Mini Lasagnas: Too Cute To Eat, Too Twee To Live

This week has been productive as fuck. We finally finished painting all of the downstairs walls (just the trim to do, now), Jeffrey a.k.a. My Hero got on a very tall ladder and did the 30 foot walls in the entry AND put together ikea shelves - which are two things I hate doing, so, round of applause for Jeffrey. Finally started hanging art, finally unpacked our books and board games. Ordered a dining room set. It's really feeling like a home, now.

Last night we cleaned ourselves up and took a break to go wish our friend Nestor a happy birthday and drink some whiskey and eat some cake. May I recommend Berkshire Mountain Distiller's bourbon? It is tasty and immensely drinkable. I have tried almost all of their gins, and like them very much. I am pretty sure they have a small distribution area but if you can get it, do.

Before we headed over there, I whipped together some Muffin Tin Lasagnas. I may never make a regular lasagna again! They are so easy and the cook in a fraction of the time. I couldn't get a decent picture of the ones I made, so I suggest clicking the link and oohing and ahhing. I'm into the idea of making a bunch of muffin tin mini casseroles and freezing them for school lunches.

I did manage to take a picture of my pretty Greek Salad.

Not my best post, but I may have had more than one glass of that bourbon last night. I promise something with an actual recipe, later.

Chicken Tostadas

You know what I love about Americanized Mexican food? It's all the same ten ingredients in different presentations. Take my Tostadas, for example; basically an open-faced taco.

This is a great meal for a busy weeknight. We needed something quick and filling before we went to the Britney Spears concert (it was awesome, don't judge) and these took about ten minutes to make and five minutes to eat.

Please enjoy the background of IKEA items that clutter my counter.

You can pick up pre-made tostadas like these (I find them in any grocery), or you can just fry your own corn tortillas. Then you pile on the fixings: meat, beans, sautee'd veggies, cheese, taco sauce, salsa, guac, you name it. Apollo Grill (aka my favorite) does one with goat cheese and sweet potato that is super good. Our filling, last night, was ground chicken with peppers and onions.

Ground Chicken for Tostadas and Tacos and Burritos and Stuff

1# Ground Chicken

1 red onion, diced

2 bell peppers, diced

2T chopped garlic

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

2T seasoning*

Saute' onions, peppers, garlic until soft. Add chicken and seasoning, cook through. Add black beans, toss to heat.

*I am leaving this at the vague "seasoning" because in this case I used a Trader Joe's spice blend and not everyone has access to it. I used the South African Smoke blend, which upon closer inspection appears to be smoked paprika, sea salt, garlic, and basil. I also added about a teaspoon of ground cumin. You could go with a packet of taco seasoning and just make life easy, or just dump in whatever you've got hanging around in the chili department.

Slow Cooker Beef Curry/IKEA trip

That's right, I'm using my slow cooker in summer. What.

We've been through this before, I know. I lapse on my updates and I come back and ask for another chance. Come on baby, you know I love you. I just got a lot going on right now.

BOY do I have a lot going on right now. The last time I updated was March, and now it is August. In the past five months I have bought a house, been to the West Coast and back three times, decided to go back to school, and gotten engaged. It has been a beautiful, crazy year - and it is fixing to get busy. Not in like, the sexy way but like, augh where does the time go. I function better with a schedule, so I am looking forward to September. August is being spent doing projects and planning our Housewarming/Engagement party. I bought a turkey fryer. Shit is going to get real.

Yesterday, I dusted off the slow cooker because the kids had morning dentist appointments and then I had to go to IKEA and then I wanted to go to Crafty-Craft-Times and I knew that I wouldn't want to also cook dinner plus we had just had pizza. IKEA is my favorite, but it is also an hour and a half away - so we really have to make a day of it. We picked up all the staples from the food market (meatballs, almond cookies, caviar) and we like to buy at least one thing that we've never seen before or have never tried. This time, it was crab spread.

I'm a sucker for packaging. It's in a TUBE. Also, look at the crab. Look at him. Adorbs. According to the handy recipe cards that IKEA now supplies, this is eaten on rye flatbread with boiled egg. Sounds good to me! EDIT: It's frigging delicious, if you like that sort of thing.

Back to the slow-cooker. I skipped a month of our meat CSA share, because we were in California, so pickings are getting slim in the ol' deep freezer. I had a few pounds of stew beef, and I was afraid that stew or chili would be too heavy for muggy hot August. The curry came out nice and light and fresh-tasting. We ate it with couscous, which doesn't really require use of the stove because you just boil water and let it soak (and you can boil water in a microwave, if necessary).

Slow Cooker: Summer Beef Curry

2# stew beef

2 cans light coconut milk

2 tsp red curry paste

heaping tablespoon brown sugar

1 head of garlic, chopped

1 large red onion, diced

1/2# carrots, sliced

salt to taste

1 c chopped scallions

1 c chopped thai basil

chopped roasted peanuts

Brown stew beef and garlic in a hot skillet, then transfer to slow cooker. Add carrots, onion, and brown sugar. Stir curry paste into coconut milk before pouring over other ingredients. Cook on low for ten hours or high for six hours. Before serving, stir in basil and scallions. Serve over couscous or rice, with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts.

This comes out a little 'soupy' - easily thickened by adding a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans, or two diced potatoes at the beginning.

A Muffin And A Crumble Walked Into A Party

I was invited to a party, I was told there would be chili, I volunteered corn bread, I also made dessert.

Elka and Eric threw their second annual pre-PAX shindig last night, and though I am skipping PAX this year I am always up for a party. They provided chili and rice and baked pasta and salad and strawberries and cocktails, so the least I could do was bring a thing or two.

I think I've mentioned that I don't really bake from scratch so much, but I am a big fan of "hacking" mixes (my favorite being pretzels and caramel on top of brownies. Good stuff.). I took Bob's Red Mill cornbread mix and added a generous cup of shredded smoked cheddar and a small can of roasted green chilis and it was really tasty, I mean really. The mix was almost five bucks at the grocery store, but it makes 20 good sized muffins so I feel that it's worth it. Plus, it's all natural and Bob's is employee-owned, so you can feel good about supporting a stand up company.

I also made McIntosh Maple Crumble With Candied Bacon. I did it a little differently - I chopped up the candied bacon and mixed it in with the apples. If you like bacon, I highly recommend trying it candied sometime. I will also warn you that I used maple syrup and the result is really sweet, so if you're looking to tone that down I would use maple liqueur instead. We ate the crumble with Burnt Sugar & Butter ice cream. Incredible.

Eggs For Dinner

The other night, in the midst of my funk, I asked my Twitter friends/followers what they have been cooking lately. The number one answer was curry, followed by various stews, and one frittata. Yesterday morning when I woke up, all I wanted was frittata. Our fridge was barren save for the door full of condiments and some moldy ricotta cheese (I was gone for a week, don't judge) so I hit the store and then made frittata for dinner.

Frittata is like a crustless quiche. It cooks faster, is less delicate, and is a great way to use up leftover bits of veggies and meat you may have kicking around. I pulled the prosciutto and artichokes out of my freezer, and added things that I thought would taste good with those. Big hit with the family - the kids didn't realize they were eating artichoke hearts and Jeffrey said, "This frittata is frincredible." A high compliment.

I served with fresh multigrain bread, and mixed greens tossed in olive oil, lemon vinegar, sea salt, and cracked pepper.

Weeknight Frittata

6 eggs

1/3 c half and half or heavy cream

2 c chopped cooked vegetables and meat (or not meat, whatever) - I used swiss chard, artichoke hearts, prosciutto, and grape tomatoes

1 tsp thyme (or any herb that will go with your ingredients)

1/2 small onion, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 c shredded or crumbled cheese

1 T butter

olive oil (about 2T)

Preheat the oven to 400°. You'll want to use a skillet, such as cast iron, that can transfer from stove top to oven. Beat the eggs and cream together. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Heat the skillet to medium high, and saute' the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the rest of your veggies and lower the heat to medium, the same temperature you would normally use to cook eggs.

"...but I always burn my eggs!" you say. Here is what I learned about eggs; you need your pan to be the right temperature, and you need to cook them in butter. You know how eggs always stick to the pan? Right. Your pan is either too high or too low, and you're probably using oil or pan spray. (Obviously the exception is non-stick pans, but I don't use those because I'm a snob.) If you are using a gas range, you want the flame to be just touching the bottom of your pan. If you are using an electric range, it's going to take a little trial and error since they wildly vary. On mine, the setting is "6". Start there and tweak as necessary. Anyway, back to the recipe.

Add the butter to the filling and toss to melt. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the filling. Sprinkle with cheese. Now you're going to let it set. That means don't touch it for a couple minutes, but watch for bubbles in the center and for it to start firming up the sides of the pan. Transfer to oven, let bake for 10 - 15 minutes. The center will feel firm to the touch, when done. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

Blah

I have been so uninspired in the kitchen. As happy as I am that comfort food is no longer a secret shame, I am actually getting tired of macaroni & cheese and short ribs. Every restaurant I go to, every magazine I pick up, every website I visit is prominently featuring heavy, rich, meaty and cheesy dishes. Not that there's anything wrong with it - but that's in my wheelhouse already. There's no challenge in it for me.

This is also an icky time of year, food-wise. It's impossible to get decent vegetables, since they're all shipped from California and taste like cardboard. (Except winter squash, but one can only eat so much of that.) I'm yearning for all this snow to melt, to see the grass turn green, for the farmer's markets to open. I'm actually looking forward to the April mud.

It took me hours to plan our next week of meals, but I think I managed to incorporate enough different flavors to keep it interesting. Hopefully the family will agree and I won't be chucking five pounds of leftovers come Sunday. The lesson here is to always freeze extras right away. They say that they'll eat them, but they never do......

Spinach Salad

I have three incomplete recipes/blog posts from over the past week saved as drafts. Sometimes I start writing the posts in the morning, well before I start cooking dinner, because evenings can be busy and I don't always have time to sit and do a whole post at once. In the case of two of the drafts, I didn't feel like the recipe was as good as I wanted - so I will tinker with those before final posting. In the case of the third, life got in the way and we ordered pizza that night.

Today's post is completely different than I originally planned. I was going to post a recipe for a blood orange and jicama salad that I made to go with tacos. I have made a few versions of this salad over the years, and it's quite tasty. However, last night's salad was not. It was pretty gross and I ended up throwing it down the garbage disposal...which is a thing I never do. I absolutely hate wasting food and will usually just deal, but this was just nasty. The jicama was kind of funky tasting and ruined the whole thing. I'm going to try it again another day, we'll see what happens.

Anyway, for dinner tonight I had made tuna casserole and a spinach salad.

February 8, 2011 - Spinach Salad

1 lb spinach - washed, dried, stems removed

1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned

1/2 red onion, julienned

1 avocado - peeled and sliced, then tossed in 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/4 tsp salt

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered or sliced

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dress with a basic vinaigrette: 1/4c vinegar (I used cider) 1/2 c olive oil , 1 clove grated or pressed garlic, 1 tsp fancy mustard, 1 tsp sugar, s/p to taste

BACON WHAT LOL (I've been near the Internet too long)

I swear I'm going grocery shopping today. Unfortunately, there is a forecast of two inches of snow. This means that the grocery store will be packed, because people are afraid of being snowed in and having to resort to cannibalism. I'm going in. If you don't hear from me in a day or two, it's because I cut a bitch in Whole Foods with a broken bottle of organic gluten-free beer and I'm in jail.

Spaghetti Carbonara is not exactly "healthy", per se, but it's tasty and filling and cheap. It is also made of things that I always have lying around the house: bacon, eggs, and pasta.

It can be a little tricky; the hot pasta cooks the eggs on contact. This means that you have to drain the pasta and immediately toss it with the egg mixture before the pasta starts to cool off. Now normally you want to get the pasta really drained and dry as to not water down your sauce, but in this case it's good to have some cooking water in there. Really the biggest hassle of this whole recipe is cooking the bacon. I have switched to the oven method and I am never going back. I heat my oven to 450 degrees. I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and I lay the bacon out on the paper. I pop the bacon on to the middle rack of oven for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it while it cooks. Cooking time depends on your oven, the thickness/fattiness of the bacon, and how crispy you like it. Flip the bacon strips halfway through, if you like. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, transfer the bacon strips to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.

The benefits of this method are as follows:

1) You can cook a whole package of bacon at once. More than one package if you need to!

2) No splatter mess, and your hair/clothes/house don't get that grody cold grease smell.

3) Easy clean-up; Let the pan cool and the drippings solidify, and you just grab the parchment from the pan and throw it away. I don't have to drain hot grease into a jar like my mom used to, I don't have to scrub a pan.

I'm telling you, it's the best.

Okay, so here's what you do once you've got your bacon cooked up and ready to go:

Spaghetti Carbonara

1# dried spaghetti, linguini, or fettucini

1/2# cooked chopped bacon

4 large eggs

2T cooled melted butter

1c grated parmesan cheese

1 c chopped fresh spinach

s/p to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, just in case you are unsure of how to cook pasta. I am not here to judge. While pasta is cooking, beat together eggs, cheese, and butter in a large bowl. Set aside. Right before draining pasta, reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Drain pasta, and add to egg/cheese mixture. Toss to coat, adding reserved cooking water a little at a time. The eggs will cook on contact, the cheese will melt, and the cooking water will thin it out into a sauce. You want to use the cooking water as opposed to regular hot water because the starch left by the cooking pasta is what holds the sauce together. Toss/mix in the bacon and the spinach and serve!

I was a little skeptical as to how this would taste as leftovers, but I reheated some in the microwave and it's still totally tasty.

More soup? Sure, why not.

Lately, all I want to make/eat is soup, so here comes another one. I know, my kids are just as thrilled as you are.

This recipe is one of those last minute meals that ended up working out really well. I was kind of slack on doing proper planning last week, and our meat stash had been whittled down to a few steaks and a package of sausage. Sausage is much more forgiving of the microwave defrost cycle so I started there. A rummage around the pantry, and I came up with;

Slow Cooker Black Bean & Sausage Soup

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 package of italian sausage, crumbled and browned
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 lg onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1T chopped garlic
1T Italian seasoning - or - 1/4c fresh chopped herbs such as rosemary, oregano, thyme
8 c chicken or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 28oz can of chopped tomatoes (in juice or puree, your choice)
a couple handfuls of leafy greens - such as spinach, kale, or chard - chopped

Throw everything except for the greens in your slow cooker and set for appropriate amount of time. Something like this, it doesn't matter if you set it high or low or how long you let it simmer. Right before serving, stir in the greens. If you add them at the end they won't get all manky. No one likes manky greens.

I served with a drizzle of basil oil and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. On the side we had warm crusty bread, and strawberries and goat cheese.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I've been spacing on it until we're already eating and I'm like, "Oh hey I should post this recipe but I'm so hungry NAM NAM NAM"

Squash Soup & Pizza Stones

I'm going to be honest with you; I like snow when it's falling and for like, a day after that. Then it becomes an immovable mass that makes getting around rather annoying. I cleared a path from the front door to the driveway, but our driveway is so narrow that one ends up knee-deep in snow before getting into the car anyway. As I get older and my upper back gets more jacked-up, I am starting to be envious of all the old people on my street with snowblowers. When we buy a house, we are getting a snow blower. End of story.

It is soup weather, bitches*! That is just fine with me. I think it may be some kind of law around New England that 60% of non-ethnic restaurants must serve Butternut Squash Soup. The best that I've had is at Apollo Grill and since I used to work there in a former life I remember the recipe. Mwah-ha-ha.

BUT since I don't think Casey would appreciate me broadcasting the recipe for one of his key menu items on the internet, I'm going to give you a different version that I think is just as tasty. It is also super easy and CHEAP. In season, butternut squash runs about 39 cents per pound. If you have a farm share, you probably have a ton of it lying around anyway.

I cooked the squash in my crockpot. Slice the squash lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. I quartered it to fit, and cooked with 1/4 c water - high for four hours.

You don't have to puree' the final result, but I like a silky textured soup. This will serve four if it's your main course.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash, roasted, skin removed

3 c broth (I used chicken, or strong veg stock)

1 onion, diced

1 T chopped garlic

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2T butter

2T olive oil

1 c heavy cream or half & half (or milk, it will just be thinner and not as creamy)

s/p to taste

Sautee' onions, garlic and celery in the oil and butter. Add squash, nutmeg, and chicken broth. Lower heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Puree using immersion blender, stir in cream, season to taste.

We like to have it like Apollo serves it, with crumbles of blue cheese and shredded pear (or apple).

I also made pizza, using my shiny new KitchenAid mixer (best boyfriend, best Christmas gift) for the dough. So good! I like a big, bready, chewy pizza crust. I always use Red Star yeast and Hecklers' unbleached flour when I bake bread, and I recommend both. I started using a pizza stone years ago, and I'll never go back to pans. I have one round stone that I've probably had for ten years now, and then my friend Gary showed up with a stack of quarry tiles from Home Depot and I was all whaaaaaaaaat and he was all "duh". Quarry tiles are unglazed terra cotta tiles used for flooring. You can also use them as pizza/bread stones because guess what - it's the same material.

Here's the thing: Pizza stones are expensive. Quarry tile is cheap. A pizza stone comes in a size. If you want to make more than one pizza at a time, you have to buy more pizza stones. Quarry tiles are generally 6x6 squares and a box of ten or so is like, three bucks. I can line both of my oven racks end to end with quarry tiles and bake four small pizzas at once for less than ten dollars.

Like with a pizza stone, quarry tiles should be seasoned to prevent the dough from sticking. Just rub them with a little vegetable oil before popping them in the oven, the first few times you use them.

*Bitches like, "my bitches" - a term of endearment. You are all my bitches, and I love you.

Sharing Time

Image taken from the fantastic site "A Year Of Slow Cooking", linked below.

I just have to pass along this recipe. I made it with pork ribs, and I lined the bottom of my crockpot with crinkled tinfoil. That kept the ribs from stewing in their own juices (lovely, but not what I was going for). Then I transferred the ribs to a serving dish and poured the pan juices right over them.

So so so so good, and so easy. I served with mashed potatoes, and a frozen veg mix called "soycutash" - edamame, corn, and red peppers - to which I added butter and sautee'd garlic and shallots. Everyone ate everything, even the vegetables.

Never Slurp The Stroganoff

It snowed yesterday, and everyone freaked the eff out. Seriously, it's New England. We've seen snow before. The first major snowstorm of the winter always has people acting like fools. We took full advantage of the snow day, and laid around the house in a way only rivaled by the cats.

I had already planned Lamb Stroganoff for dinner, and it ended up being perfect for such a cold night. This recipe can be made with any ground meat, or even a vegetarian protein like seitan.

Easy Lamb Stroganoff

1# ground lamb

4 oz portobella mushrooms, sliced or chopped (I chopped mine to hide them from the kids)

1 diced onion

2 T chopped garlic

1 splash white wine or cooking sherry

1 c chicken broth

8 oz condensed cream of mushroom soup (I like Trader Joe's if you can get it)

1 tsp dried dill

1T fresh thyme

1 c frozen or fresh peas

1 c plain yogurt or sour cream (Greek yogurt is nice and thick and gives the dish a little tangy bite)

Brown lamb in a large skillet. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic. Saute' until onion is translucent and mushrooms have released their juices, about five minutes. Deglaze the pan with wine or sherry, add chicken broth and herbs. Bring to a boil. Add peas, boil for about two minutes. Reduce heat to low, stir in yogurt, heat through. Remove from heat. Serve with wide noodles. I tossed whole wheat egg noodles with minced garlic, olive oil, chopped parsley. cracked pepper and sea salt.

As a side dish, I steamed green beans. A traditional spinach salad would also go nicely. Stroganoff is pretty heavy, so you want to team it with some light vegetables to balance out.

I leave you with what I assume is the only song with the word "stroganoff" in it. They even manage to find a rhyme.

Do I get this stuck in my head every time I make stroganoff? Yep. Now I'm sharing.

Pee Poop (I'm five)

While searching for this image I was subjected to Anne Geddes' photos of Celine Dion, dressed as a flower, holding her baby. YOU'RE WELCOME.

Here's the thing about pea soup: it looks like poopy. Baby poopy, really. I'm not even going to post a photo of the soup I made last night, because it is not a beautiful thing. It is a delicious thing, and you should not think about the poop factor.

Pea soup is easy, especially in a slow cooker. If you can't get a ham hock, get a bone-in ham steak and drop it on top of the other ingredients., then carefully remove it before you puree'.

Slow Cooker Pea Soup

1 bag dried spilt peas

6 c chicken broth

1 onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

3 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 sprigs thyme - or - 1 tsp dried

1 bay leaf

1 smoked ham hock

2 c (or so) chopped ham

Drop all ingredients except for the chopped ham into the crock pot, and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. Don't worry, there is no such thing as overcooking this soup.

Remove the ham hock, bay leaves, and the thyme sprigs. Pick any meat off the hock, discard everything else. Puree' soup with an immersion blender. You could also use a regular blender, but for goodness' sake be careful with the boiling soup! Stir in the ham bits, and enjoy!

I served this with warm crusty bread, goat cheese, and sliced Honeycrisp apples.

I went out for our weekly Stitch & Bitch after dinner and drank a wonderful beer - Berkshire Brewing Company's Nitro Coffee Porter. It was the perfect beer for the weather (cold cold cold), but also would have gone so well with our meal. That's not something I would say about many dark beers, as I tend to like then on their own and not as an accompaniment.

Happy New Year! Resolve To Cook Dinner.

I enjoy Googling phrases like, "cat in chef hat".

The Holidays are OVAH. Done done done. I love holidays, I love presents, I love the big deal of it all. I do not love how stressful it becomes for us to do business between October and January. I also do not love not having time to cook.

....but now I do have time! ...and I have been cooking! It is exciting - for me, to not be chained to the office and for the family, who is tired of pizza. Think about what I just said; My KIDS are tired of PIZZA. I know, right? This is the second week since I have gone back to planning our meals ahead of time and shopping with an actual shopping list.

As it is a new year, and some of us like to make resolutions and get re-organized and start fresh, I am going to reiterate my advice to you busy people out there; planning ahead is invaluable. I sit down on Sunday with a cup of coffee, my laptop, and maybe a cookbook or magazine if something has caught my eye. Since we have a share in a local meat CSA, I have a base to start with. For example, this week I knew I wanted to use a whole chicken, pork ribs, and ground lamb. I look at our family calendar and figure out which evenings I have time to prepare, and which evenings it would be best to come home to dinner already made in the crockpot. I try to work in at least one Tex-Mex dish (everyone's favorite) and one pasta (budget-friendly and versatile). As I choose recipes, I make a grocery list.

We have a whiteboard in our kitchen, on which I've drawn out a weekly calendar. On Sundays I update the calendar with everyone's appointments and activities for the week. Each day also has a space on which I write the dinner menu for that day. This serves a few purposes. It's a reminder for me of what we're having on which night, it keeps the kids from asking, "What's for dinner?" every day, and it makes me feel obligated to cook........because some nights I am sorely tempted to let them eat Trader Joe-Joes* from the can while I knit and watch Lie To Me.

Why yes, that is a cat with Miley Cyrus' face.

This system also saves me money. With proper meal planning and a grocery list, I spend an average of $150 per week on groceries (including the meat share). This is for a family of four, three meals a day (brown bag lunch for Eliza, Cammy likes to buy lunch at school, Jeffrey and I eat leftovers). We always have snacks in the house, and we usually have ice cream, and we drink nice organic coffee. I am no spendthrift when it comes to food, I just plan ahead and shop smart.

Here's our menu for this week, as example:

Monday: Crockpot Split Pea Soup, crusty bread

Tuesday: Turkey Burgers, Fries, Caesar Salad

Wednesday: Lamb Stroganoff on Whole Wheat Noodles, Sautee'd Green Beans

Thursday: (crockpot) Orange-Chipotle Pork Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, Soycutash (edamame, corn and pepper blend from Trader Joe's)

Friday: Butternut Squash Soup, Foccacia

Saturday: Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas, Fruit Salad

Sunday: Roast Chicken, Pasta w/ Olives, Lemon & Thyme, Spinach & Strawberry Salad

With the exception of roasting the chicken and the crockpot recipes, which are throw-it-in-the-pan-walk-away, none of these meals will take more than an hour to prepare. I looked in my chest freezer and my cabinets and took stock of what I had, then kept that in mind. The lamb stroganoff is because I had nearly all the ingredients already. The burgers are because the kids demand "kid food" one night a week, and Tuesdays are tough because E gets home from school at 5, but C leaves the house at 6, and Jeffrey is usually at the office until late. We have an hour together, so some kind of grilled cheese or burger or quick pasta is usually the best bet.

At least half of the week, I will make enough for leftovers. If it can be frozen (i.e. the soups, the enchiladas, the stroganoff), then I break it down into single servings with my Seal-A-Meal and pop them in the freezer. Single servings work best, because there is not usually enough left over for an entire second meal for four people......but I can grab a piece of frozen lasagna, take it to the office, and nuke it for lunch.

As for the salads, it's easier to just make what you need for the meal - but sometimes I will make lunch salads as I go so that it makes the next morning a little easier.

I'll be posting recipes this week, I promise! Now I am off to the kitchen, bag of split peas in hand. Have an excellent Monday!

*Trader Joe-Joes are the Trader Joe version of Spaghetti-o's. E eats them cold, from the can, for breakfast, like a hobo. Since they don't contain any HFCS or funky ingredients, they are better than actual Spaghetti-o's - or at least that's what I tell myself.

Shame Spiral

Dudes. DUDES. I am so sorry. I haven't posted since August, and I feel like a jerk. I have let myself down. I hope you do not also feel let down by me, the jerk.

Basically what happened was; I got busy. I went to Provincetown (so fun), then I went to Puerto Rico (gorgeous), then the kids started school and it got busy at work and everything snowballed and the few times I did get to cook fun and/or interesting things I neglected to take pictures and also I felt like a slacker for not updating and I am so ashamed.

I have not really been cooking lately, since I'm spending 12 hours a day in the office frantically shipping packages so as not to ruin Christmas for a bunch of nerds*, but I will be trying to update as much as possible. Then, once Christmas passes, I have a lot of free time for a couple months while I hibernate. I live in Massachusetts, guys. It's cold and dark and it's all you can do you stave off the ennui.

If I don't get time to post before then, I hope you all have the best of holidays (if that is your thing). I will definitely be back right after Christmas, since we have some cool stuff planned for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner and I want to show you the results!

xo,

H

* what up nerds, solidarity

Quickie

I am home, briefly. I returned from San Diego last Wednesday, and this coming Monday I will be heading to Provincetown: The Gayest Town On Cape Cod. I am totally excited for the trip, as it will be a Real Vacation. I may even start working on Secret Project #2, while I have the time and am waiting for Secret Project #1 to begin. Projects! I hesitate to say more, I believe in jinxes.

In the meantime, I am cooking to use up the farm veggies - nothing too exciting, just broiled mixed vegetables with noodles here and a pasta salad there. Though I did learn that brown rice pasta is waaaay better than regular rice pasta, but you have to eat it the same day or it turns to glue in the fridge overnight.

Last night I thought that I was going to make steak on the grill with some awesome Cuban grilled corn and a potato thing, but then I accidentally fell asleep on the couch reading Scott Pilgrim 6 and by the time I woke up I was all "FUCK IT" and cooked burgers instead. I would have felt terrible had I not served a vegetable, so I came up with a ten-minute salad using Things I Dug Out Of The Fridge.

Summer Green Bean Salad

Pesto Vinaigrette

1/4 c wine vinegar

1 garlic clove

1/2 c olive oil

1 T pesto

Salad

1# fresh green beans, trimmed and blanched

1 large tomato, in 1/2" cubes

handful (about 1/2 c) kalamata oilives, roughly chopped

1/2 c feta cheese, crumbled

Toss dressing with salad ingredients. BOOM. DONE.

I served cubed watermelon to round out the meal. Hit with the whole family, even if C did pick out the tomatoes while making retching sounds. She's a charmer.

Twofer

My, this has been an eventful week. Two engagements were announced, I saw an old friend after 6 or 7 years apart, we're shopping and packing and getting ready for our trip to San Diego/kids' trip to camp, and I tried to sit through New Moon. This coming week (we leave next Monday) is shaping up to be pretty busy as well! I am going to try my best to get a couple posts in, hopefully I will cook more than just quesadillas and cereal.

I've got two quick ideas for you today. First, and I cannot believe I've never done this before, I made Tea-Poached Tilapia. It was so easy, and so delicious. Time it right and the fish comes out flaky and tender. You could always marinate, Tilapia takes well to marinade, but I was literally digging around in my freezer and found the fish last minute and had no time to do so. I had only planned on making a veggie stir fry and rice that evening.




Tea Poached Tilapia

4 herbal or green tea bags (I used Twinings lemon ginger)
2 c boiling water
2 T chopped garlic
1 T minced or grated fresh ginger
1 standard bunch scallions, thinly sliced
4 tilapia fillets

Steep tea bags in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. You want a strong brew. Set aside. Saute' the garlic and ginger in approximately 2T oil until garlic is softened. Remove tea bags from water, add brewed tea to the garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a strong simmer. Add the fish fillets to the simmering tea, add the scallions. Cover, simmer for about 3-5 minutes until fish is cooked through. Salt to taste.

Now that you have it, how you serve it is up to you! I pulled the fish out of the poaching liquid (which you can save and freeze and use for soup, or to steam shellfish) and served it on top of jasmine brown rice with stir fried vegetables. I set out an assortment of Asian condiments: like chili sauce, tamari, plum sauce, hoisen, and let everyone dress their own dinner. A fruit salsa would be lovely. You can also turn this into a soup with soba noodles or ramen, and some bean sprouts and snow peas.

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Cameron and I love pickles. Pickled anything. Cam is a fan of anything sour (Salt & Vinegar chips, sour candy), and if it's also spicy she is so down. I have a feeling that she will be the one that I eventually travel to China with, they appreciate sour way more than the West.

I want this to be the year that I can, or "put up" preserves but it has just been too frigging hot to boil mason jars. I'm also disappointed in the low yield of my farm share this year, not sure whether that's just how the season is moving along, or if they're just spread too thin, share wise - but I haven't been really getting enough of any one thing to justify such a large scale project.

Anyway, I'm messing around with refrigerator pickles. I prefer a fresh pickle over cooked, and I guess that this is technically a brine, but I'm really happy with the result. I've tried three, so far. Two of which are great, the other one I just put together yesterday so I can't taste it until the weekend.

Like a vinaigrette, once you have a base you can create your own flavor combo from there. You can use any kind or vinegar, though with balsamic you may want to mess with the sugar proportion since balsamic is so sweet.

Basic Pickling Brine (for one jar)

2 c vinegar
1 1/2 - 2 c raw sugar
1/4 c salt

"Jeebus, that's a lot of sugar!" you say, and you are right - but you need it to counteract the vinegar, especially if you are using white. You could maybe use less if you are pickling fruit (my next experiment), as the fruit has a higher sugar content than cucumbers (duh).

Cucumber, Garlic, Chives, Dill, White Vinegar, Lemon Zest

Cucumber, Coriander, Lemon, Ginger, White Vinegar

Radish, Red Onion, Rice Vinegar, Ginger

July, July, July.. never seemed so strange

Augh, it's hot. We're going through a "heat wave", which in New England means that it's over 80 degrees. Listen, I know that it could be worse - but when your winter is half your friggin' year, you're so busy trying not to kill your family Shining Style that you forget what's it's like to be warm. Plus, it's humid and that is GROSS. We don't have AC, save for in Jeffrey's little home office*, and my small house is set up such that cooking on the stove raises the temperature substantially.

The weekend was for barbecues (it was Independence Day, after all), Monday we had rotisserie chicken, last night we ate at Apollo. Tomorrow and Friday we are invited out to other people's houses, but tonight I have to cook. Tonight is for cold food. Minimal stove time. Tonight is peanut noodles and fresh rolls.

I don't usually make peanut noodles from a recipe, I just kind of mess around until it tastes right, but I came across the following and I have to say that it tastes exactly how I want it to. (I added more garlic and an extra tablespoon of vinegar, but that's just me. I also used whole wheat vermicelli)

Cold Peanut Noodles

recipe courtesy of Catherine Newman

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
1/4 cup hot water
1 pound angel hair pasta, cooked, drained and rinsed
2 scallions, very thinly sliced (optional)
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced into long, narrow strips, then cut crosswise
2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped (optional)

Whisk together first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. Add pasta, scallions, cucumber, and cilantro, and use your fingers to toss and coat the noodles. Add salt or more vinegar if it isn't as vibrant as you like. Let sit at room temperature if you're going to eat fairly soon — otherwise refrigerate.

Our accompaniment was asian-inspired fresh rolls. These are a great way to trick children into eating salad, by the way. There are near endless possibilities as to what you can put in these light, tasty, little packages; once you get the hang of rolling them you will want to make them all the time. I like to put rice noodles in there, usually, but since noodles were the main course it seemed like overkill. Tonight was simple, using what I had on hand.

Chicken, Basil, & Romaine Fresh Rolls

1T rice vinegar
1T soy sauce
1 tsp raw sugar
1 small clove of garlic, pressed or minced
1 tsp fish sauce
zest & juice of 1 lime
2 c cooked chicken, shredded
4 c chiffonade romaine lettuce
1 c chiffonade basil, any variety
1 carrot, grated
package of rice spring roll wrappers, available at any asian market

Whisk together first six ingredients until sugar is dissolved, then toss with shredded chicken. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes, then toss with lettuce, basil, and carrot.

That's your filling, now you need to know how to wrap it up.

First of all: spring roll wrappers come stiff, like uncooked noodles. "IF I BEND THEM THEY WILL BREAK, OH GOD." Don't be scared. Let me walk you through, friend.

1. Set up your work space. The bowl of filling, your package of wraps, a plate or some kind of dish with cold water, and a cutting board or dish to roll them in.

2. Lay one wrapper in the cold water. Wait 30 seconds. Take the wrapper out, being cautious not to rip it. If it falls apart, you left it in too long. If it still feels stiff, like it won't be pliable enough to work with, put it back in the water for a few seconds.

3. Place the wrapper on the work area, and a large pinch of filling in the middle.

4. Wrap it like you would a burrito, keeping in mind that unlike a tortilla this will stick to itself. You also have to work kind of fast so it doesn't get too tacky or soggy. If you don't know how to wrap a burrito, it's pretty simple. Fold the southern "flap" up over the filling. Bring the eastern flap over, then west. Roll it all north.

I have made a video that demonstrates. It was shot by my eleven year old daughter, who spends a lot of time making Ke$ha tribute videos and is handy with a camera.

Once you get used to it, you can soak the next wrap while you're wrapping. Serve as-is, or with a dipping sauce. An easy one is soy, fish sauce and a squeeze of lime. Thai sweet chili is excellent, especially when accompanied by sweet soy sauce. Hoisen, grated ginger, and a shot of lime juice or orange juice is good too.

*that we have totally taken over, the poor man gets no peace.

Musings On Body Image

I've been thinking a lot about body image lately. I'm almost 5' 10", and I weigh about 160 pounds. This is the "biggest" I've ever been, not counting when I was pregnant and postpartum. I'm well within the BMI for a woman my height, but I feel huge - and that's not okay.

Maybe it's because I used to be super thin. Period stopping, anemic thin. I just was. I had a really fast metabolism on top of constant anxiety, and I couldn't have put on pounds if I tried. People (read: other girls) would comment on it, tell me how jealous they were. I was constantly uncomfortable in my own skin. I wore huge clothes (it was the 90's, after all). If you're tall and skinny and awkward, you get called things like "stork" and "giraffe". I hated my small breasts, my bony knees, my pointy elbows.

In my twenties, after I had both of my kids, I felt pretty good. I was comfortable enough to walk around in a bikini top (stretch marks be damned). I started wearing closer fitting shirts. I didn't really think about it very much.

It started a couple years ago. My metabolism slowed down. It was bound to happen. I passed thirty. My job changed. Instead of running around a restaurant five days a week, I was walking around an office and sitting in front of a computer. One day I notice that I have the dreaded Muffin Top. Then my tee shirts are riding up. Then I have to buy new pants.

"Who cares?" you say. "You aren't obese. You're healthy. It's all in your middle and there's not much there. Shut up."

See, that's what the rational part of my brain says too. But my rational brain is speaking in a calm level voice, and being drowned out by the shrieking hysterical part of my brain that's telling me if I keep it up I'm going to be a tall fat lady like Julia Child; towering over everyone and scaring the neighborhood children. I'll have to shop in men's big and tall stores and dress like a lumberjack. I'll have a heart attack at 40.

Where does this come from? Certainly not my family. They don't give a fuck. They're all shapes and sizes and I've never heard the word "diet" come out of their mouths unless it was immediately followed by "Coke". Not my friends, they're not exactly Bridget Jones types. The media? The American standard of beauty? Maybe? Who the hell knows, but it's stupid and I hate it.

The biggest thing here is that it's starting to affect my relationship with food. I don't want to have to hold off on the fries. I really like beer, and bagels, and butter. I don't want to feel guilty for eating mac and cheese......but it keeps happening. Considering that I eat mostly whole foods, that we rarely if ever get fast food and that a good meal makes me really happy, it shouldn't be like this.

So here is what I've been doing:

1. Exercise, and more of it. This needs to happen anyway. Exercise is vital in anyone's life, but most people hate it because "Exercise" is not fun. Going to the gym, running on a treadmill, working out in front of the tv while Jillian Michaels yells at you suuuuuucks. You feel like you have to do these sort of things, and then you resent it. Fuck it. Go outside. Go for a walk, go for a run, push your kid in a stroller or pull them in a wagon, walk your dog. That's exercise. Last night we went down to the town's ratty tennis courts (that nobody goes to because everyone uses the fancy courts at the private school down the road) and hit balls at each other for an hour. We were terrible and every third ball went up and over the fence, but it was really fun. Boom. Exercise. Think about what small things you can do in your day to day life to make it more active. Ride your bike. Take the stairs. Walk to the store. If you hate to Exercise, then don't. At some point you'll give up and be back where you started - getting winded walking from your car into Wal-Mart. Don't be that guy. Are you going to give up walking your dog or running around with your kids? If your answer is yes, then you are terrible and should rethink your life.

2. Don't count calories. First of all, the average person doesn't even know how this works. They're like midichlorians or something? Second, if you count calories, you will CONSTANTLY feel bad about yourself. It doesn't make any sense to me to feel guilty for drinking orange juice. It's the JUICE of an ORANGE for fuck's sake. I don't care about calories. I use common sense. Is the salad better for me than the fried chicken sandwich? Yes. Is the oil and vinegar on the salad a better choice than the blue cheese ranch? Yes. There you go, I just cut calories. How many? Who the hell knows - but clearly the salad was a healthier choice. Frankly, you could put fried chicken on that salad and still be pretty ok. Once you remove the bun, the mayo or whatever, and the french fries you're ahead of the game.

3. I don't own a scale. I don't weigh myself unless I have a doctor's appointment. I have no idea how much I weigh. It's somewhere between 150 and 170 pounds. I don't need to know. Do I feel healthy? Do I like the way I look? Am I getting regular exercise? Do I eat well, and often? If the answer to those questions is "yes", then that's the goal. Not a number. Numbers fluctuate. You can weigh 150 pounds, check two days later and weigh 152. Why would I want to beat myself up over 2 pounds? I'm not going to look any different, or feel any different - and maybe this time next week I'll weigh 148, depending on what I eat and how active I am over that time. By not weighing myself, I cut out all of the guilt and doubt and bad feelings.

4. I remind myself that I am raising girls. Gorgeous girls. I will cry if I ever hear them complain that they "look fat" or if I see them dieting, and will consider myself a failure. It's so important to teach young girls to love and respect themselves. Let's lead by example.

Solstice Cleaning

It's the first day of summer, and I'm hot. Not "hott" like Christina Hendricks, but "hot" like sticky, and I smell like I've been riding the rails. My day has been full of various flavors of annoying first world problems, and as I was telling E how crabby I felt I knocked over a two gallon pitcher of fruit punch. Inside my fridge. It poured into all of the drawers, all over the kitchen floor, and into the dark recesses underneath the refrigerator. This is our third summer here, and as I helplessly watched sticky pink liquid run everywhere I realized that I have never moved the fridge to clean under/behind it.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F*@%ING KIDDING ME," I hollered while E tried really hard to keep a straight face, and I could swear I heard a laugh track and a sad trombone off in the distance.

Well, I really needed to clean out the fridge anyway.......and as I pulled produce out of the drawers I noticed that some of our farm veggies from last week were starting to look a little busted, especially the greens.

Woe.

If you catch wilty greens in time, you can bring them back to life by trimming the end and setting them in a big bowl or sink full of ice water. Sometimes they're just too dried out and/or bruised to make it back but it's always worth a shot. It will take anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour to see results. You'll be able to tell which ones are disposal-bound, because they're the ones that look worse after sitting in the ice bath - soggy and sad. I managed to save some lettuce and some parsley, my beet greens and escarole didn't make it, and the kohlrabi tops had started to yellow. Don't bother with yellowed leafy greens (and broccoli, for that matter). Most of them taste bitter and nasty, and are mostly bereft of nutrients anyway. The longer that produce hangs out after it's been picked, the more vitamins it loses. It's best 4-5 days after it's been harvested (buy local!).

The best thing to do, I decided, was to take the pile of vegetables and turn them into dinner.

Here is the pile.

I weeded out the fruit and put it back, made an herbed avocado and tomato salsa for later, saved the celeriac and scallions for slaw (look for that in a couple days), and started trimming and peeling and chopping what was left.

I sliced the kohlrabi into 1/4" rounds, peeled and quartered the beets, and peeled and sliced the sweet potato. I blanched them in a pot of boiling salted water for about a minute, then shocked in ice water, then set aside in a large bowl. I trimmed the snow peas and garlic scapes, quartered the haruki turnips, peeled and sliced the red onion, and set those in a second bowl. I marinated the vegetables in a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, some chopped garlic and salt and pepper for about a half hour (overnight is also fine if you want to plan ahead). I did so in two separate bowls because I didn't want to pick through before I put them on the grill. As you can see in the photo: I grilled the sweet potato, kohlrabi, and beets directly on the rack because they're bigger. For the smaller stuff I used my grill wok.




I heart my grill wok. It was pretty cheap, I've had it for years, and with a hot grill and a little practice you can make kick ass grilled stir fry. SO great for smaller pieces of food, like shrimp. Nothing falls through the grate!

After the bigger pieces were done, I took them off and sliced them up, then tossed them with olive oil and salt and fresh ground pepper. I sprinkled the whole deal with chopped fresh herbs from my garden.

The veggies were served with crusty bread and mushroom risotto. I didn't make my own risotto this time, I had a bag of Trader Joe's in the freezer. Like I said, it's hot. I was not about to hang around the stove any longer than necessary. Any kind of grain would be nice - or a quick, light pasta like aglio olio.