Whispering pines can smudge you up

 

I like the idea of a smudge stick. It’s going around the house with a bundle of smoking sage with the notion that the smoke will cleanse all corners of your home. I haven’t actually done it, but I like the idea. You can use an abalone shell to catch the ashes. With all the pine needles falling on Port Arthur area lawns, I have been mulching and them mentally prepping for fall in 100 degree heat. I got curious and found recipes for pine needle tea and watched how to make baskets and brooms from pines. The crafts looked challenging, until I got to the smudge sticks. Doable! I’ve made several and found them just to lovely and natural to look at. So I’m stick ready and still haven’t smudged. Let me know if your raking turns to crafting.

 Pizza - Gather the peaches, grapes, broccoli, arugula, salmon, jalapenos and radishes. We're making pizzas. 

A lot of them. 

While it isn't legally mandatory to have a red-checkered tablecloth with your pizza, it is part of the cover design for the "The Big Book of Pizza: Foolproof Pies in Every Style" from the Food Network Magazine.

Consider it a picture book, because down south we may not all envision what a New York-Style Pizza is all about. I've got my eye some "alternatives," such as Butternut Squash-Soppressata Pizza, Grilled Pizza with Hummus and tomatoes, and a Potato-Rosemary Pizza with think slices of crispy tater goodness adorning the top. White Clam Pizza? Let's do this. 

Learn how to "dough it up right" and go beyond a box of the frozen stuff. But, like my mama used to, consider those frozen discs that come with a little cheese and sauce as your canvas for creating something special. 

 Step One Foods – Are you willing to rip open packages of dark chocolate walnut bar, mix up oat pancakes with a packet and water and grab a filling oatmeal for breakfast? Colorful, formulated goods from this company ask you to dine on them daily for a path toward better health, specifically lower cholesterol. Need to bring those numbers down while elevating your breakfast? I truly think these foods taste way, way better than others that make your family cringe when they hear the phrase “healthy.” Those dark chocolate bars are great with coffee and an Anytime Sprinkle for yogurt, fruit or whatever gives you: Oat bran, chia seeds, flax seeds, dried cranberries, almonds, walnuts, raisins, plant sterols, Saskatoon berries. You will be full and you’ll enjoy getting that way. My pancakes typically turn out a mess but this good-for-you packed helped me turn out a serving so pretty a skeptical onlooker got jealous. Strawberry and banana smoothie mix is easy enough in the blender, or you could just pour it over yogurt for a meal in moments. www.steponefoods.com

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie ready to smudge with you. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Fall feelings draw us to nature, and the birds.

 

Pumpkin spice is more than a flavor. It’s a feeling. From church pumpkin patches to sunflower wreaths, we’re ready to get out our sweaters and take long walks in nature. All of this area’s spring migration is just a plus.

World Bird Migration Day is Oct. 8 and a Bird-Friendly Port Arthur event will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Pleasure Island Commission office. Bring the children for activities with Sea Rim Park and Shangri La representatives to learn more about the birds in our area. We’ll also be discussing native plants for local yards to draw birds and pollinators. For more information, call 409-985-7822.

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 Here's some more thoughts on fall feelings:

 

Fall road trips to the country – or big cities – are my thing. A bistro lunch at a small table sounds heavenly. What I didn’t know about bistros could fill a book.  This one, from America’s Test Kitchen: “Modern Bistro: Home Cooking Inspired by French Classics.” The style came about as French families took in renters and fed them simple fare, and expanded to neighborhood eateries. What sounds fancy after all these years has simple roots based on necessity. Duck confit was a preservation method. Fresh nettles were foraged in season. Now we can eat more thing more often, so why don’t we? And fold those omelets ourselves while we’re at it. Southeast Texans grow figs, but have you ever considered them on Bistro Burgers with Pate, Figs and Watercress? We love the Groves Pecan Festival. Celebrate with Wilted Spinach and Shrimp Salad with Bacon-Pecan Vinaigrette. Our Cajuns speak French. French Onion Soup will warm us as much as gumbo. Get in on the “mush” trend with Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms. This fall, open your own bistro.

 

 

Like those little pancakes because you can eat more of them at a time? Who are you kidding? Here’s the deal. Step One Foods has a packet of blueberry cinnamon oatmeal that works as you’d expect and tastes better than you’d expect. The creating doctor has a packet of oats and walnut pancake mix that works the same way and it is heavenly. Mix the contents with water, rest it 5 minutes, and grill up three little yummy little pancakes that will keep you full. Even easier? A pecan cranberry mix is one of their bars and a sprinkle mix is great for your lunch box to mix into yogurt. Fiber, Omega-3, plant sterols and antioxidants help with lowering cholesterol, migraines, etc. Sometimes women are more into healthy foods than men so I’ll say my husband let me have most of his dark chocolate crunch bar, which I did enjoy very much. He gave big thumbs up to the little pancakes. You’ll feel good about yourself after nourishing with their offerings.

 

Were you wondering about thermogenesis? Or how white kidney bean extract would taste in your coffee? Plantee Nutrition wants to become your new morning ritual with offerings like packets of Lean Coffee. Imagine a weight management coffee with premium Columbian Arabica that is additionally plant powered with gymnema, vanilla, Vitamin , etc. Creamer is also on the go, with powders of whole oat, coconut milk and water, vanilla, arrow root, etc. Makers want Plantee to become your new morning ritual. I’d say that instead of sugared up coffee with doughnuts you could switch to creamy Plantee and yogurt and be on your energized way. www.plantee.com

 

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie looking for her one sweater she pulls out each of our brief autumn seasons. Thanks go to local photographer/artist Darlyne Hartman for sharing her pumpkin photo with Culinary Thrill Seeking.  darraghcastillo@icloud.com