Sweet Weekend

Hey there Annie!
Love the fact that Ruby enjoys her mama's legumes so. I always think of her as a baby eating bowl after bowl of plain broccoli.
We're back from our 4th of July celebrations with Keith and Carlyle. Every day brought great treats from Keith's kitchen. The pièce de résistance was his homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. Real mint. Herbacious! So indescribable.
I dropped many a hint that I need that my kitchen needs this. Yours does too. Do you already have it?
Glad to hear your weekend included lots of lounge time with Stella.
Love,
Marianne

Comfort Cleansing Food

Hey Marianne!

Love those Bento boxes! I might have to get them for Stella and Ruby this year. I know that Ruby especially loves things compartmentalized -- on so many different levels! I wonder though if my budding pre-teen would balk at them? Hmmm.... I just started using those nifty cloth sandwich wraps, which are great unless someone (ahem, RUBY) loses them on their second day of camp. Oy!

Last night Doug and Ruby returned from their "father-daughter" South Dakota bonding adventure. They had a blast going to Mt Rushmore, Evan's Plunge, Custer, as well as visiting places in the pandhandle of Nebraska and bumping through little towns in Wyoming en route home. About two hours away from our house Doug called and told me that he was excited to get home because after just two days on the road of eating all-American food he was coming undone. He said that after their second diner meal Ruby started asking for Thai food. Intepretation: fresh veggies and flavor...

So, I looked in my cupboard and fridge and created a hippy-centric meal: lentils simmered in light coconut milk, half an onion and two bunches of spinach. Served it over brown rice and with a side of frozen whole wheat roti (you can get them at Costco). A satisfying meal indeed. Ruby took one bite of lentils and her whole face lit up. She smiled up at me and said, "Mama, these lentils are sooooooo good!" Melted my heart.

And, what did Stella and I do on our weekend? We mountain biked, gardened, read (I showed her what bliss was: staying in bed all of Sunday morning and reading the entire New York Times), raced go-karts, ate at all the places we wanted to in town that we hadn't gone before, and went to two movies. On the 4th of July I took her to see the new Food Inc. It was preaching to the choir for me, but it literally shocked her little brain. It was one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen. Here's a link to the trailer: http://www.foodincmovie.com/

How was CT?!

Miss you all!

The Bento Box

Hello, Annie!
I know like me you struggle with lunch ideas for the kids every day. The Bento Box lunch saves me when I hit the wall. Whatever we have goes in. Simple. As. That.

We're getting ready for a mini-vacation to Keith & Carlyle's this weekend and I'm trying to avoid shopping before we go. Today's lunch is all local except for the cheese (which is hickory smoked swiss):

• peas & cherry tomotoes from backyard
• cherries from local farm
• ham steak from last year's CSA pig
• zucchini from CSA
• yogurt dip from Seven Stars Farm

Have a lovely holiday. We miss you guys.

Love,
Marianne

Pittin' cherries

Hi Annie,
I have to give credit to Adler for this past weekend's delight. He's been intrigued by the cherry pitter that a friend gave me and has been begging to use it. So our mission on Saturday was to search, find, and cook cherry cobbler. The boy pit 5 cups of cherries (and probably ate 1 cup during the process). He is a kitchen warrior and nothing makes me happier than cookin' in the kitchen with my boy!

Cherry Cobbler

• 5 or 6 cups pitted cherries
  
• 1 cup sugar (or decrease by half if desired)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• cinnamon
  
• lemon zest
• 1 stick of butter (or less but it was the weekend and I've been reading a lot about the benefits of good fat!)
• vanilla
  

1. Pit cherries and put in bowl with 1/2 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest
   
2. Flour, oats, butter (cut into pieces), vanilla in food processor and process gently till just comes together
3. Put cherries in baking dish and drop flour mixture on top
4. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for about 35 minutes until nicely browned

I didn't even get to take a picture of the finished cobber...we had ice cream and hearty appetites.

Love that you bagged all that fresh spinach. How happy you'll be during the Boulder winter to take that out for dinner!

Muchos amores,
Marianne

Spinach

Hey MA,
Love the radishes! I am going to get some seed today and try to grow some. We have pulled up our Broccoli Rabe - it bolted before we could use it. I'm still getting into this gardening thing and not always sure when to harvest.
But, harvest spinach I did....On Monday I spent two hours washing, blanching, cooling and freezing nearly 10 lbs of spinach.
We had a potluck to attend that night and I was determined NOT to go to the store. I'm really trying hard to only grocery shop twice a week, even if that means going w/o a green salad one night or forgoing milk for a day. I find that every time I walk into a grocery store I end up spending $40.
So, I looked around the cupboards to find something for the potluck. The result? Bittman had a great recipe combining chickpeas, spinach and paneer. I didn't have paneer, but I did have a Mexican cheese leftover from our tacos the night before (Doug made a brisket and I had mushrooms topped w/ cabbage and green chile...). I also had frozen tomato sauce from last summer and frozen coconut milk.
The recipe is simple....
3 cups tomato sauce combined w/ 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Add a tablespoon of curry powder and a pinch of salt and sugar.
In a 9 x 13 pan add 4 cups of cooked chickpeas, 1 lb of spinach cooked and chopped, a handful of non-melty cheese (farmers', panner or even tofu) and the curried coconutty tomato sauce. Bake for 30 min at 400.
YUM!
The potluck was canceled due to the rain, but our family was not disappointed as we gobbled it up. But, it made so much that we had enough left over for Doug to make 4 lunches and freeze.
Today I'm going to continue harvesting spinach to freeze. But, I'm also thinking about making another spinach-y casserole. I have some millet and cheese...Thinking of a making a millet-crust topped with sauteed spinach and onions mixed w/ a couple of eggs and topped with some cheddar...
And, then maybe tomorrow I'll go to the store. Maybe.
I'll try to send more pics of the garden...
Hope you all are having a good Food Page day...
xo

Anyone can grow a radish

Hi Annie,
I remember you told me "anyone can grow a radish." I grew mine in just around 32 days. We're eating them with a Gorgonzola dip. This weekend, Coco was even eating the leaves!

Let's hope I'm as lucky with the peas and avocado. Stay tuned.

I'm making your pasta with garlic & kale sauce this weekend as it's early summer pick up at the farm on Friday, which means lots of kale.
Love,
Marianne

Kale...

Hey,

LOVE the idea for the Bloody Marianne and Mojito Pops! We just dug out a big ugly juniper bush and planted tons of different kinds of mint to make a mojito garden!

Great recipe for the pops! We call ours "smoothie" pops b/c whenever I have leftover smoothies, I pour them into my molds and freeze them. I hadn't thought about removing them from the mold though. That's great idea.

Tonight I'm making my favorite kale - lacianto - with garlic. What's so great about this is that it will be the first time I've made it from kale I've grown myself. I absolutely can't wait.

Recipe? I usually just wing it -- chop up a head of garlic and sautee in olive oil. add a bunch of lacianto kale (some people blanch prior, but I don't) that I have chopped up and saute until wilted. While it's cooking, make your pasta. Add a ladle full of pasta water to the kale/garlic sautee and heat about 5 minutes. I could eat this twice a week and never be bored by it.

We are in this horrific weather pattern of cold, rainy days. It's driving me a bit batty. I'm ready for searing heat! But, I have to say our gardens have never looked so green!

Have a great "Food Page" day! Miss you guys so much...