Mud House Year

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today I began this blog to chronicle the adventures of living in a little mud house.  I wanted to create a memoir of life in the Sonoran Desert, a part of the world I always considered my home. Although we signed a lease for only a year, I hoped we would live in the mud house much longer. But, as it often does, life had other plans.  It's a bit of a challenge transitioning from a place so ingrained in my soul to a place so new and different, but it's also a wonderful, unexpected opportunity.  I don't know what this year will bring or even where I will be a year from now, but for now, in this place, I will find joy in the little things and I will continue to share my memories here.

Many thanks to my family and friends for sharing this eventful year with me!

Happy 30th Sweet Amanda

 

                                                                       

We love you!

The Essence of Being Here

A few people have asked if we are happy with our decision to move to Pasadena. Now that we are settled in our new home, we are giving that question some thought.  It is an unusual thing, at our ages, to just pick up and move to another state.  It's also an enormous amount of work - finding the right place, deciding what to bring, what to store, packing, and moving.

In making such a big decision, there are so many reasons for and against, why and why not.  Everything from economic to medical to distance to doggies was discussed and considered, ruled in and ruled out.   
One thing we knew for sure was that Allen would need a home office.  That seems to be working out OK.It is hard to find the right words to describe how we feel about this big change in our lives but what comes to mind are feelings of "serenity," "peace," "joy," and "calm." 

In the final analysis, there was only one overwhelming deciding factor.In the end, we followed our hearts and landed exactly where we should be.

Purple Sweet Potato Lasagne

So, by now I imagine many of you have heard of the paleo, primal or ancestral approaches to eating and lifestyle.  It's something that Allen and I have been easing into for awhile.  It probably started with my awareness that gluten caused me to have some weird symptoms including tummy aches and rashes. Once I eliminated the gluten I felt better.  From there, the more I learned, the more the ancestral approach to eating just made sense to me.  There is tons of good information out there and I will include some links at the end of this post.  

Anyway, when I say "easing" into it, I mean we don't do it all the time.  However, every time I slip back into, "Oh, just one bean burrito and a cupcake won't hurt anything," I start to feel crummy again.  The first thing I usually notice is BIG stomach bloat.  If I continue eating grains, beans, and sugar, my stomach hurts all the time.  My joints ache, I have very low energy, and I even experience depression.  

So Allen and I have made a commitment to follow an ancestral approach to eating as strictly as possible for one month.   That IS NOT what this blog is about but I will share some recipes from time to time.   

Purple Sweet Potato Lasagna!  (Recipe adapted from Pinterest.)Any sweet potato will do.  One of the advantages to living where we do, now, is the abundance of wonderful produce.  I found a purple sweet potato!

 Preheat oven to 350F

For the parsnip layer:
1 large parsnip peeled & cubed
1-2 tbsp coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano 
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 - 1/2 cup cream or whole milk
Pinch of sea salt and pepper 
Dash of paprika

For the meat layer:
1lb 100% grass fed beef
1 jar of you favorite pasta sauce. One with no added sugar or other unnecessary stuff. I like Rao.  Or, of course, you can make your own.  

For the vegetable layers:
1 large sweet potatoes, sliced 1/4” thick.  
1 summer squash or zucchini, sliced 1/4" lengthwise

Shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
coconut or olive oil for brushing
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper for sprinkling 

Here's What You Will Do:
Bring parsnips to a boil and then simmer until soft & ready to mash – approx. 30 minutes

Heat the coconut/olive oil & sauté the garlic over medium-low heat. Add the oregano and continue to saute until fragrant.  Do not burn the garlic.Drain the parsnips and add to the garlic.Add the cheese, cream or milk, salt, pepper, and paprika and mash or use an immersion blender to puree.

Set aside the parsnip mixture while you prepare  the other ingredients.

Brown the ground beef & drain excess fat. Add enough pasta sauce to make a thick sauce but not too runny and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Pour a thin layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of an 8x8  glass baking dish.Place a thick, overlapping layer of the sweet potato slices on on top of the sauce.  Brush sweet potato slices with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Add another layer of meat.

Sprinkle meat sauce lightly with mozzarella cheese, if using.Brush both sides of squash lightly with oil and arrange over meat sauce.  Sprinkle squash with salt and pepper.

Layer parsnips  on top of squash, sprinkle with a little more mozzarella if using.

Sprinkle a little paprika over the top for color!

Bake about 45 minutes until bubbly. 

This was really delicious.  I love the way the sweet potato changed colors throughout the process. Once it was cooked, it was a deep, dark purple - about the color of red wine.

Enjoy!

This one gets 5 Prickly Pear Margaritas!

    

If you would like to know about the ancestral approach, here are a couple of links.  These are the two we find most helpful.

Perfect Health Diet

Mark's Daily Apple

 

She Sells Seashells

When we lived in New England, we ate shellfish on a regular basis.  Some of my favorite things in the world are raw oysters and steamed clams.   Last summer we returned to our old stomping grounds to attend our sweet friend's, Lauren's, wedding on Cape Cod.  While there, we had some of the best Wellfleet oysters, steamed clams, and lobsters at Moby Dick's in Wellfleet.  If you are ever on the Cape, be sure to stop in.  Moby Dick's looks a little like a roadside tourist trap, but it has seriously good shellfish.

Living in the desert there were a few things we didn't do.  We didn't go rattlesnake hunting, we didn't hike in the blazing sun in the middle of July, and we never, ever ate shellfish.  Especially raw shellfish. Just too, too far from the ocean and too darned hot.  However, Pasadena is only 25 miles from the ocean - close enough for steamers, for sure!

Steamed Clams in White Wine, Garlic Butter, and Thyme

Here's What You Need:
3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine 
2 pounds of clams (we used littlenecks), rinsed and cleaned
Small bunch of fresh thyme
4 fresh lemon wedges

Here is What to do:
Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant but not burned. Add wine and increase heat to medium-high until wine is brought to a simmering boil. Add clams and thyme.
Cooked covered for 5-10 minutes (depending on size of clams), check and stir occasionally, until clams have opened.  Add lemon wedges just before serving.  Discard any clams that don't open.Transfer clams and broth to a large serving bowl.

Serve with something to dip in the garlicy, buttery broth. We made gluten-free popovers!  Yummy!

This recipe is so easy.  Try to find a source for clams that are already soaked and cleaned, if you can.  If not, you will need to put them through several "baths" of fresh water until they release all their sand.  

Enjoy!

The Summer Books I Loved

                                                             
So, with the first of September, summer officially ended.   Ok, so not "officially."  The actual fall equinox isn't until September 22 at 4:44 pm but, really, we all know summer officially ended that very first day of September.   It does every year.    My summer was busy with figuring out where to live, packing, and moving, but I did find time to read some wonderful books.  I'm sharing three of my favorites.   I won't bore you with summaries.  You can go to Amazon for that.  But I will say all three of these books were unique and unbelievably good.
                                                       
Two of the authors were new to me and then there was one by Stephen King.  I loved that the King book was not published electronically, only in paperback.   He wanted this book to feel like the summer thrillers he read as a youngster.  Joyland is a nostalgic recreation of pulp novels that came only in paperback and were true page-turners.  I personally think this is my favorite King book since The Shining.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Summer is over but all three of these books are seasonless.  They are very different reads from different genres.  I'm including links to Amazon in case you would like to learn more about these truly wonderful books.

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Joyland

 

Oh Joy! Baking Again!

So I've been doing  lot of thinking about a lot of things.   Joy is important.  Fun is important.  Baking is important.  My life has been missing all of these things lately, so I decided to turn to one of my favorite bloggers, Joy the Baker, for some inspiration.

I adapted her recipe for Vanilla Almond Orange Cloud Cookies.  Well actually, I followed her recipe exactly, right down to the last sprinkle of powdered sugar.   And then, like lightening striking from a vanilla cloud, I suddenly remembered the Hershey's Kisses nestled away in the cupboard.  That's the very moment the adaption occurred.  The last two cookies got kisses instead of pokes making them all the more joyful, in my opinion.Here is what you will need:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoon orange zest

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

10 ounces almond paste

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

powdered sugar

Hershey's Kisses

Here is what you will do:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  

Zest an orange.  I've been using this new KitchenAid medium grater and actually like it much better than my zester.  In a small bowl,  combine the orange zest, scraped vanilla seeds, and sugar.  If you look closely you can see the little dark specks of vanilla.  Use your fingers to works the zest and vanilla into the sugar, creating a fragrant, moist sugar.Place sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and add the almond paste and salt.  Beat on medium speed creating a crumbly sugar and almond mixture.

While almond mixture is combining in the mixer, place two egg whites in a small bowl.  Whisk  with a fork until loose and frothy.  This will help in pouring the egg whites into the mixer.  If the eggs are unbeaten, they’ll just plop into the mixing bowl and not pour in.

With the mixer on medium speed, gradually pour the egg whites in to the crumbly almond and sugar mixture.  Beat until a smooth paste is formed.  Add the almond extract and beat to combine.Spoon by the heaping tablespoonful and roll into little balls.  If your hands get sticky, rinse them with water.  Place onto the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.  Using fingertips, poke three holes into each cookie.OR...(Now pay attention.  This is where I got really creative.) Refrigerate the little balls of dough for about 10  minutes then press a Hershey's Kiss into each one.

Bake cookies for 18- 20  minutes or until cookies are lightly browned on top.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan.  Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.So, pokes or kisses?  You decide.  They are delicious either way. 

 

A Rose is a Rose

Ok, so apparently, the Bowl and Parade aside, Pasadena is not the official "Rose City."  The official title of "The City of Roses"  goes to Portland, Oregon where conditions are supposedly perfect for growing them.  However, Pasadena is unofficially known as Rose City and after a week of living here, I know why.  They are everywhere and appear to thrive in this climate.   I feel very fortunate that I was able to bring three of my old potted roses with me from the Mud House.  I wasn't sure I would be able to bring them, as California has very strict regulations regarding bringing plants and plant products across the border.  I contacted the California Department of Food and Agriculture and had several email exchanges with a plant quarantine inspector named Louis.  It seems that  you can bring roses to California from Arizona if they are grown in commercial potting soil, indoors, and if the inspector at the border determines they do not have root rot.   We packed the three old potted roses at the back of the U-Haul, sadly prepared to give them up if they did not pass inspection.  Armed with Louis' emails, we rolled to a stop at the border and unrolled the window. The only question the inspector asked was where we were coming from.  That's it.  No questions about plants, rotting or otherwise.  So we high-fived, on we went, and now my roses are at home on my second story tree house deck in the unofficial city of roses. I'll take pictures as they continue to recover from the intense dry heat of the Mud House summer and begin to thrive in their new home.

Goodbye Little Mud House

This was the last thing I wrote at the Mud House this past spring before the extreme heat set in.  I never posted it at the time but I've decided to share it as a goodbye, and to remember just how beautiful it was there...

 

What's Blooming Around the Mud House?You might have noticed I haven't been posting much lately.   It's tough trying to lose weight when the things you love most in the world are baking, eating, and blogging about it.  My sister hasn't requested anything yummy lately so my recent kitchen adventures could best be described as healthy and boring. Actually some of it isn't that boring but it just isn't as much fun to write about.  I'm trying to get excited about sharing some of my healthy recipes but until I do...the good news is...spring has sprung at the Mud House and I love gardening almost as much as baking.  Here's what's blooming: Sweet Peas!  There is nothing more delightful than the fragrance of sweet peas.  These fragile beauties do not like the heat so must be started by seed in October or November here in the desert.  They winter over then bloom in March and April. Snapdragons.

Roses!   Nasturtiums. Cats ClawHoneysuckle

Cilantro - no longer tasty but the blooms are so delicate and pretty.PenstemonThe pomegranate trees.

 

Forrest Gump Said It Best

You may have noticed. I haven't been blogging.  My last post was in March and since then...not a word. Sometime around March it became apparent that we would not be staying at the Mud House.  Sadly, the little Mud House will be auctioned to the highest bidder on September 18.  If you read my blog, you know that we sold our family home and leased the little mud adobe house.  We loved living there and were very sad we wouldn't be staying . We had planned to live in the little Mud House for as long as we could, but the owners were no longer able to keep it, so sad news for all.

We had no choice but to move.  We considered buying, but decided we really like the freedom of renting. We considered staying in Tucson, or moving to Nashville, Boston, or Kentucky. It took several months but we have landed somewhere unexpected but wonderful.  I will now be blogging from the top floor of a historic mansion in Pasadena, CA, just down the street from my 20 month old grandbaby boy.   

So, if life is like a box of chocolates, this one is a dark chocolate sea salt caramel.  Semi-sweet with a touch of savory, a bit complicated, but oh, so delicious.   I look forward to sharing the next year of our life in Rose City.  

As a little goodbye to the Mud House I will publish the last post I wrote last spring.   I didn't  finish it at the time, but it includes some pictures of the pretty things that bloomed before the summer heat set it.