Roasting Garlic...

Growing garlic is something I have long wanted to do, but have yet to attempt. I put garlic in almost everything I cook, which means it is a crop that I need to be growing.

I absolutely LOVE the smell of fresh-roasted garlic cloves, so today I brought out my trusty clay garlic roaster and put it to good use.

I bought this lovely thing at a local thrift store a few years ago for a whopping $2.00.

Roasting garlic in a clay roaster is super easy...

1)  Submerge the base and lid of the clay roaster in water for 15 to 20 minutes before use.

2)  Trim the tops off of the garlic heads to expose the tips. (Leave the peel on the garlic.)

3)  Place the garlic heads into the roaster and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

4)  Set the lid on top of the roaster and place in a COLD oven.

5)  Set the oven to 350 F and leave the roaster in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half, until the heads feel soft and smell fragrant.

You can use this roasted garlic in just about anything you cook. Just break off a clove or two and squeeze the roasted garlic out of the peel. Store any unused garlic in a air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Remember to use nothing but boiling water to clean the clay roaster, as it will soak up any chemical cleaning agents you might use.

Here's the finished product...

I can almost smell the garlic just by looking at this picture!

Do you make your own roasted garlic? Do you have a different method of doing it?

Mmmmmmm.... Coffee

I recently acquired a French Coffee Press, which I have never used before.  I like my coffee in the morning, but hate making a full pot as that is just too much caffeine for just one person.  I tried the French Press for the first time this week, and I am in LOVE!!!  The coffee comes out creamy and perfect every time, and I can heat a kettle of water first thing in the morning (excuse to make a tea kettle cozy!), and have coffee as I want/need it all morning long!  Why didn't I get one of these sooner?!  Not to mention, this makes one more non-electric appliance to replace my plug-in everything in the kitchen!  Hubby still will want his pot of coffee on the weekends, but I can live with that.  I wonder if I could get away with putting the coffee pot in the cabinet during the week, as it takes up so much room on the counter.  I'm still looking for a hand crank coffee grinder, but these are very hard to find in the thrift shops.   Now if only I had my woodstove, even the hot water would be passive.  One step at a time!

I Love Thrift Shops!

I just spent a whopping $7 at the thrift store today, and got a ton of fabric for some projects I am working on. I'll post some pics when they get finished. It's amazing how much fabric can be re-purposed from an old skirt! Not to mention that I discovered how many people make their project and then don't want the left over fabric... more for me!!!