Fooled by the Mal

All last week, our 50-pound tank of a mutt, Malcolm, grazed on the leaves of our sweet potato leaves. We thought it was cute. Malcolm grazing like a cow on sweet tater leaves. Awwww.

Monday rolled around and Mal seemed lethargic, and this is saying something. He holds the couch down like nobody. But this was a new level of low energy, even for our lazy brown hound//pit bull/beagle mix.

I called Karen at work and she read up on sweet potato leaves and dogs and told me to take him to the vet. They're toxic to dogs, we learned. Though I'm not sure how good our sources were. I wrangled an appointment out of the vet for that afternoon, no mean feat given the time of my call: 4 p.m.

But I knew what the vet was going to say as soon as I held up Malcolm's leash. I knew he was going to be OK. I knew I had been had. He took one look at the leash and stood up, bounded around the living room and pawed at my legs.

Dog wasn't sick. He was just bored. He just wanted to go somewhere.

Slow-roasted tomato bliss

Don't you just love produce-left-in-the-office season in East Tennessee? A kind News Sentinel farmer left a load of Roma tomatoes in our office "please take" spot and I scooped them up. Along with a haul from Maryville's Horn of Plenty, Darren and I had a ton of beautiful tomatoes to eat up. 

One of my most favorite ways to use up a bumper crop of tomatoes is the "aromatic slow-roasted tomatoes" recipe from Cooking Light, available on the My Recipes site. Basically, you toss tomatoes halves with oil, sugar and spices, then spread out on a baking sheet and roast at a low heat for several hours.

I'm not a super tomato lover --- I'm quite picky about them and have never been the "bite into raw one" type. Slow roasting chars and caramelizes the flesh and the sweet and sour pungency is soooo addicting. The first time Darren and I made this recipe, we stood in the kitchen and ate them one by one from the pan. This time, I made twice as many and I'm saving half to make a pasta sauce with roasted garlic. 

You will be very happy with the results. Let me know if you try this recipe!

Coming soon: roasted tomatoes

I woke this morning to the smell of roasting tomatoes. Karen bought a pound of romas last week and set to roasting them early this morning. 

More on that, with photos, later.

Hang'em High -- a sunflower tale

I know, I know. What the heck is it? An art project? These are hanging sunflowers. I lopped off their droopy heads this morning and punched a couple of sticks through the stalks to hang and dry. The one in the foreground is only about 8 inches in diameter. The one in back is about twice that size, though. Looking forward to some fresh sunflower seeds. Unless my rigging doesn't hold up while I'm gone.

Apps, apps, apps

There's a phone app for gardeners who want to identify pests. Could have used this weeks ago. 

The University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture unveiled it a few days ago. Check out this release at the UTIA website.

Beating the heat: sunflowers and okra plants standing tall

Karen's right. The heat did a number on the garden, particularly while we were at the beach last month. The green beans look shriveled and ragged, the golden zucchini appears beyond saving, and the tomatoes are rotting.

What a difference two weeks make. 

Too bad we can't eat sunflowers. We have three that are about 7-8 feet tall. They look as strong and stout as small trees. The okra, too, is a hardy survivor but I'm not really a fan of that vegetable. I suppose I will have to learn to like the stuff because we have plenty coming in. Okra and sunflower salad, anyone?

July is time to recover from June

Whew! June was so busy for me, but in great ways. My dear friends, Sally and Rachel, came to visit with their two daughters and we had such fun together. I hope the girls remember their trip to Tennessee fondly. Then, Darren and I were running Scrappy to the vet for his puppy shots and a neuter (he did great; he was running around wild the next day), plus getting him acclimated to Meadowbrooke Kennel with short visits. Meadowbrooke is where we take our pack when we're on vacation, and we love the staff there. They've been a lifesaver!

Next, it was on to Memphis where I helped conduct copy editor and designer training for the Commercial Appeal staff ahead of their switch to Saxotech and InDesign. When I got back from Memphis, we took a day to pack and sleep before heading to Seacrest Beach, Florida, for a week with my family. It was a wonderful month, but I am glad to be home with no pressing plans to make and plenty of time to read in my pajamas.

Our garden (and yard) looks terrible after a month of neglect and record-high temperatures. Today I got out there and yanked the fried plants and emptied pots full of debris, and gave everything a good watering. While I was busy, the little devil decided to play in the mud puddles around the beds. I looked over and he was joyously splashing and jumping in the water. Ugh! Had to add a dog bath to my list of chores today!

Scrappy jumps up to get a closer look at the camera.

This picture doesn't do his dirtiness justice. Don't you just love those paws?!

The Prednisone Predicament

Usually I post about gardening and cooking, but the introduction of Prednisone into our house this past week and its effect on poor old Malcolm warrants a mention for any pet owners who might discover this entry.

Malcolm, our 5-year-old mixed breed pit bull, got sick after a recent kennel stay. His bordetella vaccine was eight months old and he came back with a nasty cough and runny, mucousy eyes. We thumbed through the phone directory early Sunday morning and found a vet clinic that was open.

Along with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, the vet prescribed a steroid, Prednisone, to boost his immunity system. Well, it worked. It also made him aggressive and prone to quick changes in behavior. He snarled at Scrappy a lot, baring his teeth every time the 20-pound puppy got near Karen. I had to keep the little one behind a baby gate for a few days to limit their interaction and the chance that Malcolm might snap him in two.

When he wasn't staring down Scrappy, Malcolm curled up and slept. He stopped playing in the yard and wouldn't go outside. He gave me the big saucer eyes every time I came in the room. We took him off Prednisone after five days. Two days later his moods returned to normal. We'll never give him that stuff again.

Friends in town

I'm back at work after several days off. Two of my friends that I've known since high school brought their daughters to East Tennessee to visit. We had a lovely time, and I showed them a lot of my favorite places, including the Biltmore estate in Asheville, N.C.

UT Farmers' Market

The next UT Farmers' Market is scheduled for June 20. Actually, there's one scheduled for tonight, but I can't make that one. Been meaning to go for weeks.

Fresh from the garden

Last night I picked fresh green beans and golden zucchini. Dined alone. Sigh. It made for a tasty, fresh addition to dinner, though.

The Invaders

Something is eating our okra! The invaders have left their mark on the green beans, too.

The only flower in our vegetable gardens

We have about half a dozen sunflowers in our vegetable gardens. In the last week, they seem to have shot up a foot or so.

Testing our rocky, rocky soil

We live in a place with rocky soil. Every time I dig, my shovel turns up so much rock that I think someone built our house over a lot full of gravel. I'm considering using the University of Tennessee's soil testing service to learn how that affects our vegetable gardens.

This excellent video by Chuck Denney of UT's Institute of Agriculture explains the service.

The Wildsmith potato crop arrives

Alcoa resident and good buddy Steve Wildsmith already has produce to share. This week he gave me a generous heap of red new potatoes from his garden. We'll make good use of these Monday or Tuesday, at the latest. 

Big 'maters on the horizon

We have high hopes for these robust Brandywine tomato plants. We have about 10 of these plants, which have survived the early summer heat better than most of our vegetables. I snapped this picture on Friday.


Brandywine tomatoes get big -- up to two pounds each. I plan to make my first pizza sauce using these tomatoes. 

Karen and I are not surprised to see that the golden zucchini plants are growing faster than the other plants. The sunflowers are running a close second, though. 


Notice how the zucchini leaves reach for the sun. The way they shift and turn toward the light, their leaves like cupped hands, makes me think of Scott Smith's horror novel about vines called "The Ruins."

Try kale chips -- seriously

Last night we put olive oil on kale leaves and baked them. I got the idea from a Cooking Light recipe earlier this year and wanted to try it. Kale chips are wonderful and easy to make.

Hydrangea blue

My hydrangeas blooming (and still blue!) makes me so happy!

Distraction, thy name is Scrappy

This tiny mongrel is completely in charge of my life right now. 

Don't his back legs look like perfect fat drumsticks?

This morning's haul at the Farmer's Market

Twenty bucks goes a long way at the Maryville Farmers' Market.


Karen and I got there at about 9:20 a.m. on Saturday, which is almost too late. The market opens at 9 a.m. and you should get there early if you want first choice of the good stuff. We filled our bag with onions, garlic, two big crowns of broccoli (you see one above) and a bunch of kale. We also bought fresh spinach and arugula. 


As expected, the lines for the bakery booth were long. Blackberry Farms wasn't present, however. Usually, BF draws a good crowd. Tempting as the baked goods are, that's not why we go.


The Maryville Farmers' Market is held every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. through sell-out.  The Saturday market is located in the heart of downtown Maryville on Church Avenue near CBBC Bank.

Waiting for Kale

We've planted a lot of different vegetables this season, but I'm most excited about kale.The first few kale plants popped through the soil this week.

Blame Cooking Light for my obsession of the moment. When I did a search for "kale" one of the first results to come up was the magazine's selection of 15 kale recipes. They all looked yummy.

Here are my top three:

• White bean soup with kale and chorizo - Cooking Light suggests using Spanish chorizo instead of "raw" Mexican chorizo. Takes about 20 minutes to prepare.
• Farfalle with sausage, cannellini beans and kale - This dish features turkey Italian sausage and sun-dried tomatoes. This dish can be made in 35 minutes, according to Cooking Light.
• Spinach and kale turnovers - This is my favorite. The magazine's description made my mouth water: "Spinach, kale, feta cheese, and a dash of nutmeg makes for a tasty turnover filling. ... Make-ahead tip: Prepare the turnovers in advance, and freeze them for up to two months."

Kale is hardy (ours survived the winter) and very good for you. WebMD expert columnist Kathleen Zelman called it a "nutritional powerhouse" in "The Truth About Kale." 

The Great White Wheat Crust Experiment

I use King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour for my pizza crust and it has never failed me. On Friday, I decided to substitute white wheat flour for my usual flour to see if I liked it. I use a recipe for basic pizza dough from "The Gourmet Cookbook" by Ruth Reichl. It's a simple recipe that calls for active dry yeast, a bit of salt, olive oil and about 1 3/4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour. (I do recommend the book).


I tried white whole wheat flour because I wondered if I would like it better than the all-purpose flour I have used for about five years now. I didn't have the King Arthur brand handy so I used what was available: Eagle Mills. White wheat flour is more firm and less sticky than the all-purpose flour. It also doesn't shape as easily, though. For instance, once the dough was finished rising, I couldn't pull it into a big round pie without tearing it.

Instead, I cut the dough ball in half, rolled out each half and cut it into eighths. I had to roll it out super thin, but it held together well and wasn't very sticky. It didn't cling to the cutting board, which happens sometimes. So I cut it up into eight squarish pieces and stored them on parchment in a glass container. 

The slices were tasty. I pre-baked each one for 6 minutes at 500 degrees, added toppings, then cooked for another 8 minutes. Today I had three slices topped with cheese, tomato sauce and turkey pepperoni. It will become a part of the regular rotation in my refrigerator. 

Arugala!

I planted three kinds of lettuce in the new raised bed on Sunday: kale, arugala and red bibb lettuce. It all came up last year, but I couldn't remember which came up faster. Well, this year it's arugala. 

This morning I took this picture of the first leaves breaking through the soil. I started liking salads when I realized that the fresh stuff from local farmers actually tasted good. 




Years of supermarket greens, particularly iceberg lettuce, had left me less than enthused. Patricia Wells' excellent book, "Salad as a Meal", has also motivated me to give the green stuff more attention. Karen checked out Wells' book at the Blount County Public Library and we discovered several enticing recipes. We plan to buy a copy for our ever-expanding personal library of cookbooks.

The next raised bed goes up

I finished the second raised vegetable bed last week. It cost about $50 in materials. Half of that went for lumber. I bought four 2" x 6" boards, each 10-feet long, and a dozen wooden stakes. The rest of the money covered a couple of bags of compost and two hefty bags of organic soil. Like the bad sheriff in "Unforgiven," I'm no carpenter. But even I can build a raised bed, and I encourage you to do the same for flowers or vegetables. 


Note: I had all the tools you need for this. You really need a good rubber mallet for the stakes.

Aside from the light rain that fell when I started to put it together, the only other challenge was the puppy. He want to dig in the dirt whenever I was trying to build the frames or add compost and soil. Only three months old, Scrappy has the super-sized paws of the Basset hound and can create a big hole in a hurry.

Maryville Farmers Market opens!

If you drive through downtown Maryville on Saturday morning, the parking lot by CBBC Bank be crowded. You'll hear music, see plenty of trucks and probably smell fresh baked bread, if you're on foot.

The Maryville Farmers' Market opens tomorrow at 9 a.m. It's best to get there just before they ring the cow bell that signals the opening of the market. The good stuff disappears fast. 

This is the feature on the market written by Melanie Tucker of The Daily Times.

Chocolate truffle cookies revealed

These are not fudge cookies, as I called them in previous posts. Actually, the cookies Karen made are chocolate truffle cookies, which explains all that yummy richness. 


The recipe for truffle cookies came from Gourmet magazine cookbook, but she also found it online.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-truffle-cookies/

Dangerous cookies and other baking adventures

My favorite things to share are pizza and cookies (but not at the same time). Last night, Karen made a batch of cookies (chocolate chip and fudge) so good that I deemed it dangerous to keep too many at the house. As I took my first bite of a fudge cookie, my head swam. I had visions of me, up late tonight, eating about a dozen cookies and drinking a quart of milk.

So Karen filled a couple of boxes full of cookies for her co-workers and mine. My colleagues loved them. They asked for the recipe. I mentioned Karen's Christmas goody bags, the ones with five different kinds of cookies. They said, "Sign us up." 

We are all too glad to share.  If she is not covered up on her day off, she might post the recipe. Look for it in a day or two.

New member at the Dunlap ranch

Right now, I'm feeling the pain of new puppy ownership. I can feel it in my toes, the big one on the right foot, in particular. Our newest member of the Dunlap ranch, Scrappy (above), bit down on my toes while I was relaxing. I was barefoot.

It is a small price to pay for a big joy, though. We love to watch him play and yip and chew on his rope bone. He has really big paws, too. When he runs around the house on his short, stumpy legs, he looks like he's wearing boots or oversized shoes. He looks part Bassett hound, part labrador. Our two adult dogs are adjusting, but they aren't keen on the unbridled energy of the puppy. 

You could call him an owner surrender. We knew his owners didn't have time for him, so we offered to take him and they said yes.  The past week has been rough with our altered sleep schedules, but he seems to like our little home.

Oh my -- there's roast pork in the oven.

The smell of roast pork fills my house. Karen put the pork in the oven this morning, and it will take about six hours to cook. Tomorrow, she'll do the same thing again as she makes a second batch.

Lazy Sunday for the Dunlaps

Darren is a little under the weather today, so instead of going to the Knoxville Botanical Garden for Rhythm 'n' Blooms, we're camped out at the dining room table with our computers. I'm catching up on months of articles from my Google Reader and Darren is working on his web design class homework. 

I found a great video of J.J. Abrams discussing creativity and mystery in a TED talk. If you love his work or love to write, this is a great inspiration.

Spaghetti carbonara with leeks and bacon

Darren posted about our dinner last night. I adore Naples' spaghetti carbonara and I love making my own version at home with bits of chopped bacon and leeks. The recipe I use is from Cooking Light magazine's January 2008 issue. The recipe calls for pancetta but that can be difficult to find in grocery stores in our area. I use 3 pieces of bacon, chopped and cooked until it's cooked through but not crispy. I also use one whole egg, not just the egg white. This is an easy recipe to play around with and make your own. I am very generous with the black pepper for the sauce; I think it makes a big difference in the flavor. I also omit the parsley because there is plenty of flavor without it, and dealing with leeks is plenty of work for me!

Karen's crazy good carbonara

Karen's carbonara is the ultimate comfort food. She served up two heaping portions last night. We also bought some fresh bread from The Market in Maryville and toasted it. I'll see if I can get her to share her secret for this dish in the next post.

Met Maryville's Nathan Nicholson of UK band The Boxer Rebellion

UK band The Boxer Rebellion has a Maryville front man: Nathan Nicholson. Longtime friend and entertainment writer Steve Wildsmith introduced us last night before the group performed at the Square Room in the Rhythm n' Blooms festival in Knoxville. Nathan's a really nice guy and the band is great. The song "Evacuate" is one of my favorite's by The Boxer Rebellion. 

Enjoy the video or read Wildsmith's excellent feature about Nicholson.

Build your raised vegetable bed now

I highly recommend The Pioneer Woman guide for building raised vegetable beds. I built this one last year using the instructions on Ree Drummond's popular website. I followed Drummond's explanation better than the videos and web guides provided by some of the big box stores like Home Depot.

Next week, I plan to build two more of these raised beds. The one in the picture is 4 feet by 6 feet. I bought these materials for the first bed: 

• Four 10-feet long 2" x 6" boards
• One box of wood stakes, 2 feet long and about an inch wide.
• One box of wood screws, 2 inches long. 
• A lot of organic soil to fill the bed, about 5-6 bags. 

I've forgotten the cost. I built it on my birthday last year. I'll save the receipts from the next one and share them. The biggest advantage is that I didn't have to weed nearly as much with the raised bed, and it looks good.Try it. I think you'll like it.

Music for a dreary Wednesday morning

Here's the awesome Cajun band Feufollet playing Au Fond du Lac. I got turned on to them after the bandleader of the musicians playing Rendezvous des Cajuns at the Liberty Theatre in Euince, La., mentioned them. My favorite song of theirs is Chere Bebe Creole, but I couldn't find a video of it.

Spring training for 'maters

This week, these tomato plants call the back deck and dining room table home. Next week, they're moving up to the big league: one of the raised beds in the backyard. We have high hopes for these little guys. Mostly, I've been a cheerleader through their growth. Karen planted them in peat pots and nurtured them. I moved them from the indoors to the outdoors when the weather was good. We lost pea plants last week. Took them outside and they just collapsed.

Recipes from the weekend from Pioneer Woman and Bon Appetit

One way I make the work week easier is by cooking large meals on Saturday and Sunday. The leftovers, paired with a fresh vegetable, can stretch a few days. On Saturday, we stayed home and spent a lot of time in the yard. I made two recipes from the Pioneer Woman --- a slow-cooked brisket and green bean casserole made from fresh ingredients. I love fresh green beans, but I really dislike canned ones. Both are from her new cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier.

On Sunday, I made Bon Appetit's sour cream chicken enchiladas. I've been making this recipe for about 10 years. The first time I talked to my now-husband, it was to offer him enchiladas at an office potluck dinner. These days, I leave out the cream cheese, because it makes the enchiladas so rich and heavy. An important note for this recipe --- use a high-quality salsa that you love. I love tomatillo salsas; I use Frontera brand. In my opinion, Frontera salsas are the best. I drive to the Watkins Road Kroger from East Maryville because I know they carry Frontera. The E. Broadway at Lincoln Food City by our house carries San Marzano tomatoes and Cafe Bustelo coffee, but they don't have Frontera!

'Seed babies' graduate to garden

We planted the "seed babies" on Saturday. We put French filet green beans in the big plot, the one eating up most of the picture. We put about a half dozen golden zucchini plants in the raised bed garden in the back. That space might prove too small come June. Last summer, the zucchini sprawled out and produced like crazy. The Dunlap 2011 zucchini haul was bountiful. We had more than we could eat and, at times, couldn't even give our produce away.

The tomato plants go out in a week or two. They are still seed babies in training, about 3 inches tall. Right now, they sit in peat pots on the kitchen table, leaning toward the afternoon sun. We have two types: Brandywine and Hungarian Heart. I chose them from the seed catalog by description. It was a heady feeling. Who knew seed catalogs could be interesting.

In the very back of the photo there's a fourth plot, a new space, that's covered by cardboard and bricks. I broke that soil up about two weeks ago,  pulled out the clods of weeds and grass (weeds mostly) and covered it with a bag or two of compost before tossing down the cardboard. I don't have a tiller to do this stuff, so I use my trusty pick, shovel and hoe to prepare the garden space. It works well enough, though the soil is a bit rocky.

Aroma Cafe spreading the love (and pork)

Behold the beautiful small Cuban sandwich combo with red beans and rice from Aroma Cafe. This might be my favorite food for the past five months or so. You get all this and a drink for $9. It's the best Cuban sandwich I've ever had, served with a cup of au jus for dipping. There is some serious magic going on in that smooshed sandwich.

Aroma Cafe is at 2570 E. Broadway in Maryville and is worth the trip, Knoxvillians. The area around the cafe is a little funky, but don't let that deter you. Come down on a Saturday, hit the farmers' market (opens May 5), take a stroll on our greenbelt and have a Cuban sandwich for lunch. The cafe is opening a second location on 411 South near the intersection with William Blount Drive. Southland Books, another E. Broadway institution and a great place to while away some time, is opening its second location next door to the new Aroma Cafe site.

The Grub Scout loved it, too. As the review mentioned, Aroma sells out of popular items toward closing time, so you might not get what you hoped for, but all their food is great. 

We started going to Aroma Cafe after we came back from Key West, Fla., after a week of vacation in October 2011. We were hooked on cafe con leche from Key West's Five Brothers Grocery and wanted to find something like it at home. Speaking of Key West food, if you're ever there and want an awesome meal, go to El Siboney. It was the best meal of the trip, in my opinion, and we ate a lot of great food that week.

I often make cafe con leche --- basically espresso coffee with steamed milk and sugar --- at home now and I'll post those directions sometime this week.

Jammin' to Alabama Shakes

There is a lot of buzz about Alabama Shakes and they are worth the hype. They recently released "Boys and Girls" and Darren and I have been listening to it nonstop. It's going to be an essential part of our summer 2012 soundtrack.

Darren reporting in

This is my natural state of being: Man eating heartily. You should see this picture first.

We hope to do more of this type of eating later in the summer. Karen and I love to cook. I make pizza and omelets. She makes everything else. In particular, we love to find fresh stuff, either at the farmer's market or in our own garden, and make a meal with that.

This is a big weekend for us. It's time to plant. We held out at the advice of a fine East Tennessee gentleman. He told us not to put anything in the ground until after the tax deadline, April 15.

He was right. It got cold enough to frost this week. We'll put the first of the seedlings in the ground Saturday. And we'll keep you posted.

Welcome to Dunlap Ranch*

* Not really a ranch.

Hello out there! My name is Karen and I am a Louisiana native who has lived in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee for about 10 years. I love to cook and talk about food, and I want to share my passion with friends and family through this blog.

I started cooking for myself while I was in college and trying to lose weight. One of my best friends was raving about the Atkins diet (I know, I know, but it was circa 1999 and I was 21) and I wanted to try it for myself. Unfortunately, despite having many great cooks in my family, I hadn't learned much beyond scrambling eggs at home. I had recently quit a job at a gourmet shop where I had learned some basic skills. I picked up how to pan-sear a chicken breast and saute vegetables (which became the basis of my diet), but more importantly, I was exposed to foods I had never seen or tried before and started feeling more comfortable with the language of cooking.

As for the name of this blog, my husband, Darren, and I have joked about creating the "Dunlap Ranch" for a long time. A piece of property and some hard work, and we could live "off the grid" with a pack of hounds and a brood of kids, complete with a guesthouse for visiting in-laws and friends. For now, we stoke that dream with a 2-bedroom teensy rental in Mamawville with our two dogs, Lily and Mal, and a bit of a garden. So, for now, Dunlap Ranch is a bit of a misnomer, but it keeps the dream alive. :)

I aim to cover some broad topics with this blog including cooking, organization, gardening, books, music and travel --- a bit of all my favorite things.

The photo above was taken at Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, Tenn., in Oct. 2011. I'm wearing my beloved $10 Ann Taylor Loft aviators that are now bent out of shape beyond repair. That shirt is also a favorite --- Converse for Target --- and it has a huge hole in one elbow. These are the kinds of non sequiturs you can expect from this blog.