thoughtful consumption

• apples
• eggs
• cheddar cheese! (I’ve been itching to try this for a while.)
• broccoli
• celery!
• oyster mushrooms
• lettuce
• herbs: dill, lemon balm, and catnip
• spinach
• blueberry oat mini-loaf (consumed immediately, so not pictured)

And here’s what I bought from the store. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Sunday night

I’ve never been happy with my stir-fries. In the spring and fall, we get all these wonderful veggies that say, “Stir-fry me!” It seems like such a great way to use fresh vegetables. But mine always end up mushy or burned.

Finally, I had some success Sunday night. The first key was the Annie Chun’s Stir Fry Sauce I splurged on at Kroger. The second key was rereading the stir-fry section of How to Cook Everything more carefully.

It turns out that I wasn’t adding enough liquid as the veggies cooked.

So here’s what I started with Sunday evening:

green onions, broccoli florets, watermelon radish, and onions and garlic

I had planned to have some shrimp, too, but I got forgot to defrost it. And we had a big lunch, so veggies were enough for supper.

Here’s how it turned out. I was very pleased, and we ate it all up.

Monday night

Since we skipped the shrimp Sunday night, I made scampi instead Monday. I started with “The Simplest and Best Shrimp” recipe from How to Cook Everything. It calls for warming the olive oil over low heat before slowing cooking the garlic. It takes so long to warm the olive oil! But at least I was prepared this time and brought a book to the kitchen. The wait was worth it.

Read Full Post »

I love fall food. Lettuce, onions, and mushrooms! Oh, my! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Thanksgiving was great!

My mom bought a turkey from Nancy and Jacque at Red Hott Tomatoes, and it was sooo good!  I’ve always preferred dark meat, but this white meat was dreamy. All soft and melty and not a bit dry.

Our  contributions to Thanksgiving were sweet potato pie and the butternut squash arugula salad that Natalie recommended. (more…)

Read Full Post »

This Saturday (11/21) there is a farmers’ market and holiday gift extravaganza at the Carrollton Ag Center from 9-3. Here’s the flyer…. (more…)

Read Full Post »

• goat cheese sampler!
• popping corn?
• crunchy sprouts
• par-cel
• eggs
• apples
• cranberry beans
• Komatsuna greens
• Asian braising (or spicy salad) mix (more…)

Read Full Post »

Feeling greens

Tuesday I blanched kale and turnip and radish greens. From what I can figure, about 5 cups of roughly chopped leaves cooks down to about a cup of cooked greens. And that was the kale, which I only boiled a minute. The other greens I boiled for nearly five minutes. Their ratio of fresh to cooked was even higher.

The good thing about blanching en masse is you can reuse the water. I had one pot of boiling water and one bowl of ice water for three rounds of blanching.

Cooked turnip greens feel like velvet! They’re so soft. I just wish they tasted a little better. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Pioneer porridge

We had Pioneer Porridge the other night for a late, late supper. It was terrific! I made it with milk instead of water. Next time, I think I’ll do half and half. It did take about 30 minutes to cook. Maybe if I soak it during the day in the fridge before putting it on the stove at night, I won’t have to be so patient.

I look forward to many more bowls of porridge this winter. With lots of honey on top.

Blueberry Oat Mini-Loaf

So moist! Instead of toasting slices of this little loaf, I microwaved them. They made our morning.

Honey Flax Wheat bread makes great peanut butter sandwiches! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Caramel corn

My step-son’s away at college, and our new hobby is sending him care packages. (Okay, so I guess shipping boxes to Michigan cuts down on the environment benefits of eating local. But it’s his first quarter away.)

The most recent package had a movie theme and included homemade caramel corn. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Behold my new yellow kitchen wall!

And the produce on the table, too.

• Asian turnips with greens
• garlic
• coffee
• lettuce
• arugula
• butternut squash
• eggs
• radishes with greens
• basil (In mid-November? Wow!)
• green onions
• honey flax wheat bread
• blueberry oat mini-loaf
• apples

Fall food: the easy and the greens

I like fall food. So much of it seems self-evident. (more…)

Read Full Post »