We've had three opportunities to visit our CSA farm this year, and it's always a fun experience. We were there over the weekend, and once in June. I forgot to bring my camera this time, but I never posted the photos from June, so I'm still able to share all of our farm love.
One of the great things about the farm is that they really encourage kids to get involved, so our kids have been able to help pick beans (both green and purple, which I'd never seen before, and sadly have no photos of), tomatoes (a literal rainbow of colors), potatoes (both red and blue), and peas:
We picked from pea plants taller than my first-born:
...who is a very adorable helper, by the way:
The farm is located in the same neighborhood as a buffalo farm, which we took a walk to visit. The buffalo were very shy of the large, noisy group of children who came to gawk at them, so I didn't get any really good photos, but a decent one:
The farm has two dogs in residence, both of whom my children adore. This is Juno, who earns her keep by killing woodchucks, and is skeptical of children:
The farm is a lovely place to walk around and explore:
You might find any number of bugs if you look hard enough at the ground:
Or you may find a gigantic dandelion fluff:
Be careful, though -- your shoes will most likely get very wet and muddy during a day at the farm, especially if it's rained nearly every day of the summer:
All in all it's a pretty beautiful place to be:
Each time we've been to the farm we've been able to have lunch with the farmers and their apprentices, as well as with other CSA members. The farmers always put together a delicious salad consisting of greens and vegetables taken out of the ground that morning.
It has really been a wonderful experience for us, getting so close to our food and the people who grow it. The kids complain a little about being put to work, but then I watch them both dig into farm-fresh salads with enthusiasm, sometimes asking for seconds, and I hope years from now they will remember these visits fondly.
15 September 2009
farm visits
02 July 2009
nature's bounty
We've been getting vegetables from our CSA for six weeks now. It has been a really interesting experience. You sign up months ahead of time and agree to pay a certain amount for months of fresh, seasonal, organic produce, but you never know, beyond a general understanding of what's in season at any given time, exactly what you'll be getting or how much.
We're splitting our share of produce with a friend of mine, so the amount we're getting is pretty manageable, most of the time, and sometimes not enough (for example, splitting an average-sized bunch of asparagus in half, where one half goes to a solo person and the other half goes to my family of four often leaves us wanting more). Up to this point, the spring and early summer have been heavy with leafy green vegetables. I have to tell you, we are eating more leafy green vegetables than ever before, including some things we've never seen or heard of. At first it was a little intimidating and overwhelming, but now that I've gotten used to this abundance of green, I'm wondering what I'll do when it's over for the season.
We've gotten plenty of common produce items: asparagus, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, peas in pods, rhubarb, thyme, chives, onions, dill, carrots, radishes. But we've gotten some more unusual items as well. The photo above is of one of the first salads I made this year, created entirely with our farm vegetables. It features two kinds of lettuce, spinach, edible weeds (such as purslane, chick weed and lambsquarter -- I still am not sure what any of those look or taste like, even after eating them), radishes, and chive blossoms. Did you know chive blossoms are edible? They taste very much like concentrated, intense chive flavor, and, much like a strong red onion, will leave a taste in your mouth for hours after eating.
Other new-to-us foods that we've received include watercress, mizuna, bok choi, Chinese cabbage, parsnips, tarragon, pea greens (the leaves from pea plants), garlic scapes, garlic greens, radicchio, senposai, and arugula. Chances are, if you've never heard of something on that list, it's probably a leafy green vegetable.
It's exciting, learning what to do with all these new foods. I'm glad, too, that my kids are getting used to eating all manner of green and/or unusual things in all kinds of dishes, and that, for the most part, they do so willingly. And the fact that everything we're eating from the farm is organic is just a bonus.
As soon as I get some photos uploaded, you'll get to hear about our second trip to the farm, where we got to learn more about where the food on our plates is coming from.
26 May 2009
midweek recipes
The bad news: I'm discontinuing my Weekend Recipe feature. (Remember that? How I used to sporadically post recipes once in a while?)
The good news: I'm compiling all of my recipes online, in a separate blog, found here: Heidi's Collected Recipes.
Mostly this is for myself. My previous system for recipes was to write everything down in one of four notebooks used for recipes, or on random post-its and scraps of paper. By putting everything online I'll be eliminating the hassle of carrying notebooks with me when I travel, as well as the time it takes me to flip through any (or all) of those notebooks to find a particular recipe.
I figured that putting all my recipes online would be an easy way to share recipes with those of you who are interested, as well as keep things organized for myself. It's not really a food blog -- I'm not going to describe how to make anything or write any reviews or take any photos. I post the recipes and write a few notes about what works and what doesn't. I'm also using it to post recipes that I haven't tried but would like to when I get the chance, so if you're going to make something I've posted, be sure to check the notes and see if I've ever made it.
I've been in the process of transferring my collection to the new blog for a few months now, so head over and check it out if you're interested!
04 May 2009
weekend photos
On Saturday we took a trip out to visit the farm that will be growing most of our vegetables for the next 6 months. A couple of months ago we signed up for a CSA -- Community Supported Agriculture, which means that we buy a share of a farm and then get a portion of everything that's grown there during the year. We're excited about knowing exactly where so much of our food will be coming from (bonus: the farm is organic), and it was nice to meet the people who will be growing it. On our visit on Saturday we toured the farm, did some hiking, and shared a potluck meal with other CSA members. It was a gorgeous day, and lots of fun, and tired our children right out.
We started right out with a hike through the fields and woods around the edges of the farm's property. James brought his binoculars for a little bird-watching:
Evan, whose peaceful car-nap was interrupted by our arrival at the farm, was grumpy about having to hike as soon as he woke up:
James did some careful investigating of the ground, looking at bugs and flowers and gopher holes:
Evan perked up eventually. How could anyone be grumpy in the midst of sunny springtime woods, surrounded by hundreds of blooming trilliums?
After our hike we checked out the greenhouses where some of the lettuce we'll be eating later this month is already growing:
Evan enjoyed running through the greenhouse aisles:
We'll have the opportunity to go back to the farm a few times this summer. Part of our membership actually requires working there a couple of times, so I'm sure there will be more farm photos to come throughout the year.
28 February 2009
weekend recipes: this is why you're fat edition
So have you all seen the website This Is Why You're Fat? It's simply a collection of photos of some of the most unhealthy foods known to humankind, most of which have been deep-fried. It's equal parts fascinating and revolting.
It inspired a weekend recipes post, though, in which I'm going to share a few of the reasons why I'll never be a size six again: foods that are terrifically fattening and unhealthy, but, to me, deliciously irresistible. If you know me at all you'll be unsurprised to learn that they're all chocolaty.
The first is my current obsession, homemade chocolate peanut butter cups. They're pretty easy to make, and incredibly difficult not to eat all in one sitting. Way, way better than Reese's. Oh, but a word of advice: if you think this will be a fun project to do with the kiddos, you're wrong, unless you think chocolate messes and sticky hands are fun.
Next up, homemade peppermint patties, which I made for Christmas gifts this year. Not as easy as the peanut butter cups (figuring out how to coat the patties in chocolate without making a mess was a little tough) but very tasty anyway.
Next we have chocolate truffles, which are very easy to make, fun to decorate, and actually not a bad candy project for kids. I think I've done these for Christmas presents as well. And do I need to mention how delicious they are? I'm sure you can imagine.
Lastly, another recipe that's become a favorite around our house: the best chocolate pudding. I will never make chocolate pudding from a box again. I first made this as the filling for a chocolate cream pie over Thanksgiving, and it was a big hit. Since then I've made it a few times just to eat plain, and it's remained good despite various improvisations on my part (using skim milk, part soy milk, cocoa powder instead of bar chocolate, brown instead of white sugar). I've never used a double boiler to make it, and I've never strained it, and it's still one of the finest desserts I've made.
So there you have it, some of my favoritest unhealthy foods. What are yours?
22 December 2008
surviving a vacation at home
Today is Day Three that we were not supposed to be at home. Remember that 6am flight Monday morning we were supposed to be on? Canceled yesterday at noon. Waking up this morning to mountains of snow and more coming down, I can understand why. Hopefully the weather will be clear enough to fly us out tomorrow. Otherwise we might miss Christmas, and here's how we feel about that:
(Those are sad faces, if it's not obvious.)
We haven't been home for Christmas since before James was born, and we haven't had this much snow in a couple of years, so we are trying to make the most of our unintended vacation and have as much fun as we can.
On Saturday we went sledding, and while we have no photos of the actual sledding, we have happy smiles of kids playing in the snow:
(I think we need a new camera; the color quality of our photos is going further and further downhill.)
When not playing outside, my kids have been spending a lot of time with video games. They're still hooked on Spore, and they got Lego Batman from my sister and her husband for Christmas, so it's hard to tear them away sometimes. Ordinarily I try to keep the video games to a minimum, but really, I can't bring myself to care lately. We're supposed to be with their grandparents right now. If video games make them a little less sad about that, so be it.
I've been baking a lot, because what's Christmas without baking? So we have pumpkin muffins and granola bars and peanut butter cups, and an apple strudel for breakfast this morning. The snow has been heavy enough to intimidate us from going to the grocery store (that and the thought of all the terrible drivers on the road) but it's amazing what you can make from odds and ends in the cupboards and the freezer.
The best, though, is the gingerbread house my friend Sara brought over yesterday. Here's what it's supposed to look like, per the package:
And here's how ours turned out:
When we opened the package, we found a lot of broken pieces that had to be repaired with frosting. Most of the little figures were broken as well, though the frosting couldn't glue them back together. So our happy holiday gingerbread house evolved into a sort of Christmas House of Horrors. The hunchback was the perpetrator (at least we think he/she/it is a hunchback -- a little hard to tell with these candy people): the little boy is strung up on the side of the house, and the little girl has been decapitated in the front yard. We contributed to the depravity by committing cannibalism once the house was finished.
Here's a close-up of the poor little girl.
So that's how we're filling our vacation days. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be off to the west coast, and hopefully we'll make it in time for Christmas. I'll keep you all updated.
05 December 2008
friday photos: thanksgiving edition
I forgot to bring my camera to my mom's house for Thanksgiving, so I'm stealing some of my sister's photos to post. I spent a lot of time hogging her sweet camera, so it's pretty likely that I took these photos anyway. These are, by the way, photos of three of the things I was most thankful for over our Thanksgiving vacation.
James has been experimenting with a ponytail lately, and this is his samurai impression:
Those of you who know Greg will not be surprised when I say that he was the instigator of the frosting war paint:
Amazing turkey cupcakes that my sister and her husband bought.
Okay, so I'm kidding about cupcakes being one of the top three things I'm thankful for, but seriously, look at the detail on that frosting. That entire thing is edible, and extremely rich and delicious. And we all know that Thanksgiving is about cramming yourself full of desserts that singularly exceed your recommended daily intake of calories. Besides, it's not as easy to take photos of the things I'm truly thankful for: love, good health, prosperity, safe travels, family togetherness, and all that good intangible stuff.
31 October 2008
friday photos: halloween edition
No photos yet of the kids in costume, but we've been getting in the Halloween spirit in other ways.
Chocolate Mice:
(Not a great photo, I know, but I swear to you those delicious little mice were impossible to photograph!)
Spider Deviled Eggs:
I made some nerdy Halloween decorations:
And another jack o'lantern masterpiece from Greg: a skeleton/snowman jack o'lantern.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
23 September 2008
what's for lunch
Yesterday James had the best lunch he's had since the school year started. This is because the siren song of saturated fat and empty calories is so alluring to my son that I agreed to let him choose one or two lunches per month to buy in the cafeteria, and yesterday was his first school lunch.
"It was awesome! I had a cheeseburger -- with extra ketchup! -- and rice balls with bread on the outside,** and an apple and applesauce!"
I have had a fear of school lunches ever since I read Fast Food Nation several years ago. It's been too long for me to accurately remember all of the details, but the basic reason school lunches are so terrible is because government subsidies make meat and dairy the cheapest foods for schools to buy, so lunches are very heavy on meat and dairy (and, consequently, fat) and not so big on fresh fruits and vegetables or whole grains. Looking at James' school's September lunch menu, I see entrees such as mozzarella sticks, nachos, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, several varieties of breaded and fried chicken, and pizza every Friday. Sure, they're serving canned fruit and vegetables every day, but somehow I doubt calling your sides "sunny corn" or "yummy carrots" adds much to their appeal.
On top of the questionable nutrition of school lunches, we also have a commitment to eating ethically-raised animal products on a very limited basis, so you can see why we're not keen on school lunches. We more than qualify for the free and reduced lunch program, but as cheap as I am I just can't bring myself to sacrifice my son's nutrition to save some money. So I've been trying to be creative with packing James' lunches so that he won't feel left out of the daily grease ingestion.
Let me tell you, there are some good resources out there for school lunch ideas. I've been taking inspiration from the idea of bento boxes, which are Japanese home-packed meals featuring a wide variety of foods, and often some cool artistic designs made from food. There are many photo sets on Flickr showing ways in which people have adapted the bento idea for other types of foods and cuisines. I've also been checking out Vegan Lunch Box (not that we're vegan, but I got the corresponding cookbook from the library and it has a lot of great ideas as well as some tasty-looking recipes) and LunchNugget, two blogs in which mamas document the tasty lunches they make for their offspring.
Now, I'm not nearly ambitious (or awake) enough at 7:30am to use cookie cutters on vegetables, or fashion octopuses out of hot dogs, and we don't have a real bento box in which to artistically arrange lunch. But I do find it really useful to have so many ideas to consider, so that my kid is not just taking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple to school every day (which, incidentally, is Evan's lunch nearly every day, since he does not yet know what he's missing). And James, luckily, is willing to let me experiment and find out how well a burrito or a leftover chicken drumstick holds up in the lunchbox for three hours.
So far he seems to be satisfied with a once or twice a month special school lunch. Let's hope I'm good enough at this creative lunch-packing to make that last the whole year.
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**Tater tots. How happy am I that my kid doesn't know what a tater tot is?
10 September 2008
the tale of the twenty-five dollar zucchini
You may remember that I was attempting to grow zucchini in a container on my back step this summer. Let me tell you the story of my zucchini plant and why my ambition to be a gardener will be a long, hard, uphill battle.
First I should explain that I come from a family of farmers. Well, okay, one farmer, my grandfather, and he had a dairy farm, but I do have many relatives who are good with plants, including my sisters and my mother. When I was young, after my grandfather retired from dairy farming, he kept a small garden in the front yard. I vividly remember eating carrots pulled straight from the ground with dirt still clinging to them, and gobbling garden-fresh green beans.* But the zucchini -- it was my grandfather's zucchinis that were truly spectacular. My sister would collect zucchinis as long as our forearms and twice as thick around, and bake loaves of her famous zucchini bread.
So I've been a big zucchini fan since childhood. For the last several years I've loaded up on the cheap, abundant, enormous zucchinis from the farmer's market and made zucchini bread, zucchini brownies, zucchini cupcakes, zucchini stir-fries, zucchini fritters, zucchini lasagna, and so on and so forth. I have, over the years, collected an impressive number of recipes in which zucchini is the featured ingredient. So imagine my happiness when a friend of mine called early in the summer and offered me some zucchini seedlings.
He brought over three little seedlings for me one night, and I went to the local gardening store a couple of days later to buy a gigantic planter and pounds and pounds of dirt in which to plant my little seedlings.
"Do you think this is going to be worth it?" Greg asked when I came home, my wallet twenty-five dollars lighter.
"Sure!" I said. "Zucchini plants produce ridiculous amounts of zucchini. They're unstoppable!" I had big plans, big hopes and dreams for these little seedlings. No more supporting the local farmers for me -- I was going to be a local farmer!
So I planted my three tiny little seedling, and one died almost instantly. That's okay, I thought, there are two more. That's more than enough. And my two remaining seedlings began to flourish. I was excited, watching the leaves grow bigger and broader, watching the big yellow flowers begin to develop. Then my first little zucchini fruit began to appear, and I took photos and posted about it on my blog, because, look! I'm growing food!
And that first little zucchini, once it got to be about four inches long, inexplicably began to rot and die. I scoured the internet for advice, and then, before I could self-diagnose and treat my plant, it grew another zucchini. This one grew into a beautiful shiny ten-inch vegetable before I plucked it and turned it into soup. Now there was no stopping my zucchini plant.
Perhaps I should stop here for a moment to note that part of the reason I was so excited to grow my own zucchini is because all those green-thumb genes I mentioned above are apparently recessive in me. I like plants, but really only do well with those that tolerate neglect. I might describe my thumb as a sort of sickly yellowish color with accents of brown on the edges -- which, incidentally, is the color the leaves of my zucchini plant began to turn shortly after I harvested that first perfect fruit.
I plucked off the dead leaves, I treated my plant for powdery mildew, I moved it to the front of the house where it could get more sunlight, and my efforts almost worked. The plant produced a few more zucchini, but every one rotted and died on the vine. The leaves recovered and are again a healthy, happy green, and there are still a couple of flowers, cheerful and sunshine-colored, but there are no more little zucchinis beginning to grow, and I suspect there will be no more this season.
So my first food-gardening experiment yielded one zucchini. One twenty-five dollar zucchini. Meanwhile, over the course of the summer when I was too impatient to wait for my own plant to mature, I continued buying zucchini from the market. Four for a dollar, for zucchinis as long as my children's limbs and twice as fat around.
I think next year I'll stick with the farmer's market.
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*Every grandchild was affixed with an identifying label, growing up. My sisters were saddled with animals: one was known to love butterflies, and the other, elephants. Not that they actually loved these animals, but that was my grandmother's pronouncement, and once decided, these preferences were all but carved into stone. Christmas presents were very predictable. Me, I was known for loving green beans. Since green beans don't translate well into Christmas gifts, I ended up with random unpredictable items, such as dolphin figurines. I think I'd have liked the green beans better, personally.
07 September 2008
weekend recipe: zucchini chowder
The weekend recipes are back! You know, until I forget about them again. But I've got a fabulous recipe to share tonight, posting it with just a couple of hours left in the weekend, so it still counts as an official weekend recipe.
Allow me to introduce the Zucchini Garden Chowder. This recipe, like all of my recipes, originated somewhere else, somewhere I can no longer remember, and though I've personalized it a little, credit should be given to some genius cook out there. Not me. This has become my new favorite recipe for cool or rainy summer days. Most of these ingredients are still available at my farmer's market, so if you're as lucky as I am you may be able to try this out before summer officially comes to a close. It's pretty quick to throw together, it's healthy and filling and, of course, delicious.
Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, chopped (give or take -- the zucchinis at our market are so enormous that I've successfully used wildly differing amounts of zucchini in this recipe; I'd say typically 3-4 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil (or chop up a bunch of fresh basil)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
salt
pepper
3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock (or water)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (or a nice big squeeze from half a lemon, or leave it out, it's not crucial)
2-3 cups diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups corn kernels
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
In a stock pot over medium heat, melt butter, and saute zucchini, onion and basil until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in stock and lemon juice. Bring soup to a boil; reduce heat and cook for a couple of minutes while it thickens up a bit. Add tomatoes, milk and corn. Return soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes or until corn is tender. I usually stir a couple of times to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.
At this point you can let it sit and keep warm for a while if you need to. Just before you're ready to eat, stir in the cheese until it's all melty and delicious-smelling.
This makes a huge batch of soup, and with some bread for dipping it makes a solid meal. My entire family actually eats this -- this is the meal that made Evan decide, very deliberately, to start liking tomatoes -- and even after a couple of us have had seconds, we have enough left over to throw in the freezer and save for another cool or rainy day. We have some in the freezer right now and I think I'm going to wait until the farmer's market starts to dry up for the winter and then break out this soup to bring back the tastes of summer.
14 July 2008
monday food blogging
I don't have much to write about lately, so I'm posting some photos of recent adventures in food.
1) Mulberries: I bought these at the market because I'd never had them or even seen them before. They're pretty, with a subtle, not-too-sweet taste, but they go bad quickly.
2) Monkey cake: I made this banana cake for a children's monkey party hosted by a friend of mine, and it was scrumptious. And cute. Ignore the sloppy decorating please.
3) Zucchini! I don't know whether I've mentioned it here yet, but I'm attempting to grow zucchini in a container on my back step this summer, and this afternoon I noticed my first tiny zucchini growing! This is the first food I've ever grown (if you don't count herbs, which I don't), so I'm very pleased with myself. And I'm very impatiently awaiting the day when I can pick this little zucchini and eat it right up.
24 June 2008
midweek recipe
Tonight I made what Greg and I agreed to be the worst meal I've ever made. It was a "simple dal" -- lentils cooked with Indian-style spices, and it was simply disgusting. I don't know what went wrong -- the cardamom? the cloves? (both of which seemed suspicious to me when I added them to the pot) -- and I will never know, because I will never make this dish again. I've been obsessed with Mark Bittman lately (author of "How to Cook Everything" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", among other things) because his recipes are generally quite good, but this? Unspeakably bad.
I'm not giving you that recipe. I'm willing to blame myself, and not Mark Bittman, for my culinary failure, but I'm not going to think about that dish ever again.
But last night, I made one of my best meals ever. It's one of the first things Greg and I ever cooked together, and remains one of our favorites. My sister and Greg and I invented it -- not that it's incredibly unique, not that no one's ever combined these particular things before, but it's one of the few things I can reliably make well without a recipe, and it's delicious. Incredibly delicious.
Lemon-Asparagus Pasta
This is not a real recipe, so I don't have precise amounts of things to tell you, but you will need:
pasta
olive oil
garlic, minced
salt
pepper
lemon
Parmesan cheese
asparagus, chopped into chunks
Cook your pasta. Whatever style you like, though we usually use angel hair or something similar.
Heat some oil in a skillet. Since there's no real sauce for the pasta in this dish, I tend to go heavy on the oil, and sometimes add butter too, so I can drizzle it over the pasta at the end. If you don't like the flavor of your meals to come from delicious fat, use only a tablespoon or two.
Add the garlic (I do two cloves or so). Sometimes I also add some chopped onion, but not always. Let it cook for a minute or two.
Add the asparagus. Stir things around a little, and then cover your pan for a couple of minutes. You want your asparagus to be bright green, and easy to stick with a fork. This only takes a few minutes, so pay attention or you'll overcook it. I usually add the Parmesan at the same time as the asparagus -- just give it a good sprinkling of cheese and stir it around a bit.
Season it with some salt and pepper, however much you like. Dish out your pasta onto your plates, and top the pasta with the asparagus, and some oily fatty scrumptious drizzle, if you're so inclined. Give it a squeeze of fresh lemon. I discovered last night that it's also good to top it off with a little feta cheese.
And that's it. Serve it with a salad or some bread, or just enjoy it by itself. It's fast, easy, flexible, and now that asparagus is in season, it's the perfect time for it. Even the kids liked it -- James, who's been eating asparagus since he could chew it, inhaled his and asked for seconds; Evan, well, it's a good meal when Evan doesn't leave the table in tears. He actually ate all the pasta, even if he wouldn't touch the asparagus.
I only had one bunch of asparagus from the farmer's market, and three of us were so disappointed when it was gone that I'm planning to go back to the market on Thursday (the next time the market is held, or I'd go sooner) and buy more asparagus so we can have it again this weekend.
Enjoy!
15 June 2008
father's day/weekend photos/weekend recipes
Happy Father's Day! We had a fun day today, celebrating Greg with one of his favorite things -- fresh strawberries. Today was the opening day of the season at the U-Pick farms around here, a couple of weeks earlier than usual thanks to some unusually warm spring weather, so we went out this afternoon and picked fourteen and a half pounds of strawberries. The first, which I neglected to take a photo of, was a spinach strawberry salad that we had with dinner. It's a really simple recipe, one I got from the mother of a friend of mine: spinach, sliced strawberries and crumbled feta cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It sounds weird, I know, but the combination of sweet, salty and tangy really works nicely. I used this vinaigrette recipe, and I added about a teaspoon of brown sugar and a little strawberry juice that had collected in the bottom of the bowl. I thought when I was making it that the garlic might be a mistake, but it turned out fine. I'm sure a store-bought dressing would be just as good. And for dessert we had strawberry shortcake! Soooo goooood. I found this shortcake recipe, which is a bit more like a biscuit than cake, but still good. We split each shortcake open and topped the halves with a layer of strawberries. We forgot to sugar the strawberries ahead of time, so we decided to try sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar, which turned out to be a nice touch. Then we topped the strawberries with fresh whipped cream and mini chocolate chips, and most of us were able to refrain from licking our plates clean, but it was hard. That was a good dessert. This one I took a photo of: Hope everyone had a happy weekend/Father's Day!
And then we came home and ate 10 pounds of them. At least, that's what it felt like. But just look at these; I mean, could you really help yourself when faced with these perfect sun-warmed little berries?
You probably won't be surprised to learn that both kids were more interested in snacking than picking the strawberries:
And we managed to eat quite a few more once we got home, with a couple of strawberry dishes. 
13 April 2008
weekend recipe
I'm lazy this weekend, but that might work out better for you. Instead of writing up one recipe I like, I'm going to link to several recipes I've tried lately.
Carmelized Tofu -- I used spinach instead of brussels sprouts, and parsley instead of cilantro, and skipped the pecans, but everyone in my house agreed that this was the best tofu we've ever had. EVER. Evan doused it in ketchup, but still, he ate it, which is more than I can say for most meals.
Jam and Streusel Muffins -- I was looking for a way to use up some old apricot jam we had sitting around, and stumbled across this recipe. I used sour cream instead of yogurt, skipped the nuts, and substituted brown sugar for maple sugar, and these muffins were totally delicious. The cardamom gives them an unusual flavor, but it's good. Goooood.
Whole Wheat Honey Bread -- For those of you with bread machines (or those of you who are ambitious enough to make bread by hand), this is quite possibly the best homemade bread I've ever had. It's definitely the best I've ever made, and I'm baking a loaf every two or three days to keep up with the demand. Scrumptious.
Roast Leg of Lamb -- This may seem odd in light of our new vegetarian leanings, but our grocery store had naturally-raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free lamb on sale. So yeah, we ate the leg of a poor little lamb (my older son kissed the package and whispered an apology) but at least his brief life was happy. And let me tell you, that leg was delicious. This recipe marinates the meat in a citrus-wine-herb sauce, and it comes out so tender and juicy and delicious. We all loved it despite our guilt.
Lamb and Winter Vegetable Stew -- And what to do with the leftovers? (Because even my carnivorous boys can't eat 5 pounds of lamb at once.) I made a lamb stew, with carrots and potatoes in place of parsnips and sweet potatoes. Greg thought it was a little bland, but he spiced it up with some hot sauce and was pretty happy with it, though he thought he would have liked horseradish or worcestershire sauce better. I thought a little salt and pepper made it very good.
So that's what we've been eating this week. And our tummies are full and we are all happy.
07 April 2008
food, glorious food
It was a good weekend. We got our car back on Friday and I was able to go grocery shopping and I can't even describe to you how wonderful it felt. It seems that both of my children, especially James, chose the Week of Dwindling Food Supplies to have a growth spurt, so we were getting pretty desperate toward the end of the week. Compare to the state of our fridge after shopping, which is much closer to its usual state: Yes, I've probably reached a new low here by posting before and after photos of my refrigerator on the blog. I do think it's interesting, though, to peek into other people's refrigerators. A person's food choices can tell you a lot about that person. I'd write about what I think my refrigerator says about me, but now I'm too hungry, so I'll let you speculate if you wish.
On Friday, when I left for the store, our fridge looked like this:
It may look as if there's still a good amount of food in there, but it's pretty much all condiments. With a little milk and beer. We love condiments, but what good are mustard and maple syrup and salsa and jam and sour cream when you've got nothing to put them on?
Yogurt! Eggs! Apples! Orange juice! You can't see into the drawers, but they are similarly stuffed, with cheese and fresh produce.
20 March 2008
more food talk, and a vacation
First order of business: Several people asked how the Guinness Corned Beef turned out, and I can happily recommend it, with the caveat that you make sure to choose a beer you really like, because it will rather taste like beer. But not overwhelmingly so -- our kids ate it with no complaint. I served it with this Irish Champ (I tried to convince the kiddos that the green onions were delicious Irish confetti, to no avail) and cooked up some carrots and cabbage with the beef, and it was most delicious with the beefy-beery sauce spooned over everything. A pretty satisfactory St. Patrick's day dinner, overall.
Second: While I'm on the subject of food, I have to also enthusiastically recommend these homemade granola bars. I lightened up on the brown sugar and honey, and used a mixture of craisins and mini chocolate chips in place of the raisins, and they're maybe my favorite snack ever.
Third: I'm leaving tonight for a visit with my sister and her family, just as Greg is getting over an illness and James is coming down with one. I almost feel bad about leaving them in their various states of ill health, but then I ask Evan to put some books away and he suddenly loses all the bones in his legs and the screaming starts and I remember that OH MY GOD am I ready for a vacation. Yes, my vacation will be with small children, but they are not my small children, and I'm not the person primarily responsible for them. So I'm loading up my mp3 player with good music (music with swear words, even!) and happily anticipating all the quiet time I'll have to read in the airport and on the plane, and I don't feel that badly anymore.
There's one thing I'm sorry about missing this weekend. Not anything Easter-related, oh no. Due to Greg's competent electronic repair skills, we recently acquired an XBox 360, and there is a tentative plan to purchase Rock Band this weekend. Now there's something I'll be glad to come home to. Oh, I suspect I'll miss my boys after a couple of days, and may even want to see them more than I'll want to be playing Rock Band, but at the moment I'm really looking forward to loving them from a distance.
17 March 2008
irish for the day
Today is St. Patrick's Day, of course, and because I have a tiny percentage of Irish heritage somewhere waaaay back in my ancestry, and because I like Irish music, and the color green, I have always liked this holiday. I don't know a thing about Saint Patrick, and my idea of Irish music is to put on the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, but it still makes for a fun holiday.
I'm always a little iffy on the food, though. I'm okay with having the traditional corned beef once a year, but that this big hunk of meat is traditionally boiled has always grossed me out a little bit. I've cooked it this way time and time again, and enjoyed eating it, but always with a little shiver of revulsion at the fact that I'm eating boiled meat. I don't know why, but something about boiled meat just rubs me the wrong way.
But yesterday I stumbled across this recipe for Guinness corned beef, which is actually cooked in the oven! I decided to do mine in the crockpot, and we didn't have any Guinness around, but I substituted the stoutest beer we had in the fridge, and right now every time I take the lid off of the crockpot I am assaulted by the scnet of hot beer and I kind of want to vomit. But, I was unsure about the crazy Voodoo Cake I made yesterday, and that turned out to be surprisingly wonderful, and very rich, so I'm hoping I'll be surprised by this strange beef as well.
After our massive beef ingestion tonight, we'll be returning to our newly acquired state of semi-vegetarianism. And I swear I'm not turning my blog into a food blog, but that's all I can think of to write about lately. Just wait, next week after I return from visiting my sister, this blog will be plastered in photos of my new nephew. Strange foods and new babies, two of my favorite things.
16 March 2008
expressions of love
I was going to do a weekend recipe this weekend, really I was, but then I got too busy cooking. You see, last Wednesday was Greg's birthday, and for the people I love (read: the people I live with who have no option to refuse), I bake birthday cakes. And for my lovely boyfriend, I will spend most of the afternoon making a cake full of questionable flavor combinations, dirtying just about every dish in the kitchen, because I love him, and baking is one of my favorite ways to express my love.
Sometime last week, Greg was making popcorn and hunting in the spice cabinet for something to put on it when he spied a jar of molasses. I hadn't realized until that moment how much Greg loves molasses, until he suggested putting it on our popcorn. Then he started rhapsodizing about his ideal popcorn toppings, which included flavors like molasses and mocha and caramel. Needless to say, I shot this train of thought down pretty much immediately, because unless popcorn is covered in butter or chocolate, I won't eat it. But he did give me something to think about.
Later on, I put "molasses mocha caramel cake" into Google and came up with a recipe for Chocolate Voodoo Cake. After looking it over and seriously underestimating the time and effort involved, I decided to make it for Greg's birthday cake.
I started the cake process at 3:30 this afternoon. Now it's around 8:30pm and we've got another 45 minutes of refrigeration until the glaze is set and the cake is ready to be poked with our voodoo needles. In the interest of saving time, I didn't bother to shape the cake, thinking I could mask any lopsidedness with the mousse and/or the glaze. This, of course, didn't work at all, so we've got a very misshapen little cake. And we tried, we really tried with those stupid chocolate caramel voodoo needles, but ours are all blobby, and either too fat or too thin.
Still, I tasted every bit of batter over every step of the way, and I'm convinced that though it is a really strange combination of things, it will taste good even if it's not pretty. And trust me, it's not pretty.
So happy belated birthday, honey. There aren't many people who I'd deem worthy of almost six hours (non-continuous, but still!) of my labor, just for a birthday cake, but you're one of 'em. I just hope this cake is worth it.
02 March 2008
weekend recipe: chunky vegetable stew
This week's recipe comes from (I think) Vegetarian Times magazine, from where I get a lot of awesome recipes. It's pretty basic, and easily tweakable, and, of course, delicious. Like the last recipe I posted (I originally wrote "last week's recipe" before checking and realizing that it's been three weeks since I posted a recipe -- oops!), it's one you can leave simmering on the stove for as long as you need to, and it's great for cold weather. I give you:
Chunky Vegetable Stew
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thickly sliced (though I usually chop, because I don't like huge chunks in my stew)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes, undrained (I usually use a can of onion-and-garlic-flavored diced tomatoes)
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (same thing as chickpeas, and I use 1 can, drained and rinsed)
2 sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
3/4 tsp crushed rosemary (I don't know if the original recipe intended for fresh or dried, but I always use dried)
1 zucchini, sliced (I'm convinced spinach would be a good substitute for the zucchini, though Greg has never let me try that variation)
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium hear. Add onion; separate slices. Cook 5 minutes or until onions are soft. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
Add tomatoes with juice, beans, yams, and rosemary. (You will want to add more liquid, because it will look like there's barely any in there, but trust me, it's not necessary. It won't hurt, but you don't need to.) Bring to a boil (it's a bit hard to tell because of the low amount of liquid, but you'll figure it out); reduce heat to low and simmer, covered.
Here you have a couple of options. Back in our meat-eating days, we added sliced kielbasa (around 1 pound, I think) at this point, which adds a ton of flavor. Whether or not you're adding meat, you will decide at this point how thick and mushy you like your stew. We like to let this simmer for a couple of hours, turning the yams into a nice pasty base for the rest of the soup. If that doesn't sound good to you, then move along to the last bit.
Add the zucchini about 15-20 minutes before you're ready to serve the stew. Otherwise your zucchini will get mushy along with your yams, and mushy zucchini is not a good thing. Let your stew simmer until everything is as soft as you'd like it, then stir in some salt and pepper (I like a lot of salt in this, especially without meat) and sprinkle with Parmesan (fresh or not; we usually don't keep fresh around but the powdery stuff is fine) before serving.
