The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
Some late harvesting, such as it is, with sourdough rising.
The flowers did very well, and the tomatoes are just now ripening. The truth is, my garden has been going for quite a number of years and maybe a re-set is in order. Maybe more on that later…
We had sourdough pizza with homemade tomato sauce. Since moving in with us, Deirdre has been making the pizza most Fridays — she does an amazing job and I have felt a sense of relief in knowing that she (and really all the girls) can take over this all-important job with a high level of competence. After all these years, it's nice to be served tasty homemade pizza!
But yesterday I thought maybe she could use a rest (she's getting towards the end here with the bébé and making pizza is a lot of standing, to be honest).
It really does take a lot of practice to get the sourdough to behave, I find. This iteration was lots better than ones I had made in the winter. By the way, I saw in my 5-year journal that it's been a year since I started my starter! Despite almost killing it this past week (the tale is in my Instagram), I have coaxed it back to a good place, I think, and making the pizza was a good excuse to give it some extra feedings.
I made the eggplants into a simple relish or “eggplant caviar” (recipes for which you can find in older cookbooks like Gourmet, and always very enjoyable). That's the dark odd-looking dish in the picture!
Just fry up the eggplant with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers chopped up small, in plenty of olive oil. Add salt and balsamic vinegar for a little sweet “relish” flavor.
I like to serve a little something for the delectable crusts of homemade pizza (sourdough or regular), and this eggplant is perfect. We also like hummus, plain olive oil, tapenade, or even butter (this is Deirdre's family's go-to).
The procrasti-baking continues! (That's when you should be writing but instead are baking!)
On to our links!
- Fr. Dwight Longernecker writes about C. S. Lewis' insight about how fallen man longs to enter an “inner ring,” and restlessly seeking it and sacrificing true happiness and contentment for its sake; and the relationship between this inner ring obsession and the homosexual network in the Church.
- It's worth, of course, reading the original essay, reproduced here: The Inner Ring by C. S. Lewis.
- Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, which of course comes directly after the Triumph of the Cross. “Steadfast Cross” brings some beauties of 14th Century art and poetry to mind.
- There will be a Catholic Women's Conference in Worcester, MA, November 10, at Assumption College. It's the first annual conference of a new group — speakers will include Janet Smith. Check out the lineup and register!
- If you are in or near Clinton, MA, today, come to St. John's to pray Vespers with us. We will be singing and praying a new composition from Paul Jernberg — very beautiful and peaceful, for Our Lady of Sorrows. You can come at 5pm to go over the music if you are interested — Vespers begins at 6. Here is a little taste of one of the antiphons (of course, being a new composition, recordings are not yet available, although the project of the Cor Unum Chorale is ultimately to offer them for enjoyment and education; a highlight is the Stabat Mater in four parts!).
From the archives:
- Will you need a good recipe for your green tomatoes? We love this green tomato chutney.
- Singing sacred music with the children.
- I do think using a binder for your homeschool planning is a good way to go, if old-fashioned.
Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Hint: if you look up on the menu bar of the Catholic Culture site, you will find a link to the month's liturgical calendar — you can plan ahead a bit. And there are some good ones coming up!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Rita Helen says
I wish I could pop over from MN and join you, that church is gorgeous! I won’t ask how the book is coming (though I really want to 😉 )
Katie says
Please do post about your thoughts on a garden refresh. I am curious. What a sweet baby pumpkin in the windowsill. ❤️
Corina says
I can’t thank you enough for sharing your pizza recipe and method! I’ve been doing it for years (and today for the first time with a Kitchen Aid – yay, finally ) and it is something that all my children eat; even the baby wants it. We used to have it on Friday, but I decided recently to move it on Saturday because the children prefer the meat versions. You should be very proud that your pizza is so stellar as to enter as a weekly staple in a hal-Italian family (I’m kidding – but I’m sort of proud on your behalf…and grateful, as I already mentioned).
The eggplant caviar reminds me of ratatouille. I used to make that in the summer, but not this year. It was a terrible year for my in-laws’ garden.
Leila says
I’m glad your pizza is so successful, Corina! Yes, we do all prefer the meat version… but then we’d have to come up with a meatless dish for Friday that’s easy enough to finish up the week with — too lazy for that! haha but what I used to do was make an extra one with meat to have for lunch on Saturday.
I love ratatouille so much. The “caviar” is like it, now that you mention it, but of course no zucchini, and with balsamic vinegar (although I often add vinegar to my ratatouille).
Stephanie says
Hello Corina!
Congratulations on your KitchenAid! 🙂 Do you mind sharing if you made your dough by hand or with another type of mixer previously? We don’t have any kind of mixer here and I’m pondering the matter! 🙂
Thank you!
Sukie says
Hi Stephanie! I usually make my dough by hand. If you have any questions about it, I’d be happy to answer! You can email at suzanneelizabeth at gmail dot come if you’d like. 🙂
–Sukie
Dixie says
The binder method has been really helpful for us in our past two years of homeschooling. Thanks for the idea and the reminder! It’s all so clear, and you can just pick it up and look through it if there’s anything you want to know about what happened that year. Also, it has the advantage that you can flip through it on your glum days and think to yourself, “Hm, I guess we haven’t actually done all that badly!”
Carol Kennedy says
I came across the Lewis essay a month or so back. Some article or blog post must have referred to it. And it keeps coming to mind not only as I ponder what is going on in the Church, but also in politics, in the lifes of young people who are overly peer oriented and thus led into faulty life choices, even in homeschool groups where certain types of families remain on the outside of things. It is everywhere. But, as Lewis says, being aware of it and knowing how to avoid it can be such a blessing and lead to true friendship.
Victoria says
We like to roast eggplant at our house and then puree it as (essentially) baba ganoush without tahini (because of allergies) or with mayo and mustard. They both make great dips or spreads. I’m going to make eggplant lasagna for dinner tonight, using the eggplant in lieu of cheese. I planted eggplant for the first time this year, and I am amazed by how well they have been doing. We’ve never eaten so much eggplant in one summer!
Anamaria says
Eggplant in lieu of cheese! Tell me more.
We are making babaganoush on repeat this summer too. Everyone loves it.
Victoria says
Sure! 🙂 I roasted a few eggplants all at once (375* for 40mins) and made half of them into our almost-baba-ganoush and the other half I pureed (a few days later) with an egg, parsley, and a little salt and used it like you would ricotta cheese in layers. I also chopped a few kalamata olives and sprinkled them over the eggplant layers. Because of food allergies, I didn’t add cheese anywhere until it was finished and plated. I put provolone on mine and it was (is) awesome. Eating leftovers right now!
Stephanie says
Your late harvest looks delicious, and your baking and cooking pictures are so inspiring!
My baking experience is essentially all in cookies, and I am hoping to soon venture into the realm of slowly learning to bake bread soon. I’m looking to start simply and am wondering if you have any cookbooks or other resources that you would recommend for this stage of the process (that is, for just starting out in learning to bake bread). Were there particular cookbooks or other resources that you enjoyed and/or found helpful in your early days of homemaking… and of bread baking?
Thank you, Auntie Leila! 🙂
Amy says
Stephanie, I think that Auntie Leila’s step by step guide to making pizza would also be a good place to start for learning how to make bread… This is the tutorial that launched me into the world of bread baking/pizza making/ cinnamon roll making etc… It has lots of photos and is perfect for the early days of figuring out how to get started. The information is shared in a confident but relaxed way that makes the process feel so much more doable than some of the professional baking tutorials! 🙂 http://likemotherlikedaughter.org/2014/09/auntie-leila-makes-pizza-in-photos-part-1/
Stephanie says
Hi Amy,
Thank you so much for pointing me in this direction! It looks like a fantastic tutorial and I can’t wait to learn from it!
God Bless!
-Stephanie
Claire says
I’m planning to try making Auntie Leila’s pizza next week. I was wondering if Leila or anyone else has advice on a particular pizza pan as I need to pick one up. I found a few on Amazon that look like the one pictured in the series but they’re non-stick, which I try to steer away from, and say the maximum heat is 425 degrees. Any ideas? Thanks so much!
Leila says
Claire, I have two of these: https://amzn.to/2MEGh5m
But of course I didn’t buy them at that price — I found them long ago at TJ Maxx. I was on the lookout for 16″ pizza pans — don’t get 14″!!
When I saw them, I was not excited about the non-stick aspect. I too try to avoid. But I really wanted that size…
I also have these: https://amzn.to/2piy6Ta — if these are the ones with the rough texture. They are good pans but because they are so light, the bottom of the pizza doesn’t brown. I have the same type of metal in cookie sheets and that’s perfect.
So I do go with my non-stick ones. I will say that I have had them for soooo long — 25 years? And the finish is still going strong. I bake my pizza at 500*.
Claire says
That is so helpful! Thanks!
Lee says
We use a Pampered Chef Pizza Stone that I found at Salvation Army for $6…. brand new in box with directions and recipes! The oven gets preheated, the stone gets a dusting of cornmeal and then the pizza goes on the cold stone, then into the oven. It works well and doesn’t stick.
Claire says
The pizza was terrific – I am going to making this a lot! Thanks again!
sibyl says
We too have been eating eggplant in the form of baba ganoush — this time around we got some eggplants from the free produce boxes that a kind fellow parishioner leaves out in front of church, and they were a different size than I usually use. Thus, the ratio of roasted eggplant to lemon juice and garlic somehow adjusted itself to pure eye-rolling deliciousness. So, so yummy!
As for homeschooling organization, I have fallen off this year. Those binders look overwhelming. What can I do? I mean, I do have the children working, but my record-keeping is abysmal.