The sun is shining so we are back in the garden… After some boring projects like turning compost… and cleaning beds…. we planted some wee little starts and lots of seeds.
Here’s one of our little starts! Swiss Chard! YUM
We’ve been spending our weekends on the hunt for morels!
Our dear friends have a nice big piece of property, that is abundant in morels! So we’ve been journeying out to the Applegate Valley and hiking all around on the search…
Here’s a couple we found last weekend!
This guy above is actually the size of my HAND! It’s a giant, the biggest one found all season! Colton spotted it with his magical Morel vision!
As you can imagine, we’ve been eating lots of morels too!
Okay!
Some cool stuff that’s been on my mind, I thought it might be worthwhile enough to share!
This recipe was inspired by Sew Liberated’s post, I saw her Tortellini recipe and had to try it out! After several months of testing and mixing it up a bit, I’ve nailed down our version of the recipe. It’s a hit with everyone (although Etta eats the tortellini & peas and leaves the rest for me) and a super quick dinner.
In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Saute briefly then add mushrooms. After ~ 5 min or until mushrooms & onions are slightly browned, add broth to pot and bring to boil.
Add tortellini and gently boil until tortellini are tender but still firm to bite, about 5-10 minutes, add spinach chard, broccoli and peas, let it simmer a few more minutes. Taste & season with salt & pepper.
Have you ever wondered what people REALLY eat for dinner? Or really what they eat on a given day?
Call me crazy, but I do wonder these things… I don’t know why (it might have to do with taking a nutrition course at my local community college), maybe it’s because I’m a food-a-holic, or because I just love to cook…. Anyhow.. It occurred to me that maybe if I shared what I’ve been making for dinner, it would catch, like a kitchen fire, and others too would share all those yummy things they put in their mouths…
Due to budget constraints we’ve omitted eating OUT from our diet, except for a special weekend brunch or something of that nature. This week the cooking was 100% homemade by me.
So what the HECK are we eating… for dinner?
Sunday: Veggie Enchiladas (black bean & yam) with Spicy Red Sauce & Brown Rice
Monday: Shiitake Mushroom & Pea soup with Rice Noodles & Garden Salad*
Tuesday: Butternut Squash Lasagna & Garden Salad
Wednesday: Creamy Parsnip, Yukon Potato & Leek Soup with Roasted Asparagus & Garden Salad w/ Blue Cheese
Thursday: Zucchini bake (onions, garlic, tomato, a little cheese & lots of zucchini) with Jasmine Rice (this was inspired by the summer’s promise of many little zucchini in our garden).
Friday: New Sammy’s Whole Wheat Pizza with Sun Dried Tomato’s, Ricotta, Spinach and Onion w/ Garden Salad!
*=Garden Salad normally is red or green leaf lettuce mixed with purple cabbage, carrots, red onion, sunflower seed and balsamic dressing, but it does vary daily by what’s in the fridge!
So, what did you eat this week?
This recipe is the most requested one I have! It was originally from food network, but I’ve changed it so much (FOR THE BETTER), that I think it deserves it’s own post!
SQUASH PUREE: Heat a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the water and squash . Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over medium heat until the squash is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly and then transfer the squash to a food processor (or blender if you don’t have a food processor). Blend until smooth.
NOODLES: Cook the lasagna noodles according to directions (I normally start the squash & noodle water at the same time). When the water is boiling I start the cream sauce (next paragraph).
CREAM SAUCE: Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Cool slightly. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.
Preheat the oven to400 degrees F.
ASSEMBLY TIME: Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce over the prepared baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese mixture and 1/3 of the ricotta. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times, reserving a little cheese for later. If you have extra squash puree we freeze ours for the next recipe, or freeze in ice cube trays for a quick baby snack!
Tightly cover the baking dish with foil!
Bake the lasagna for 50 minutes.
Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over the lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 10 minutes longer. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving (if you can bear it).
This recipe does use almost every pan & pot in the house (okay I’m exaggerating, only 3 plus the food processes) but it’s SO worth it!
ENJOY!
DISCLAIMER: If you consider yourself a coffee snob or coffee enthusiast, you may want to navigate away from this page. What I’m about to share with you might be hard to handle.
You’re at the office, it’s about two hours till the day’s over, YOU NEED COFFEE, but not just any coffee you need that magical mystical chocolaty mocha. Your stuck AT your office, breaks are over, there’s no way for you to obtain a “quality” mocha before you break down into a pathetic mess of mocha cravings.
Enter the latest greatest instant office mocha.
You’ll need three ingredients for this crude yet effective drink.
Here comes the technical part, add HOT water & stir.
Enjoy.
An amazingly delightful mocha, instantly! Just hide the evidence, and don’t tell your coffee enthusiast friends!
It’s rapidly approaching! Since Valentine’s falls on a Sunday this year I’m totally sad that my valentine giving won’t be “officially” on valentine’s day… and yes, I’m one of those annoying co-workers who give gifts on most holidays!
Here’s what I made the year before last… From Martha’s inspiration “See through Valentines”
Each heart had a different little stamp and was filled with Dark Chocolate M & M’s! So sweet & so cute!
Here’s what we did for 2010 valentines!
Etta even made her own valentines, with a little help from Mommy & Auntie Rene! She colored and we assembled!
Next step was the goodies! Chocolate & Coconut No Bake Cookies & Chocolate Mint Sugar Cookies!
All that cooking tired the poor babe out, and once she was asleep, I snuck out of bed and finished the assembly process!
Three special people got these…
As in all things, I intended to make a whole bunch more of these polyester roses… between the baby, my full time job, and the class I’m taking this term (excuses) I just didn’t get around to it!
Happy Early Valentines Day!
Deceptively Deceiving.
Coffee, I need it, I like it with sugar, I grabed a packet of sugar and poured it in…..
Only to find….
It ain’t sugar. It’s salt and it’s disgusting, I’d go as far to say it’s packaging is deceptively deceiving.
Henceforth my photo documentation.
Iodized Salt LOOKS a lot like “Natural Brown Sugar”.
