Well, as promised, it was a crazy sunday. I begun by making a delicious sweet potato cake, roasting some beets, baking three loaves of bread, cleaning the kitchen, mopping the kitchen floor, playing out in the yard and burning the cinnamon rolls we were going to eat for breakfast... and all before I had even gotten Danny out of bed!
Phew!
Then I set up my soaker hose irrigation system, watered some flower beds in the back (which incidentally, look beautiful), frosted the sweet potato cake (it was gorgeous!), showered and made the beet salsa. Then I sped round to my boss' house to jump in the pool and grill out.
I didn't get to take a picture of the most beautiful cake Ive made in a long time, because it got snapped up pretty quick! I thoroughly recommend this recipe, the only thing I did different was I added 2 tbs ground flax and 2 tsp ginger powder. The couple of hours in the fridge before serving is also essential for cake integrity. Yum!
So the beet salsa is phenomenal guys! You have got to try making this delicious side item next time you grill out.
Beet Salsa
Five plum sized beets, roasted, peeled and chopped
2" piece of ginger, peeled and shredded
zest and chopped flesh of one orange
Couple of tbs honey
large splash of orange juice
large splash of lemon juice
Lots of balsamic vinegar (way more than you think you need)
Red wine if you have it handy (just a dash)
Wrap some similar sized beets in tin foil then roast for an hour to an hour and a half at 350F. Leave them to cool in the foil, so its good to do this in advance at your leisure.
Place all ingredients in a deep, heavy bottomed frying pan and simmer until liquid has completely reduced (about 20-30 minutes).
Great on freshly baked multi-grain bread!
Best if served warm but also delicious cold the next day. Don't make this if you are not a huge fan of ginger and balsamic vinegar!
Oh, and incase you are keeping track... we miserably lost our third softball game of the season. We do so well in the beginning, we again only needed one more run to win by the first innings, but then we suck! A lot of it was Danny and I this time! He is sick and I wasn't feeling good so we came straight home from work, climbed into bed, and only woke up when he got a random phone call at 715pm. Then we had to quickly eat some dinner and dash out to the ball fields. Not the way to start a game! I made some good stops as short-stop, but my throwing left a lot to be desired this time round!
If you made that citrus dressing and loved it, but had too much left over... we had the best simple spring dinner tonight. I boiled some lovely red potatoes, cut to about 1/2 inch squares, and some corn, then tossed this with the remaining citrus dressing from last week (with flax oil added for flavour), fresh spinach from our garden (tastes so much better than store bought!), garlic greens from the garden and left over spring onions and kum kwats. Then sprinkled sesame seeds over the top. It was simple yet nutritious and light.
I checked out your sweet potato recipe, and it's similar to mine. They are yummy, aren't they? And at least they contain a little nutritional value for the calories. :) Sorry about the softball game. If this makes you feel any better, when I first started dating JP I was forced to play in a kickball tournament and was the only person anyone had ever known to actually kick the ball, run into it, and therefore get myself out. If I were in Oxford, that's probably about the level of incompetence I'd contribute to your softball team!!
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