veggies: 6/2/11

- yellow & petit pan squashes

- leeks

- green onion

- swiss chard

- carrots

- little yellow potatoes

- sweet onions

Mexican food tonight! We're eating pozole at home & then hitting up a paleteria for dessert. Yum!

veggies: 5/19/11

- red potatoes!

- a big, fat onion. Are you a sweet onion? We're not sure yet.

- swiss chard

- BEEEEETS! :)

- carrots

- green onions

- green garlic

veggies: week 12

I think I may have missed posting about the veg last week. Maybe not. My brain's been kind of forgetful lately.

- snow peas

- sad-looking lettuce (It's cool. I'll still eat it.)

- carrots

- BEETS! :)

- leeks

- green garlic

- turnips

- easter egg radishes

Tonight, as I prep for tomorrow's Royal Wedding Party, Russell J is taking over dinner & making Ranch Style Chicken à la The Pioneer Woman. Come hang out with me tomorrow & wear your tiara?

veggies: week 11

- green garlic

- swiss chard

- baby beets (totally not enough beets to satisfy my beet cravings)

- green onions

- carrots

- more easter egg radishes

- lettuce

- arugula

veggies: week 10

- spinach

- arugula

- lettuce

- kohlrabi

- carrots

- leeks

- dill

- turnips

veggies: week 9

- swiss chard

- carrots

- easter egg radishes

- baby fennel

- spinach

- lettuce

- arugula

- parsley

- green onion

Going to Tahoe for the weekend! See you when we get back!!

veggies: week 8

- kohlrabi

- spinach

- more easter egg radishes (yuck)

- beets (yummmm)

- green garlic (also yummm)

- two of the biggest turnips I've ever seen

- lettuce

- swiss chard

And dinner was: chicken tacos with a roasted beet, kohlrabi, & feta salad with honey vinaigrette. Yum :)

veggies: week 7

- lettuce

- a delicious, large bunch of carrots (I really like seeing how some of the veggies get larger as the season goes on.)

- easter egg radishes

- kale

- parsley

- green onions

- spinach

- collards

- purple cabbage, which is much prettier than I ever thought it would be.

After mopping up the lake that forms in the bottom of our fridge (which we have tried to get our landlord to replace several times, but hey, c'est la vie) & cleaning out anything that looked funky, I am leaving the kitchen in the capable hands of my very Irish boyfriend & am excited to see what he comes up with.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

veggies: week 6

- carrots

- kohlrabi

- turnips

- green garlic

- TONS of cilantro (awesome for me, not so awesome for Russell J)

- lettuce

- kale

- spinach

- swiss chard

Tonight, we went to Avant-Garden at the DBG and had a lovely time. I love that we can still make time for mid-week, put-your-Sunday-best-on, spend-too-much-for-dinner dates :)

i hate your store, but i love your pudding

So. There is this restaurant/grocery store/pizza place/really hip joint for the Scottsdale moms to drink coffee & eat muffins. It is down the street from me. And every single time I go there, I end up leaving upset. They serve pizza at different times depending on the day. I always get elbowed by someone. I never end up ordering the correct item at the correct register. And last week, when I was going to tell the girl behind the counter that I loved her hair color, she seemed annoyed at having to ring up my purchases, so I didn't. BUT, they have the most amazing chocolate pudding I have ever eaten in my whole entire life. And for that, I keep going back, Pavlovian in my obsession. I keep telling myself that I'm going to find a similar recipe & make the same pudding. But part of me just wants to stop there every other day on my way home from work & buy it. Because it comes in a little plastic pudding cup with a snap-on top. And the whipped cream on top is perfect & thick, even the day after I buy it. And I am obsessed, I tell you.

I found a use for arugula. Thanks to Bekah, I tried to make an arugula pesto, which was a GREAT SUCCESS, so much so that I doubled the recipe, froze the extras, & am planning to eat them later.

I also pried the shepherd's pie recipe from the recesses of Russell's brain. It went something like this:

Me: Hey, where did you find that recipe?

R: On the internet somewhere. Shepherd's Pie for Dummies? 30 Minute Casseroles? Really Easy Shepherd's Pie?

Me (after recognizing the recipe by the photo): Okay, okay, so you subbed chicken & chicken broth. How many turnips did you add? Three? Okay. How long did you boil the broccoli?

R: I don't know. Until they were done? Four minutes? I also sassed up the potatoes.

Me: How?

R: I added butter & cream.

Me: How much?

R: However much you add to make them good.

We obviously come from different schools of cooking. But here it is, the famous recipe for Russell J's Shepherd's Pie, based very, very loosely off of this recipe:

- 1 1/2 lbs leftover rotisserie chicken

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 cup each celery, broccoli, & carrots (or whatever you have around)

- 3 potatoes

- 3 turnips

- 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick)

- 1/2 cup chicken broth

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

- salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel & quarter potatoes & turnips, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes). Drain.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan.

3. Saute onion in butter onions in butter over medium heat (2 minutes). Add the carrots & celery & cook until onion is tender.

4. While onion, carrots, & celery, are cooking, bring some water to a boil in a saucepan. Boil broccoli about 4 minutes, until bright green. Drain.

5. Add chicken, salt & pepper, & 1/2 cup chicken broth to onion, carrots & celery. Cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes.

6. Mash potato/turnip mixture in bowl with butter & heavy cream. Season to taste. (If you are Russell J, you recommend blending them in a KitchenAid Pro 600 series. However, this is only a suggestion.)

7. Place chicken/onion mixture in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Distribute mashed potato/turnip evenly on top. Make peaks with a fork.

8. Cook until bubbling & brown, about 30 minutes. Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Finally, I need some swimsuit advice. After nearly fifteen years of wearing bikinis, I have to drag myself back to the land of the one-piece swimsuit for my job as a camp nurse this summer. If you were my supervisor (in a land where I can justify spending over $100 for a swimsuit), would these be too risque to wear in front of 7-to-15-year-olds?

veggies: week 5

-lettuce

-arugula

-spinach

-dill

-swiss chard, which reminds me of the good old days of eating at the only vegetarian restaurant in Puebla, Mexico & beginning my journey of eating whatever anyone gives me, as long as I'm traveling

-green onion

-daikon radishes (NOOOOOOOOOO!)

-Scarlet Queen Red salad turnips

Shamefully, I didn't cook at all last week after Russell's first, amazing attempt at shepherd's pie. It was phenomenal. So phenomenal, in fact, that it's all I ate over the weekend while Russell was off skiing. Yum. He claims to be working on a recipe that is more practical for 2 people, as opposed to the 13'x9' recipe we made the first time, but I'd be okay keeping things just as they are.

veggies: week 4 (or so)

Today!!!

- lettuce

- spinach

- broccoli

- arugula

- parsley

- collard greens

- kale

- Hakurei Japanese turnips, which, according to the CSA are "fruity-sweet...[and] great raw or lightly cooked. Even if you're not crazy about traditional turnips, give these a try...you'll be surprised."

Tonight is Russell J's turn for dinner & he is cooking up a shepherd's pie with chicken, carrots, celery, broccoli, & a potato/turnip mutant topping (However, he is prohibited from using my fruity-sweet turnips, in case they really do outshine "traditional" turnips).

P.S. NO RADISHES!!!

P.P.S. Russell likes to listen to NPR while he's cooking. Nerdy adorable!

confessions

Confession: I have yet to start my taxes. I mean, how hard can they be, right? Hard enough for me to avoid them like the plague. Or the plaque, which I am also attempting to avoid after not seeing the dentist since who knows when.

But here is what I am doing. Making veggie gumbo.

I am not cleaning, I am not applying for jobs, & I am nowhere near accepting that Kaylee is gone, but I am making some killer (bad choice of words?) comfort foods.

Confession again: I bought Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack well over six weeks ago & have yet to start. But I did do some yoga tonight. Clearing my head is not at all easy right now.

Confession the third: I didn't even take a tiny little taste of the Sweet Pickled Onion Watermelon Radish Salad that I made last night. When I took it out of the fridge, it smelled like mildew, so I decided to pass. Russell J took a bite and also decided against eating it. We also lit an orange blossom candle in the kitchen to exorcise the smell. So that's how it's going with the radishes.

"radish recipes that don't suck"

Also, "how the hell to eat kohlrabi".

This is the way that I talk to Google.

I spent most of today flipping through cookbooks and have decided that a) my cookbooks have left me ill-equipped to cook these CSA veggies and b) I hate cookbooks without indices.

Tonight, dinner was wok sauteed mizuna with leftover orange roasted chicken, roasted broccoli & kohlrabi with green garlic (that I burned nearly to a crisp), & arugula salad with beets, walnuts, & goat cheese (I hate hate hate arugula). Well, one out of three.

Tomorrow, I once again attempt to conquer radishes.

it's a sweet, sweet life

Literally.

Russell J made me the most amazing cherry clafoutis with a shortbread crust as a late Valentine's Day present. I'm not saying I could eat it every day for the rest of my life, but I have eaten it multiple times a day for the past two days. He's definitely a keeper.

And....drumroll please...after two years of paying interest on trains that I took across Europe and clothes I shouldn't have bought....I finally paid off my credit card. Unfortunately, this kind of feels like a birthday: I don't feel any older (or more financially secure), but I guess I am.

We got veggies yesterday! Spinach (always a hit), kohlrabi (looks like an alien), green garlic (hope it's a good as regular garlic), broccoli raab (also always a hit), watermelon radishes (the fact that they are named after my favorite summer fruit gives me the teensiest glimmer of hope), turnips (old news), lettuce (bummer), carrots (yum), & broccoli (double yum. This broccoli is far superior to any broccoli I ever bought at the store). And, even better, Russell J is making PIZZA tonight!

Life is hard & unexpected & crazy all day long, but damn, sometimes it's so, so sweet.

veggies: week 3

Arugula flowers (what?), kale (yum), lettuce (agaaaain), dill, spinach, broccoli raab (yum again), radishes (will be the death of me), broccoli, turnips, grapefruit, carrots, & salsa verde cheese.

Last week's conquests:

- thai lettuce wraps

- braised radishes (still not good enough to get me to like radishes)

- bok choy with cashews (must find a better way to make bok choy/better skills with cooking bok choy)

- sweet potato & roasted garlic enmoladas (A FAN FAVORITE!!! Right up there with broccoli raab skillet pizzas)

- homemade salsa (not as good as my Auntie Rosie's killer, amazing, superhot, secret salsa)

- sauteed collard greens with garlic and lemon (solidly good)

My deepest apologies for my overuse of parentheses. Russell J is on dinner duty tonight. We'll see what he comes up with!

f-minus

Tried to make radish chips today. Massive failure. I don't know what the heck we're going to do with the rest of these radishes.

home again, home again pt II

Dallas was. a. blast. I sincerely believe that the best vacations include giggling with your very best friend, eating whatever you want, & getting sucked into trashy TV marathons. Check, double check, & triple check.

This is what my weekend looked like:

Chicken cachapa w/maduros at Zaguan (aka, the best place I ate at in Dallas).

Tequenos at Zaguan

craft dallas

This was a good weekend off for me. I had the chance to breathe & think & dream. And I came up with this:

I'm the person I've been becoming since I was a very little girl. I am passionate about food, the planet, healthcare, & how the three intersect. I really, truly want to be a nurse. Or maybe a chef. But a nurse for now. I do not like my job, but my job does not define me, and sooner or later, THE job is going to come around.

I LOVE FOOD, not only for its gustatory appeal, but because it is so essential to family, love, & happiness.

I had a killerrrrr weekend in Dallas.

The veggies are back in town. Today, we got more spinach, baby bok choy, turnips, 2 grapefruits (yech), MORE RADISHES (the two radishes from last week are still awaiting their fates), collard greens, cilantro!!!, MORE LETTUCE (to add to the lettuce we didn't even crack into last weekend while I was gone).

This week, I made kale & white bean stew, which was good, although I'm never very excited about soup. But I AM excited about the following recipe, which I made last night & am STILL salivating over:

Broccoli raab, tomato & cashew skillet pizza

Adapted from Sunset Magazine, January 2011

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 ball (1 lb.) whole-wheat pizza dough (or 1 plain pizza dough ball from Trader Joe's if you ran out of time to make pizza dough)

4 oz. broccoli raab, cut into 1.5-in pieces

1/2 tsp each kosher salt & red chile flakes

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 large tomato, sliced

1 handful raw cashews

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add 1 tbsp oil & brush all over pan.

2. Divide dough into 2 balls. Press first ball of dough with your hands, working on a floured surface, into an 8-in. round. (The magazine recommends a 13-in. crust in an oven-proof frying pan, but hey, I only have tiny, non-oven-proof pans, so this is what you get). Press into frying pan so it comes up sides slightly. Cook until golden on bottom, 5 minutes. Set on a cookie sheet, golden side up. Re-oil pan & repeat with the second ball of dough.

3. Add remaining oil to pan along with broccoli raab, salt, & chile. Cook 2-3 minutes, until wilted. Transfer to a plate.

4. Sprinkle crusts with mozzarella, leaving a border around edge. Add vegetables & nuts over cheese & sprinkle with remaining cheese.

5. Bake pizza on sheet until crust is crisp, about 15 minutes. Cut into wedges.

the veggies are here!!!

Spinach, a head of lettuce, some dill, a couple of oranges, some turnips, kale, broccoli raab, and two HUGE radishes (who knows what those will turn into). PLUS a gallon of milk from real Arizona cows and some pineapple farmer's cheese, which is actually better than it sounds, although I'm hard pressed to figure out any other way of eating it than spreading it on crackers.

If I were staying home this weekend, I would regale you all with tales of culinary experimentation.

However...

...I'm going to Dallas tomorrow! See you when I get back! xoxo

P.S. Any recipe ideas for my veggie treasure chest? Leave 'em here!

2011? for real?

I almost typed in 2001. That was a pretty good year...TEN YEARS AGO. Oh my goodness, where did it all go?

Resolutions:

- Well, we joined a CSA, which I am so freakishly excited about. Minus the fact that I think this means we'll be eating RADISHES for the next three months. I don't know if I can come to love radishes.

- Cook more.

- Work less. Stress less. Generally give myself a break.

- 6 pack abs? Right?

- Rediscover all the things I used to love to do before I convinced myself that falling into the "work hard in high school SO you can get into a good college SO you can work hard in college SO you can get a good job SO you can make lots of money SO you can buy lots of things SO..." So what? I don't know. But the money is good and the job is not so good, so maybe by this time next year, I'll have a whole different career? Or at least hobbies that make the day job not so...job-like.

- Blog? Right? I did get a sweet Flipcam, which is currently full of New Year's Eve Just Daaaance videos. I'm hoarding away all the ones with me in them, hoping that they will never reach the light of day.

And I had another one, but I forgot what it was, so oops, I guess it must have been a lie.

Here's the big one, though: Figure out how in the world I'm going to get back to Namibia or to Haiti to work with all the babies that my heart hurts for. Whether it's nursing or being a teacher or saving all my tips from the barista gig I have to get when I finally quit being a nurse, I just can't help but believe that God puts these kids on my heart and never lets me forget them for a reason. So that's the big one. Figure out how to get from point A to point B (or point Z, because as of right now, it seems like quite a ways off).

Happy 2011. Seriously, 2011? When the heck did that happen?

P.S. I remembered my last resolution: Start extreme couponing.