Practice Practicing

September 21st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (2 Comments)

You learn to cook so that you don’t have to be a slave to recipes. You get what’s in season and you know what to do with it.

-Julia Child

I got a recipe from a friend earlier this week that called for sausage and kale, among other ingredients.  The only two items I had on hand were the Italian sausage and kale, but those two items sounded like the answer to my What’s For Dinner Tonight prayers.

I decided to improvise and soon heard myself shouting “Hallelujah!” as a delicious sausage and vegetable medley of kale, tomato, carrot and pepper was born unto thee:  Read more...

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Summer Garden Frittata (+ the Fastest Whipped Sweet Potatoes Ever)

August 27th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (5 Comments)

Are you sick of zucchini yet? Well hang tight, we’ve still got a few weeks of summer left.

With a frittata on the dinner menu, I gathered up the latest round of CSA zucchini (both yellow and green) for shredding and salting before I made it sit in the corner to think about what it did wrong.

Drained Shredded Zucchini

Oh Zucchini, you didn’t do anything wrong.  You’re just so… so… plenteous!  So abundant!  I’m at my wits end trying to come up with ideas for you.  Read more...

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What to Do With a Pumpkin

October 16th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (8 Comments)

(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.

Bake a Pumpkin, Heat up your Kitchen

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.

Pumpkin is just a Squash

Oh yeah.  Read more...

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What Did You Learn Today?

October 13th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (5 Comments)

I don’t know about you, but we learned how to ride the bus.

The Bus Stop

Crazy, no? We’ve only lived here for nearly two years now.

Did you know that Google Maps makes it EXTREMELY easy to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B on the bus?

Google Maps Bus

Yet another thing I learned today!

With an afternoon class on the schedule for the girls, we decided to try the bus and let Zak take the car to work.

The Plan:  Read more...

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Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

October 11th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (2 Comments)

Life is settling back into a post-marathon norm around here. I spent much of today getting caught up on all things food and laundry now that I’m hobbling around a little bit less and taking the stairs slightly faster than yesterday.

Or at the very least I’m not doing the “step up with my right leg, drag my left leg up behind me like a sack of potatoes” thing anyway.

Dinner got started this morning when I threw this guy from last week’s CSA share into the oven – not immediately sure what I was going to do with him.  Read more...

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What Kind of Day?

October 2nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (1 Comments)

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are,

Cold Wet Day

but it’s A Cold, Wet and Dreary kind of day here.

Wet Ground Wet Sidewalk

Or maybe A Soup, Sandwich and Writing on Your Bread with Mustard kind of day?

Egg Salad with Avocado and Cabbage Soup

Yeah, I like that kind of day much better.

So I guess that means we better make some soup.  Soup that’s gonna start with cabbage and leeks.

Leeks

Leeks that need their scary, hairy parts sliced off.  Scary, hairy parts that need to find something fun to do.

Coconut Oil Leek Hair  Read more...

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I See Blue Circles

September 28th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (2 Comments)

My kids love frozen blueberries.

Frozen Blueberries

Both of them. Even the little one.

They snack on them straight from the freezer and then force me to look at their blue stained lips for about three hours until the color wears off, or until I can’t take it anymore and pin them to the ground for a spit bath with my saliva wetted thumb.

I haven’t bought frozen blueberries for a few months now because of the overabundance of summer fruit we were getting from the CSA share. They asked me to buy frozen blueberries, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy FROZEN fruit with three pounds of fresh peaches in the fridge.  Read more...

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Kale Chips

September 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (3 Comments)

Today at CSA pick up we were told, “We have TONS of Kale – don’t be shy!”

CSA Kale

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.  Read more...

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Retrace Your Steps

September 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (7 Comments)

Have you ever found yourself eating a grilled hummus and coleslaw sandwich for lunch and wondered how on earth such a concoction happened to land on your plate?

Coleslaw and Hummus Sandwich

Oh right, I think it started because I was making soup.

Soup and Sandwich

Soup that began with potatoes.

White Potatoes

And then some beans were added too.

Cannellini Beans

And then Bean and Potato Soup turned into Bean Potato Onion Carrot Cabbage Soup as I went pawing through the CSA produce to find more soup ingredients.

Onions, Carrots, Red Cabbage  Read more...

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Ratatouille: Revisited

August 25th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (10 Comments)

I’ve been waiting and waiting for eggplant to show up in the CSA share this summer so I could make Ratatouille.

Finally, the good word arrived in my inbox yesterday.

CSA Items

(more peaches. did ya catch that?)

Well what do you know – this week I’ll be picking up just about everything I need to make Ratatouille!

From inbox to counter top:

CSA Share

I think Peach and Corn Ratatouille is on the menu tomorrow.

I followed my own Ratatouille directions from last year’s premiere stewed veggie attempt – and good news! I didn’t steer me wrong.  Read more...

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