June 2010 | The Ivory Hut

Monthly Archives: June 2010

A big batch of biscotti, and a small dose of self-discovery

7 June 2010

I’ve been making biscotti at home, double batches at a time because they disappear so quickly. Along with classic granola and wickedly delicious mini whole wheat pumpkin muffins, these are so far my favorite healthy breakfast or snack recipes from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by the wonderful Pam Anderson.

I’ve never been a biscotti fan. I’ve always heard folks talk about how much they love it, and frankly, I never understood why. I figured it was probably because I prefer chewy cookies and moist cakes, and biscotti is nothing like that. But for some reason, I found myself trying this recipe. Maybe it was because Pam wrote glowingly about it, or maybe it was because I read that each piece had all of 53 calories and contained no butter or oil.

Whatever the reason was, I’m glad I made them, because I discovered that I like biscotti after all. I’ve just been eating bad ones.

But that’s not the only discovery referred to in this post’s title. Apparently, I also have this subconscious need to line everything up neatly.

And apparently, I do the same when I put my groceries on the checkout counter. I also organize our condiment bottles and spices in the cupboard, with one shelf for Asian cuisine, one for Trinidadian cuisine, and another one for everything else. I line up our cutting boards first by material (wooden, glass, or plastic), then by height. I re-fold towels so that each one is the same size, facing the same way in the linen closet shelf. And I stack my CDs and DVDs in alphabetical order, by genre.

Allegedly, I also re-arrange our sugar packet holder so that all the packets are facing the same way. I’m a bit afraid to check to see if that’s true.

You know something? I’m not sure I want to know why.

You want to know something else? Really, I’d just rather discover more things like this new love for biscotti. At least I won’t need therapy for that.

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Orange Nut Biscotti
Recipe from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson

3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 whole orange (about 2 tablespoons)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (scant) sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup almonds, pecans, walnuts, toasted pistachios (or a combination of nuts)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla and orange zest. In a larger bowl, mix the remaining ingredients except the nuts. Stir the wet mixture into the dry, using a spoon first and then using your hands. The dough will be very sticky and tacky. Stir in the nuts.

Flouring your hands and working surface, roll half of the dough into a 12-inch log. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake in the center position of the oven for about 50 minutes, until golden brown. Take the logs off the sheet and onto a cooling rack, let cool for about 5 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees and line another baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Use a serrated knife to slice the logs into 1/2-inch thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheets and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and almost crisp. Transfer to cooling racks and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 4 dozen biscotti (or 2 dozen if sliced 1 inch thick, as seen in the photo).

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Walking around my backyard

3 June 2010

Two years ago, finally tired of always losing the precious bounty of our fruit trees to wandering animals, we finally put a fence around a good portion of our backyard. We had three fruit trees—an apple tree and two pear trees—but cordoned off an area large enough to accommodate four more fruit trees and three large raised vegetable beds. Then we planted fig, giant peach, nectarine, and apricot trees. In the newly-built vegetable beds, we planted tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, sweet peppers, different varieties of hot peppers, and a bunch of herbs. I felt so … organic. And I was filled with hope for a season of homegrown produce.

Where I live, trying to grow your own produce in the backyard is a constant battle against airborne diseases and critters. Critters so brazen that one afternoon, I saw a chipmunk roll a half-eaten baby apple onto my porch, on its way to stashing it elsewhere. I tried to stare it down to let it know who was the boss, but it simply shrugged and went along its merry way. Cuteness aside, those little buggers are r-u-d-e.

We also have to contend with deer, who not only gorge themselves on our fruit trees, but also help themselves to my rose buds. It’s the reason I refuse to ever watch Bambi.

And the groundhogs. Oh, those nasty things. They dig holes under the fence, and climb up into my vegetable beds. Last year, I looked out my bedroom window to see one standing on its legs, happily munching on a tomato, looking around like it owned the place. There was nothing left for me to do but hope that the tomatoes gave it some serious acid reflux.

We’ve been trying all sorts of things: netting around the beds, canopies over the trees … nothing seems to work. So this year, we simply gave up. No vegetable bed plantings this year, and the most we’ll be doing is grow two pots of Scotch Bonnet peppers on our deck. Where we can watch over them more closely. I figured we’d take a break from the annual battle for a change.

But when I walked around our backyard a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but feel the same thrill I always get when I see fruits on the trees. There’s just something about growing your own fruits and vegetables that excites me and makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing, doing what should come naturally to us.

The baby peach looked so cute with its little hairs.

The critters took off with the tags for these trees, but I’m fairly sure these are little nectarine and plum fruits. I’ll have to wait a bit longer to be sure.