Cucumber Limeade

Last week I found myself with a huge overabundance of cucumbers. We'd eaten them in salads, with couscous, plain, in tzadziki, etc. And while I love the summery-freshness they bring, I was SICK of eating them. So I decided to try to drink them. I took the three I had still sitting on the counter, chopped them coarsely and popped them into the blender:

I strained the green goo through a sieve and popped the very green juice into the refrigerator.

I had seen some recipes for lime-cucumber beverages, but they all involved juicing limes and making simple syrup. I was feeling lazy. So I mixed equal parts premade limeade, cucumber juice, and tonic water. Voila! A super easy and super refreshing drink! And even better if you muddle some mint in the bottom of the glass first! Kind of like a pregnant ladies' mojito!

Jonathan liked it too and has even on occasion requested cucumber juice to be added to his lemonade since then!

Pockasils

I have become a fan of making popsicles. Or as they are called around here- pockasils. I picked up some popsicle molds at the grocery store this spring for a dollar each after reading the labels on all of the commercially available fruit-pops. I was determined to find a cheaper, healthier option for us during the hot summer months.

I've made chocolate-banana by pureeing some over-ripe bananas and then adding chocolate milk. Last week I made peach-vanilla pudding pops by mixing pureed peaches and instant vanilla pudding.

My current batch made use of the glut of cantelope that appeared in our fridge this week from our CSA and the leftovers from a fruit tray someone brought to a party.

My basic recipe was to take all of the excess cantaloupe and pop it in the blender. I got about 3 cups of sweet peachy-orange goo. I added 1/2t of vanilla and 1T of honey and poured it into molds. Perfection!

I'm thinking of trying some more gourmet flavors by adding some herbs to the mix. Maybe watermelon-cilantro? Or mint-lime?

Kitchen Success

Blame it on pregnancy-brain, poor planning, or just bad luck, but I have been having a string of failures in the kitchen. I've managed to mangle brown and serve soy sausage, baked potatoes, pancakes, and pre-made frozen enchiladas among other things. It isn't like I am attempting and failing at souffle or meringue- I can barely make a decent bowl of cereal lately.

But after a conversation about panini sandwiches with my friend Sarah a few days ago (and some of her yummy guacamole), I was inspired to try avocado panini. So tonight I braved two new dishes for which I only kinda-sorta had the ingredients listed on the actual recipe. I used the skins of my failed baked potatoes to make cheesy baked potato skins. And then I used a recipe from Vegetarian Times as a rough guide and layered avocado slices, mozzarella, and dried tomato on some whole wheat English muffins spread with pesto to make panini!

It was a success!!! Jonathan even tried and liked the sandwiches. (Here he is sneaking more after he left the table).

I think his eating bravery is strongly tied to how much he helps me in the kitchen on any given night. So helping to spread pesto, and stuff the sandwiches and then squish them with the cast-iron pan made him willing to try a bite and then then a few more! Here is to more cooking success! And the cutest kitchen helper ever!

Mommy's Helper

Jonathan LOVES helping in the kitchen. And he LOVES sitting on the counter. Today he was sorting the broccoli from the strainer into the pan. And then back into the strainer. And then back into the pan... the sorting occupied him for over 30 minutes. Here he is smiling for the camera!

food

I love eating it. I love growing it. I love cooking it. Planning to cook it. Reading about it. Looking at pictures. If you surveyed my most visited websites or my google history (aside from my email, facebook and a few friend's blogs) all of the pages are about food.

So the fact that I married a food-a-phobe and have a tooth-challenged toddler who is starting to venture into the picky eating phase (oh please let it be a phase) has been a source of stress at times. Especially over the last week or so. Trying to plan family meals that are vegetarian, free of sauces, cheese and tomatoes, but high in fresh veggies, and which are edible by a tot who has no molars and is not particularly skilled with a spoon or fork has been a challenge for a while. To top it off Jonathan has started going on crazy binges of particular foods followed by outright disgust at the same food. Two weeks ago the only thing he would eat was bananas. Every time we went into the kitchen he would chirp "Nana?" He ate 3 or 4 a day and started calling Jim "nana" instead of "dada". This week if I put a banana near his plate he gives me the stink-eye and if he gets some in his mouth he does his disgusted dance where he spits out the food, sticks out his tongue, squishes up his whole face like he is eating a lemon, turns his head, and flexes is hands upwards as though the taste of that horrid thing is sending him into convulsions.

I have been disparing of cooking anything that would not be refused outright by everyone but me and dreading dinnertime. Last night I gave up and pulled a tupperware of spicy curried spinach out of the freezer. Being short on time, I made quinoa instead of rice and dumped it in a bowl for Jonathan and I to share. I was prepared for spitting and throwing, but when he looked in the bowl, he delightedly proclaimed "ball!" Jackpot. He loved it and for the first time all week ate something for dinner. Who would have guessed that a spicy curry of greens would hold this appeal? Certainly not me.

I feel a great sense of relief. My best planning is bound to fail most of the time- so I am going to relax, cook what I want, and let the chips fall where they will! On the menu this week: samosas and sesame pasta.

Jonathan enjoying the sesame pasta too!

Big Girl Meal

After the past few weeks of snow days, Jonathan being sick (so Jim and I playing tag-team parent), planning and then unplanning to be out of town, and general hecticness I have been craving schedule and normalcy. I haven't had the forethought or creativity to cook anything that I've been excited about for the past few days and resorted to a frozen dinner and peanut butter toast last night. So tonight I decided that I would have a full big-girl dinner despite the fact that I was going to be the only adult present. So I did. And it was glorious!

I sauteed roasted beets in orange juice and coriander and put them on top of spinach with toasted almonds and and roasted onions. Then I sauteed some mushrooms with wine and butter and cooked them with an egg in puff pastry shells. Aahh! Would have been better with some goat cheese on the salad and a little white sauce for over the mushroom thingys, but since making white sauce still scares the pants off of me and we didn't have any goat cheese, I went without and it was great. Exactly what I needed tonight!

Baby in bed. Wonderful food in tummy. Time for grading some papers!

In Season

We live in a culture of instant and nearly infinite gratification with a click of a mouse or trip to a super-store. The internet gives us instant access to anything we want, day or night 365 days a year and if we spend more than $35 we can get free shipping! And while I love amazon.com and mega-store shopping, one of the things I am enjoying about having decided to do the CSA as our main source of produce this winter is the fact that it is challenging me to think differently about food. I can't have anything I want, any time I want it. We pick up the bag on Friday and what we get is what we get. This week we have:

turnips

rutabagas

celery

potatoes

some citrus fruits

leeks

green pepper

2 local hot-house tomatoes

Not what I would have picked up at the grocery if left to my own devices. Over the past 2 weeks Jim and I have realized that we are big fans of roasted turnips and sauteed collards- things we never would have tried had they not been the only veggies in the house for dinner. This experiment is teaching me to think differently, to enjoy what is available to me in season- to appreciate the lean, hearty root veggies of winter and to anticipate the bounty of summer. I have a few onions, a sweet potato, and part of a head of lettuce left over in the fridge. And that's what's for dinner at our house this week!

PS: check out the size of the green onions we got last week! Maybe this is my city-girl ignorance, but I didn't think green onions looked like this except perhaps in Jurassic Park!

1st CSA

We picked up our first CSA box today. I decided just before Christmas to sign up for our local farmer's market winter season Community Supported Agriculture and I am so excited!! Almost all of the food is grown totally locally- (except for a bunch of organic, fair-trade bananas from Peru). Today's bag contained:

lettuce

collard greens

tomatoes

sweet potatoes

white potatoes

turnips

banana

While I have been living in the south now for 10 years, I have not yet ever cooked or eaten collards. I guess this week will be a first!! If anyone knows any great recipes for collards (particularly one that my super-picky husband might eat) let me know!

cooking therapy

I love food. I love growing it (when I can) and the idea of other people growing it (when I cannot); I love cooking it; I love eating it; I love reading about growing and/or cooking it and/or eating it. And right now I love it as therapy.

Between Operation Restore Sanity going wildly awry (more on this later), feeling like a chicken with my head cut off all day at work, and trying to predict what Jonathan the crawling wonder will get into next, I have been feeling a bit out of control. Like I am one of those mine carts in Indiana Jones careening wildly around corners, sparks flying and wheels barely hanging onto the rails. But when 7pm comes and Jonathan is snug in bed, I can finally take a deep breath. And my overwhelming urge lately has been to cook something cozy and wonderful. Last night I made pumpkin-oatmeal bread. Tonight I started marinating a roast and put on a pot of mushroom stock. And as I stood there slowing stirring the dark bubbling liquid, smelling browned onions, garlic, and stewing mushrooms I could feel all of the tension seeping out of my shoulders. This is something I can control and master. There are steps to be followed and an end product I know I will love. I feel relaxed and wonderful- until I look over to see the sink filled with dirty dishes....