Time off.

                                     
started with a birthday cake & ended with a pie. {my kind of holiday}

                                                      

 

   

{if you didn't get your homemade pumpkin pie fix- or even if you did- this is a good recipe.}

 

Peachy.

 Remember this little peach tree?

 

          

The first summer, it gave us a few... Last year, next to none (due to pruning too late, and possible over-pruning).

This year, we learned our lesson- and it paid off. Or rather- paid out.

              

We've frozen some, baked with others...

 

and simply drank the rest.

It's amazing how quickly you can use 'em up when you put your mind to it.

Peach Margarita

serves 3

2 peaches

1/2 c tequila

1/4 c grand marnier

1 1/2 T honey

1 T lime juice (1 lime)

1 1/2 c ice

{garnish}

1 T sugar

2 T salt (kosher)

lime wheel

mix salt & sugar.

rub lime wedge on edge of glasses.

dip in salt & sugar.

blend remaining ingredients, & pour.

garnish glasses with lime wheel.

*peeling the peaches is optional.

(we've been leaving them unpeeled)

{ryan found the recipe here}

  

It's a good one.

Coveting {part one}.

last night~ in the midst of rough drafts & dirty dishes, we managed to squeeze in all three. 

wednesdays call for a little 'special treatment', in my opinion.

 do not (i repeat:  do not) let this simple, understated image fool you. this meal is just pure [spring] perfection. 

{we substituted with gluten-free brown rice bread, and goat cheese. oh my.....}

 we saw this in bon appetit {april} on friday, and decided to to put it to the test.

it passed with high marks. but in remainder of the weekend, it grew even further on us. almost too pretty to drink. almost.

love, love, L O V E this show. every single character. we needed more comedy in our life, especially on a wednesday.

 

A perfectly simple spring menu.

                                                     

Last night I hosted the book club dinner (hence the continued blog hiatus).  As usual, I was scrambling to finish reading the book up until the last minute (I swear, I've GOT to stop doing that. Next book up~ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  I have the book already... I commit to picking it up this weekend and at least putting a dent in it.  [This was last night's book in case you're wondering... more to say on this later...]).

Anyways, I decided to serve a simple, light dinner.  One that could be partially made ahead of time (or at least well-prepped in advance)... that consisted of minimal ingredients, steps, components...  One that was fresh and 'spring-y'- and wouldn't leave people walking away feeling heavy and stuffed, and silently cursing you for sabotaging their 'summer-countdown-diet'... yet didn't sacrifice flavor or visual appeal for health and 'minimal effort.'  For the most part, we're back on the 'alkaline cleanse', and it was nice to offer a meal that we'd eat any night of the week... as opposed to my usual [former] entertaining approach (over-complicate, over-feed, over-indulge).
                                                      

It seems that perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Terre des hommes

And once again, simple proved to be better. 

...

Here is the menu ~ my new go-to late-winter-early-spring-entertaining dinner...

{Rather than going over-board with appetizers (as I've done too many times, leaving everyone too full to enjoy the main course- and by the time dessert rolls around- forget about it...), I served this dip, along with a baked lentil chips and sliced cucumbers.}

            
cannellini bean & artichoke dip (recipe from my friend, christy) 

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup olive oil (more, for consistency, if needed)
1  14 oz can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 
1  14-ounce can of artichoke hearts or artichoke bottoms, drained
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
10-12 basil leaves

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse to combine.  Scrape down sides of bowl and continue to pulse until combined.  Add additional oil if necessary to make a smooth consistency that is not dry but lightly textured and creamy.  Season to taste with extra salt if desired. 
                
                                                      

{As for the salmon (below), I prepped it ahead of time, covered & set it back in the fridge (more flavorful this way).  So when the time was right, all I had to do was place it into the broiler~ then just transfer it to a platter... lemon and all.}

succulent lemon-thyme salmon (5 ingredients. 10 minutes. almost too good to be true.)

{The following two recipes are from my friend (& microscopist/'health guru'), Barbara.} 

red cabbage salad

1/2 red cabbage, finely shredded 
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped 
2 tsp agave (optional) 
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (to taste) 
1 tbsp bragg's liquid aminos 
juice of half a lemon 
6 tbsp olive oil 
2 tbsp pine nuts (raw or toasted)
Combine all ingredients.  Chill for at least one hour. 


couscous

1 cup of boiling water 
1 cup whole-grain couscous 
1 tbsp earth balance butter 
1/2 tsp salt 
Olive oil

Pour boiling water over butter and salt in a large bowl.  Stir, then mix in couscous.  Allow to stand for a few minutes.  Stir with a fork and drizzle olive oil over it.   

{...and last but not least...}

lovely lemon cupcakes

{...little bites of lemony-lusciousness...}

{...that I think would go mighty well with that 2nd cuppa coffee I'm about to pour. (cause it is friday afterall.)} 

  

Eat your heart out.

               

image via

  (from the show that gave football an entirely new meaning)

 (...but don't ask me which team i'm rooting for.)

I may not know which teams are playing, but I do know we'll have a full house, full hearts, and a very full table.
  
...No baked beans this year {even though they were amazing~ i'd highly recommend}. This year is all about the wings, or drumsticks, rather.  I've yet to try either recipe- but how could you go wrong with a "spicy, sweet, salty" Sriracha glaze- or an authentic "warm up your belly" Jamaican jerk chicken (from one of my new[-to-me] favorite food blogs)?...diligently testing this recipe and this one tonight, cause the super bowl [menu] is serious business.  And I'd hate to put out anything but a winning dish.
  
...But really, sriracha, fresh ginger, brown sugar...

Can't lose.
   

Blueprint.

image scanned from bon appétit {february 2013}... best cover ever.

                                  

i've mentioned before that i have a love/hate relationship with meal planning. if i'm not careful, following a rigid plan for days/weeks in a row tends to leave us with an over-stuffed pantry and an empty bank account.

i try to plan according to what we already have... to work leftovers- and leftover ingredients- into the mix, and to remember little things, such as~ tuesday may not be the best day for a 13 ingredient-22-step-3-course-meal...

but still, i find myself over-shopping and over-spending, all in a effort to stick to the plan.

yet oh so many benefits come from having a ROAD MAP. not only time-saving benefits, but money-saving, which is a big area of focus for the coming year (more on that later)... less eating out, less ordering in, less starving kids scrambling parents...  for it to work, however, it has to have a LOT of flexibility built in- with weeks off to 'clear out the pantry' (some of the best meals come out of these clear-out sessions).

and in light of my recent post [our recent chaos], increased structure in this regard has been absolutely essential. we're a month into to 2013, and so far, it's been a huge success.
  
lots of recipes tried... {old & new} cookbooks cracked open... new blogs discovered... magazine tear-outs put to the test... so many keepers to share... 
  
one of the best meals to date~ derived from a "seven perfect pastas" feature in an incredible february issue of bon appétit~ was a wonderfully unique pasta dish that definitely held up to the "perfect pasta" claim...

{hearty but not heavy... rich but not creamy.  a strikingly [and a bit surprisingly] delicious stand-out dish that would absolutely hold its own next to the usual 'pasta-heavy-hitters'... & not even an ounce of meat.}

  

ditalini with chickpeas and garlic-rosemary oil
{or pasta e ceci}

1 medium onion, quartered 
1 medium carrot, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces 
1 celery stalk, cut into 1-inch pieces 
6 garlic cloves, 4 whole, 2 chopped 
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves 
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 
1/2 cup olive oil, divided 
Kosher salt 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed 
1 pound ditalini or elbow macaroni 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Pulse onion, carrot, celery, whole garlic cloves, parsley, and red pepper flakes in a food processor until finely chopped; transfer to a small bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor bowl and set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat; add reserved vegetable mixture, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until golden, 8-10 minutes. Stir tomato paste and 1 cup water in a small bowl to combine; add to pot. Cook, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, 5-8 minutes. 

Add chickpeas and 2 cups water to pot and simmer for 15 minutes to let flavors meld. Transfer 1 cup chickpea mixture to food processor; purée until smooth, then stir back into sauce to thicken. 

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. 

Add pasta and 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid to sauce and stir to coat. Increase heat to medium and continue stirring, adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta. 

Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in a small sauce­pan over medium-low heat; add chopped garlic and rosemary and cook until sizzling stops, about 1 minute. Divide pasta among bowls and drizzle with garlic-rosemary oil. 

                                                     

as i mentioned, so much more to share in this regard. until then, any keepers on your plan that i should know about??

don't hold back on me now... 
   

When life gives you lemons...

                                   

 
...stop blogging.

That seems to be my approach, anyhow... looking at my very infrequent posting schedule this past year.  

Well, "life" [2012] has given us [Ryan] a few lemons ~ literally and figuratively.

It's been a rough year for my husband, and in turn, a rough year for all of us.

...first, a major health scare back in spring, then a whirlwind of stress in the form of difficult and extremely time-consuming assignments, on top of an extra heavy workload at 'the office'- all the while filling out cover letters and resumes, submitting profiles, and of course, interviewing (all of which, after being with the same company for over 15 years, is an emotionally-and-physically-grueling-labor-intensive challenge in and of itself) ... months of being buried, overwhelmed, stressed, and longing for brighter days... for the days he can get back into the garden, back into his kid's daily lives (he really has done his best in this regard), back into the kitchen (with yours truly)............. He wants his life back.

I initially tried to keep up with posting, [...sharing, gramming,...] but unavoidably, each post- each status update- had an underlying message [complaint] of "WE'RE DROWNING OVER HERE!!" and I realized [for your sake & mine] that it was time to step away... to take the necessary steps to pull ourselves "to shore"...  

[many, many steps later...] 

...an official letter of resignation, a very-close-graduation date of JULY 1st(!!), and for the first time in far too long~ a sparkly clean house,...  

getting there.
                                               

{On a side-note, we've done a few other magical things with those lemons [literally and figuratively :)]... 

We made lemonade of course, but better yet~ we made Melissa's lemon scones (my first time baking with spelt flour- in her words~ easy, healthy, and delicious).............. Turns out, lemons are not so sour afterall.}