or red pepper flakes to taste, about a tsp?)
• 6 spring onions
• 1 large or two small heads Pak Choi or Chinese Cabbage
• Chopped sweet red pepper (optional, I added it for color in the photo above)
• 2 Tbsp (or more) crushed peanuts.

Dressing:

• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce (maybe less if you don’t have a taste for it, it’s pretty strong.  Maybe add 1 Tbsp and taste.)
• 1 cup coconut milk.

Make the dressing by whisking the 3 dressing ingredients together.

Lightly stir-fry, chilies, garlic, onion, red pepper, and anything else you want to add, in the oil.  You can add the greens directly to this stir fry and saute them until wilted, or, steam them in a separate pot and then combine.  Add the dressing and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.  Serve hot or cold.

–  Katie