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.