TOO BUSY TO COOK -

The last week has been so so busy.  Out almost every night - my birthday - travel - no time to cook.  But yesterday I had my veggie delivery and tonight I wanted to cook.  Something easy and delicious.

I know that adding a fried egg to everything is so over - but!  Cooking up some Rainbow Chard and topping is with a fried egg is such an easy and healthy dinner.  Very delicious and satisfying.  Tomorrow night there is an asparagus salad with scallions in my future.  Looking forward to that as well.

FRIDAY WITHOUT PIZZA

Friday pizza has been my routine for a long time - but tonight I wanted something different. I had asparagus in the frig that was calling my name.  So i decided to try something different.

An omelet with asparagus.  Paul used to grill the asparagus over charcoal and I loved that but I was not going to do that.  So I decided to try cooking it in my cast iron skillet.  High heat - sprinkled with coarse salt, dry asparagus.  Cook and turn for just a few minutes.  Plate - drizzle with olive oil - almost as good as over a charcoal fire.

As for the omelet - I haven't made one for a long time.  I forgot how much i love them.  They are easy and elegant.  A perfect, easy, healthy Friday night dinner.

SUCH A BUSY DAY

I was feeling like my house was totally out of control - I am usually super neat (some people have mentioned it as a fault) and put things where they belong.  But  over the last two weeks i just have not managed that and it finally made my CRAZY.  So I spent the day organizing, tidying, cleaning, planning and finally - Cooking.

After all of that I deserved a good meal.

 I went to the grocery store and totally could not resist the colorful cauliflower.  I wasn't sure how the colors would hold up when it was roasted - but it just looked so pretty.

 This photo really doesn't do the meal justice.  The cauliflower was very pretty and I made a tricolor rotini the go with the cauliflower ad steak.  It was all very delicious.

And now I am fueled up to go for an 8 mile hike tomorrow on Sugarloaf Mountain.  The weather is supposed to be lovely - sun and temperatures in the mid 60s - perfect for hiking.

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommies out there.

PLANTING AND PLANNING

I have been busy putting in my garden.  I can only to plants in pots on my narrow strip of deck - otherwise the deer and the groundhogs eat everything.  This year I am concentrating on herbs and flowers.  The tomatoes never work out - either they don't produce much or they do and the squirrels eat them.  The peppers and eggplant never seem to be worth the work.  So this year everything will be pretty, have a lovely fragrance and some of it will taste good.

Tonight I made "Sunday Dinner".  I know it is Sunday and what else would I make - but when Paul said he wanted Sunday Dinner he meant he wanted a traditional Sunday dinner.  Roasted meat, a vegetable and a starch.  Gravy was always appreciated.

A roast chicken is always a good choice because then there will be options for more dinners during the week.  I was going to do something more interesting than a baked potato but I ran out of energy and inspiration.  The green beans (I love Trader Joe's green beans) I made with the same Shallot and lemon dressing that I used for the asparagus salad last week.  I poured it over the hot green beans and let it sit until all else was ready.  It was a room temperature by then and was perfect.

Have a happy healthy week.

LET'S DO DINNER

Dinner was not entirely the amazing taste treat I was hoping for.  The roasted sweet potatoes were wonderful.  The asparagus salad with shallot lemon dressing was amazing.  What I expected to be the best part - the scallops - were underwhelming.  They were plump and pretty.  They should have been briny and sweet, but they were almost tasteless.  And for what I paid - that is a crime.  I don't usually complain to a store about this sort of thing, but this time I may have to.

The asparagus salad almost made up for it.  I have never made a salad of raw asparagus and this was delicious.  i found the recipe in a book I bought about cooking for one person.

At the time I was hoping for a book that would help me cook once a week and recreate all week - basically eating well with no effort.  This book does not tell you how to do that.  But now I am ready to actually make delicious meals for myself and this book is terrific.  And it follows the format that I am so in favor of now - it is organized by season.

Happy cooking to all.

I THINK THERE IS A THEME HERE

I really do love cookbooks that are regional.  The focus on a specific location, culture and readily available ingredients is enchanting.  Also, I have a particular fondness for this book because the writer is from Harford County Maryland where I grew up.  Her husband and my brother went to school together.  The geography, the people, the food are all like home to me.  AND it is a good cook book.

There are touches of contemporary ingredients and techniques; but at heart it is a down home cookbook.  The crab cakes and sweet potato biscuit recipes are authentic.  I am sorry there are no recipes for squirrel pot pie or fried muskrat - a real Maryland experience.

You will enjoy the stories of small farmers, millers who make stone ground grains, small cattle operations, family orchards, traditional oystermen, and dedicated restauranteurs who are dedicated to local ingredients and authentic preparations.  Maryland has mountains, plains, sea coast and all of the varied cuisine this entails.

Take a look at the book - it is lovely.

THIS IS GOOD STUFF

This is the weeks veggies.  Not sure what I am going to do with them.  Tonight was a late night getting home from work; so cooking is not in the picture.

I hope to find interesting ways to use the lovely produce  I have in my frig.

Going back in time - i wanted to give a shout out to my Griswold cast iron skillet.  I have three.  I have bought them and given them to my children.  They are the best and if you are ever at a thrift store, flea market etc and you come across one - buy it.  They are much light than any other cast iron skillet and totally wonderful to cook with.  When I first start buying them I could find them for $10 - $15.  Now a number 8 skillet is more like $90.  However, if you like cooking in cast iron, this is a purchase for the long haul - just do it.

It is a beautiful thing.

THIS WAS DELICIOUS

Today's dinner was back to cooking thoughtfully - focusing on taste, nutrition and visual appeal.

I think tonight was a winner.

New York Strip Steak, Sweet Potato Fries and Roasted Bok Choy.

The sweet potatoes and bok choy were new recipes to me.  Both were easy and quick and worth doing again.  The sweet potato fries were not crunchy, but had a lovely caramelized flavor.  I had read that if you have trouble getting them to be crisp to toss the raw potatoes with corn starch.  I really didn't miss the crispiness and will probably just cook them the way I did tonight in the future.

The bok choy was tossed with olive oil and sprinkled with a little garlic powder.  The recipe called for 450 for 8 minutes.  I think next time I will try 400 for a little longer.  It was very tasty - but the edges of the leaves got crispy very quickly and the stem ends could have used a little more cooking time.  I decided that a little sprinkle of parmesan would improve the bok choy and it was good.

The steak I have been buying at a local market that locally sources it's meat.  I have bought meat from this particular farm several times and have always been pleased.  The flavor is outstanding and the meat is very tender.

This is my sunporch.  I will eat out here until it gets too hot.  It is such a beautiful setting.  It looks out over the trees in the back yard and the azaleas that the dear have not yet destroyed.  There are birds to watch, squirrels, chipmunks, the occasional ground hog and every once in awhile a fox.

Good food in a lovely setting with music in the background.  A great start to my evening.

WELL -

So I have been eating too, too much carry out and not cooking.  I have been reading about cooking locally and seasonally.  Time to actually pay attention to the food, and the preparations that will enhance the lovely, fresh, tender new food.

I have talked about " A Cook's Year in a Welsh Farmhouse" previously.

I have just bought "Japanese Farm Food".

I am inspired by people who cook locally, add their own flair from their cultural history and experiment boldly.

I want to make food that is simple, that is local, that is seasonal, that is visually appealing.

My veggie bag this week sounds lovely - lettuces, scallions, radishes.  I am going to try to find simple preparations that are delicious and visually appealing.  Stay tuned to see if I can make it happen!

AS PROMISED

The dinner that I planned last night actually worked out wonderfully tonight.  I love it when what I think will be good actually is.

I started with Rainbow chard, mushrooms and a little leftover Easter ham (thank you Adrian).  From there, a very simple preparation - using my favorite cast iron skillet.

A little olive oil to cook up the mushrooms a bit - added the chard and a little water and cooked until the chard was wilted.  When that was done, I put most of it on a plate before I added the ham.  I didn't want the ham to overwhelm the other flavors - just  to be a counterpoint.  After cooking it a little I sprinkled it over the chard and mushrooms.

And had a very nice dinner -

 Tomorrow - why it is so hard not be get carry out downtown and explaining my love for my cast iron skillet.

See you tomorrow.

A HEALTHY START

My time of traveling and visitors is over for awhile and now it is time to get back on track with cooking and eating.  By yesterday my daughter and I were totally craving vegetables.

So today it is back to my routine.

I always eat breakfast.  I don't leave the house without eating, having my coffee and reading the newspaper.

After years of firmly announcing that "I DO NOT EAT OATMEAL" it is now my favorite breakfast.

Steel cut oats, grated apple, walnut pieces and a drizzle of honey.  A great way to start the day.  On Saturday it is oatmeal with a fried egg on top - wonderful.

I have tomorrow's dinner planned and it sounds delicious.  Tune in tomorrow to see what's cooking.

The last two weeks my veggie bag has been less than inspiring.  Kiwis and pears that took a week to ripen, ordinary russet potatoes, broccoli that had very little flavor.

There were some goodies - spinach, rainbow chard, baby bok choy.  But overall, disappointing.

Company for the rest of the week so probably not a lot of cooking - more ordering in restaurants.

INSPIRATION

I posted earlier about a book that I got last year - " A Cook's Year".  I was curious about the author and googled her to see what I could learn.  The answer was - pretty much nothing -BUT.  Another book came up that looked intriguing.  " A Cook's Year in a Welsh Farmhouse" by Elizabeth Luard.  Of course I had to buy it.  It was delightful.  A tour through the year with what life is like there, how people interact, what you cook, how she integrates her Mediterranean sensibility with the plain cooking of Wales and the pleasure she takes at enjoying each season as it comes.  The illustrations and pictures are lovely.  If you enjoy reading about food as much for how food infuses our life with pleasure as well as nutrition - I recommend it.

A SOUPER WEEKEND

With a new batch of veggies arriving on Tuesday; I needed to make use of what was still in the refrigerator.  A soup of onion, carrots and celery was just the thing.  After everything was cooked the immersion blender turned it into a lovely puree.  A sprinkle of parmesan and some red pepper flakes - delicious.

The start

Cooking it up

Finished product.

And there is plenty left for lunch this week.  Perfect!

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

A weekend in New York and an afternoon at Eataly. A reminder that we eat with our eyes and our noses as well as our mouths.  The beauty of the abundance, the aroma of the cooking, the pleasure of the eating.  They all combine to make an experience that is memorable.

A meal that tastes good but is visually uninteresting may be filling for the tummy but maybe not for the soul.  It is worth the time to make a meal a treat for all of the senses.

A table set for a family celebration, lovely meat hanging in an enticing display, fungi waiting for us to be creative.  Sweet, earthy, meaty.  It all envelopes us in the richness of life.

How much does the visual matter?

I worked from home today; so prepared both lunch and dinner.  Both were very tasty - but, dinner did not have much visual appeal.

Lunch was a tasty lettuce, tuna salad, avocado wrap.

It was a pretty plate and very tasty.

For dinner I was trying to figure out how to use a cucumber.  I am going away for the weekend and it would not last until Tuesday.  My trusty friend google suggested sauteing in butter.  I also roasted some cauliflower (which is now in serious contention with my until now current favorite of roasted brussel sprouts) and a chicken breast cut into tenders and sauteed in olive oil.

It really was delicious, but lacked visual appeal.  Working with what comes in the veggie bag each week does limit me visually.  But, I think the visual is important and will need to start supplementing  some more colorful elements.

Back to the cucumbers.  I sliced them, seeded them and sauteed them in butter.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper.  They really were very tasty.  I am rethinking my notions of what can and cannot be cooked.

Until now, I have focused on what the taste of each ingredient is, learning what it tastes like on its own.  Now I am ready to start thinking about how to enhance that flavor with herbs, spices and complementary ingredients.

I hope you will join me on this journey.

And i promised that tomorrow I will post about immersion blenders and lovely soups!

Trying for consistency -

I am still trying to get into a routine - for cooking and for posting.

This week I am afraid I have too many veggies.  I have to place my order on Sunday to be delivered on Tuesday.  That is great - BUT I forgot that I will be away this coming weekend.  The weekend is when I do most of my cooking.  So before I leave on Saturday I have to figure out a good way to use all of the vegetables that are fragile and must be used before Tuesday.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the plan I have developed to use all the veggies and will have pictures and some recipes.

Over the weekend my immersion blender was busy and I will share that and give you some crazy easy recipes to make lovely soups.

SEARCHING FOR INSPIRATION

I am finding it a bit of a challenge to figure out creative and tasty ways to use all of the veggies I get each week.  I had celery left from a last week and I will get more on Tuesday. What interesting thing can I do with that?  I remember when I was younger there were recipes that called for canned Cream of Celery soup.  So I figured before they came up with canned celery soup there must have been real celery soup.  And Google was it's usual wonderful help and fetched up a bunch of recipes.  So today I made celery soup and it is good.

While thinking about this particular challenge, I remembered a book I bought last year at a Used Book Pop-up Shop across from my office.  I pulled it out and looked it over.  I think it is going to be a "go to" for inspiration.

It has simple recipes, using seasonal ingredients and combinations that to me are unfamiliar -"Braised Lettuce with Peas and Mint, Scallops with Leek and Carrot Rice".  I am looking forward to trying a lot of these recipes.

So for now - I will enjoy the spring ingredients and in a few months will experiment with summer ingredients.

Looking forward to a year of cooking seasonally.

Today was spent organizing food, buying food and cooking food.  I took everything out of my small pantry closet, cleaned the inside and put back only the items I want and arranged them in a sensible order.

I got cabbage and potatoes in my veggie bag last week and wanted to use them.  I have a recipe for Radicchio and Carrots that I thought would work.  I used the cabbage, potatoes, celery, carrots and shallots.  Then I added a sausage that I cooked separately.

It was a delicious dinner, if a little homely.  The Radicchio makes are prettier plate.

Prepping the Pantry

Got late home today and then had to be at a 7 pm meeting; so my veggies were neglected tonight.  I did spend time on Metro planning for the weekend.

My goal is not just to use all my fruits and vegetables every week; but the eat "clean".  So, this weekend I will be prepping my frig and my pantry - getting rid of anything that does not fit my new eating plan.  Buying items I need to have on hand (fresh ginger anyone?).

What is my new eating plan?  Lot's of fresh fruits and vegetables, black beans, lentils, organic meats (including organ meats), chicken, fish,  oatmeal, no gluten, limited dairy (yogurt), good oils (olive, coconut), nuts, herbs, spices, eggs and dark chocolate.  I will do organic and/or local as much as I can.  So basically, what seems sensible to me.

This weeks menu starters

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So I have a few thoughts about the menu this week.   I knew I was getting cabbage and potatoes so I bought some nice sausages for an early St Patty's day type meal.  I love chard with mushrooms.  The grapes will probably grace a chicken salad.  The cucumbers will pair with some cherry tomatoes from last week and a drizzle of balsamic.  Let's see how the week plays out.

This weeks inspiration

I have been inspired by the bag of produce I am receiving every week from Hometown Harvest. Working on using everything creatively and making healthy meals. I am going to share what I am doing on a daily basis, post some pictures and tell you what inspires me. I hope you have fun reading. I am going to have fun writing.