a little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Well, what are you in the mood for? I haven't blogged in awhile but I have still been cookin in the kitchen. School, tax season, watching seasons 1-5 of Lost...Life is so busy. That was a joke, but really, life is busy. Still, I have been trying to cook most meals of the day. My goals for the last two weeks have been

1. Buy mostly whole foods, organic and from the Farmers market what I can
   
2. Cook primarily from these foods and go out to buy little else
3. Cook tasty but healthy - "healthy" meaning high in nutrients, foods close to the way they came from the earth, and balanced
4. Use the food I have to prevent waste

Some food that has been in my refrigerator, my hanging basket or pantry: Caw Caw Creek Hot Italian Sausage, tatsoi and curly mustard greens from Cedar Creek Farms, fresh eggs, cheese, pears, oranges, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots from City Roots, homemade honey & buttermilk bread.

Some memorable meals worth sharing: last week I made a tasty Butternut Squash Soup: basically you peel, dice and roast butternut squash, and add it to mirepoix, diced apples, and curry you have been sauteeing in a stock pot, add some chicken stock (and a few other things I am forgetting) - reduce it a little then puree. I prefer a not-so-pureed soup so I just took electric hand mixers and roughly blended it in the pot before stirring. Oh - I added 1-2 T of heavy cream just before serving and topped with homemade bacon bits. I think crumbling with a few little dices of apple would have been nice as well.

Today I made Brown Butter Pasta with Tatsoi. Simple but so good - cook pasta (I used EarthFare's whole wheat "gnocchi" which is not gnocchi at all but a cute seashell pasta made out of semolina NOT potatoes. So confusing) al dente - just before pasta is finished, brown butter in a sauce pan. Strain pasta and toss with browned butter, adding in tatsoi leaves, sage leaves and parmesan. My version today included tatsoi as well as curly mustard leaves (spicy! in a horseradish kind of way) and no sage. Lots of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I also added minced garlic in with my butter at the last minute - I think making a legitimate garlic butter would have been nice.

Favorite breakfast item: Bob's Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats with Caramelized Bananas. Mmm...thank you for the inspiration, Immaculate Consumption. I have loved cooking oats in a pot for breakfast - 1 cup provides enough for the next day and its a good slow start in the mornings before a busy day. I have actually only made bananas twice for health and speed, but its so tasty. I am not the authority on caramelizing bananas though so find some other source and do it yourself.

On Friday my new book club turned food club had its first monthly Community Kitchen. I will talk in more detail about this later this week but we spent the afternoon baking breads: Honey Whole Wheat; Half White/half whole wheat with oats, honey, flax and wheat germ; Sudanese flat bread; Beer Bread (made with Killian's Irish Red); and empanadas made with farmers cheese topped with sugar.

The empanadas were incredible, made by Gabriella from Ecuador and Becky who has lived in Bolivia for many years. I only watched this process and tried to duplicate it with Julianna and Andrew last night - utter disaster, ending in tattered empanadas and upset stomachs this morning. My only success was the empanada dough (the TASTE). It was delicious, but knowing what size to roll, how hot to make the oil, whether I should deep fry, pan fry or bake the empanadas, how much to stuff them (and I couldn't even find the best cheese), why my fork was cutting through the dough instead of just sealing it, ohhh what an exhausting endeavor. I would really love some empanada guidance.

I think this is enough for now - I need to work on making these short and sweet. I do have some blog ideas coming up so sit tight and while you're waiting, check out my friend Carley's new fashion blog!