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Last week I bought a quart of buttermilk at the store and ended up not making the recipe I intended it for — I hate it when that happens! Though buttermilk isn’t crazy expensive, I didn’t want to waste it and hit Google to see what I could find.

After learning that I could freeze it (which I did with the leftovers), a buttermilk pie was one of the first results. I’d never heard of it before and the idea of using it as the main component of a pie sounded interesting. I happened to have everything I needed (including a lemon I didn’t need for the sink last weekend), and I decided to use the pie crust from the Pizza Rustica. Read more »»

It’s salad-makin’ day!

I was excited to try this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. I’ve made Giada’s Pizza Rustica several times and we’ve all loved it, and while they’ve got their similarities, this one was just different enough to keep things interesting.

This week’s TWD is hosted by Emily and Raelynn, who have the recipe posted on their blogs.

The dough was really easy to put together, though I never quite got it to ball up around the blade; it stayed a bit on the crumbly side.

I didn’t think to add water to it but it came together just fine after I kneaded it on the counter for a minute.

The filling was a little more fun, but a bit on the expensive side. I don’t think I’ve ever bought prosciutto (I used to leave it out of the Giada recipe because there was already so much going into it), and the Pecorino Romano caused a bit of sticker shock, too.

I really liked the Pecorino Romano, though, and kept breaking off little bites to snack on. I’ll have to find another recipe or two to use it in.

My helper for the day got a kick out of the ricotta and had fun mashing it around the bowl.

My pastry measuring skills always leave a bit to be desired, but I was able to coax a few of the strips into behaving.

I made it for lunch over the weekend and everyone loved it. It was very quiche-y, and thankfully the girls love quiche.

The crust was almost a little too on the sweet side, and I think it would be really good with a sweeter dish instead of savory. It also stayed pretty pale after baking, so I stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes.

Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

I would definitely make this again, but the cost of the cheese and prosciutto are a little on the ouchy side, so we’ll have to see.

Wow, what a difference two weeks has made! The last time I updated, the tomato plants in our EarthTainer were maybe ten inches tall.

In just two weeks, they’ve grown about two feet and we barely managed to get cages up around them before they got too big. They’re filling out like crazy, too, and the main stalks are nice and thick.

We had some warmer days last week, getting up to about 85 or so, but then the wind blew in over the weekend and brought the mid-60s back with it. They don’t seem to be affected at all, and the Sweet 100s continues to kick out blossoms. The beefsteak is taking its sweet time, but looks great otherwise.

I’m trying to talk Mike into getting started on a couple more containers. We wanted to wait and see how the tomatoes did first, but by the time they fruit I’m afraid it’ll be too late to get anything else going, especially with our heat.

What are you planting this year?