I think I’ve taken more naps in the past month than I have in the last 3 years. I’ve replaced meals with snacks, I’ve swapped vegetables for fruit, and now instead of running or blogging, I’ve been watching Season 1 of Modern Family on DVD.
I hate to be wimpy, but the first trimester has beaten me to a pulp. And that show is so damn funny I can’t tear myself away.
But speaking of pulp and tearing stuff away, let’s chat about oranges!
Behold! The most beautiful box on earth.
When I spied that magnificent cardboard cube in the freezer case, it looked to me as though each one of those little waffle squares was delicately hand carved by fairies riding magical unicorns through the mystical forest. A magical mystical forest where streams of real maple syrup poured over majestic waterfalls and not a single creature in all the land felt as though they were living with a perpetual hangover.
Now you see why I had no choice but to bring those blue babies home with me yesterday. This is also why I dove head first into that box first thing this morning.
OK you salad lovers out there, riddle me this:
What do you do when you are sick of salad?
One possibility? Stop eating salad for a while. That’s what I’ve been doing lately. Skipping salad and getting greens elsewhere. Like slipping them into egg quesadillas, green smoothies or shoving them through the juicer.
But then other day I went out for pizza with a friend and had a side Caesar salad and you know what?
It was good. Real good.
This made me realize I just need to change things up a bit. Variety! It’s the spice of life, oui?
(Alternate – and perhaps more catchy? – Title: The One Where I Show You My Underwear)
(Took me a minute to decide.)
So!
White bean blondies aren’t the only thing you can bake to heat up your kitchen. Pumpkins are good for that too, especially first thing in the morning.
This pumpkin showed up in this week’s CSA share, and I swear, my first thought was “A pumpkin?? How on earth do you cook THAT?”
And then I reminded me that a pumpkin is just a squash.
Oh yeah.
Today at CSA pick up we were told, “We have TONS of Kale – don’t be shy!”
Well you’re in luck! I am not shy.
So ummm, yeah. After I saw just how much kale I actually brought home, I then saw two options –
Option A: move through a serious amount of kale in short order or
Option B: figure out how I was going to get the fridge door shut.
I went with Option A and officially added kale to tonight’s dinner menu. One of the things that’s so awesome about kale is the same thing that’s awesome about spinach – it reduces down to practically nothing upon cooking.
Have you ever listened to someone go completely overboard when they talk about their love of spinach?
I have. I’m sure I’ve done it myself. I’ve probably done it right here on this very Internet.
Oh I just LOOOOVE spinach! I put it in smoothies! I wear spinach in my hair! On purpose!
Spinach is sooooo good for you that I can’t help but use tons of exclamation points and extra vowels when I write about it!!!! I love spinach so much that we go for long walks on the beach and write romantic poems and naughty limericks to each other.
Sarah’s comment the other day about having five pounds of cucumbers made me realize that I too have plenty of cucumbers right now.
So what the heck can you do with a lot of cucumbers? Am I crazy or do people make cucumber soup? Cold cucumber soup? Haven’t I heard of that before? Doesn’t that sound right?
Yeah, that sounds right.
If you are a gazpacho lover, then cucumber soup will be right up your alley. Even if you aren’t a gazpacho fan (cause Zak’s not and he loved this) it could still be worth a try.
Whenever I get carrots like this:
I feel really cool.
Like – That’s right! My carrots are so crunchy granola they still have their crazy green tentacles attached, yo!
These greens are like mace for hippies. They protect me as I walk back to my car from CSA pick up. They totally say “Don’t mess with my home girl or I’ll latch on to your face and suck the soul straight from your celery stalkin’ body.”
Wow. But hey, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. My carrots love me. That’s the real reason I support local farms you know.
Got a lot of zucchini right now?
Did you know you can use zucchini in place of pasta in lasagna?
It’s true. I proved it tonight.
To start, you’ll need two large zucchinis – slice length wise into 1/4 inch strips. (Think thin!) Place into a colander and salt each slice to start removing some of their water.
Preheat oven to 350 and set your zucchini aside for about 20 minutes to sweat it out over the sink.
Meanwhile, get to work on your sauce and cheese layers.
It felt like I was on a mission trying to collect all the ingredients to make The Brendan Brazier Salad.
Good thing a salad mission is exactly my kind of mission.
I already had a bunch of the usual salad suspects on hand:
Spinach, kale, a variety of greens (including arugula!) cucumber, avocado, beets, hemp seeds.
Whoops, I almost forgot the carrots!
Boy Carrots, you sure are bossy. And kind of rude.
These were the guys I had to hunt down.
Dulse, Vega Antioxidant EPA oil blend and lentil sprouts.
More Mama’s Weeds
