coconut tapioca

I thought I'd share my version of tapioca - I often use 2 egg yolks but lately add only 1 and it's just as good. Plain tapioca is the perfect comfort dessert or snack-similar to rice pudding but with a more interesting 'poppy' and 'toothsome' texture thats very appealing. You can use lowfat or whole milk. This coconut version is really good, but you can also do it without the coconut milk and just use 3 c. of milk.

coconut tapioca - awesome for breakfast, or an 11-am snack, or after dinner. good cold, room-temp or warm. makes about 4 servings.

ingredients:

• 1/3 c. tapioca (small pearl)
• 1/3 c. sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3 c. milk (1 c. coconut milk)
• big handful of flaked coconut, toasted til light brown
• 1 egg yolk (or 2 if you want it extra creamy)
• 1/2 t. vanilla, coffee, or liquor of choice (optional) or 1/2 lemon zested - i like using a combination of zest and rum (if i don't have vanilla)

method:

• put tapioca in a pot with 3/4 c. milk and let it sit for an hour
• whisk in sugar, pinch of salt, rest of milk (1 c. coconut milk + 1 1/4 c. milk)
• on very low heat bring to barely a boil (this should take 15 min. or so) - stir constantly
• turn heat down to small simmer and stir until tapioca beads become clear. it will take about 20. min and become thicker. stir frequently or it may scorch.
• take off heat and stir in lemon zest and/or vanilla, coffee, liquor
• let it sit for 5 min or so and serve with toasted coconut on top

concord grapes

IPM Concord Grapes - easily my new favorite fruit

These grapes showed themselves in last weekend's CSA box and visitors Kristy and Nate got to enjoy them too. I had never had them before-with a few seeds (which I'm saving to hopefully plant one day) these globes of fruit popped in your mouth and tasted like candy - a piece of heaven! You could imagine drinking a glass of concord grape juice. It's been such a treat eating these little guys all week.

"IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is grounded in ecological ideals, and aims to significantly reduce or completely eliminate the use of pesticides, but also allows the farmer the freedom to determine the pest control strategies that work best for his farm. Since IPM is less recognizable and less easily explainable than the familiar organic label, the ability to talk directly with customers about it is crucial." http://www.daveskitchen.com/

A snack we had last week: raw baby turnips and roasted red potatoes with garlic aioli. It was good. :) Using the mortar and pestle was a great way to make aioli - actually easier than the food processor believe it or not because you could add the oil quickly since it emulsified nicely.

Currently roasting pumpkin seeds with a mixture of olive oil, salt, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice (from Kalustyan's). They're making the whole apartment smell good!

Purple Dragon Deliciousness

Happy Thursday :) Above are the photos from Purple Dragon & our first farm share-we picked it up last Saturday and the next one is in a week. It was so fun to come up with ideas based on what I had, what was in season, and what looked good. The food tasted so fresh and frankly I just had the best time organizing everything, putting it away, and then cooking it during the week - it really made the whole cooking experience pretty inspiring. Aside from all the cleanup. Looking forward to our next one in a week!