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!