Prep work

Monday evening I did mostly prep stuff, while also getting Stella's lunch and dinner ready. I think Stella may be in a bit of a carrot over-load. All of the carrots we have gotten are basically earmarked for her consumption. We have frozen some of these, but she is eating away. And if you were in my high school biology class freshman year, you would be very concerned with this. That year, our teacher brought in her 11 month daughter to visit the class. And to teach us a very important lesson. A lesson about the dangers or over eating carrots. You see... her daughter was orange.
I just had to Google myself, you know, to see if I had this irrational memory and fear of too many carrots, for no reason what so ever. I guess it is true!

Hypercarotenemia, otherwise known as carotenosis, is actually a perfectly harmless effect. It’s the effect of turning spontaneously YELLOW (not actually orange), in response to eating too many carrots. But it’s not just carrots, it can also be papaw or pumpkin, or anything else with a large amount of vitamin A. The net effect looks a bit like jaundice (what with the yellow), but is distinguishable because it doesn’t effect the sclera, or whites, of you eyes.

So, I guess it is not harmful, but still. This would have you think twice about too much carrot consumption.
That being said, I decided to shred the carrots and freeze them for future muffins.

About four cups total

Next I decided to try my hand at some pickles. I saw a recipe in one of the five hundred magazines I get and thought I should give it a try, especially since everything required was on hand (minus the dill which I picked up at the store). I also was able to use some of the fresh garlic, which turned out to be purple on the inside:

The prettiest garlic I have ever seen

I am not a fan of sweet pickles, so I am not sure why I thought I would like this recipe. For some reason, it did not dawn on me that the cup and a half of sugar would result in a sweet pickle brine. Not until I smelt this did I realize what I was doing. Oh, well. Maybe we will get invited to a BBQ in two weeks, and there will be sweet pickle lovers there.

Recipe here

See you in two -to - three weeks!

My last bit of prep was to dice up the remaining red onion to use in my salads this week.

no tears were shed. amazing

Eggplant, Take 2

My first ever attempt at cooking eggplant was an utter failure. This was probably due to the amount of wine I was consuming while cooking said eggplant, but details details.

My second attempt however was much better. I may have even stumbled across an actual meal, as opposed to all these side dishes I keep making.

I am currently counting calories / carbs / fat (who isn't?) so I sort of made this recipe up after searching for a few eggplant dishes online. I wanted to use items that I had on had (like fat free Kraft singles) as well as keep it within my daily limits. (I would credit this recipe as my inspiration)

Eggplant "Parm"

• Heat oven to 450 degrees
• Wash and trim ends of eggplant
• Slice eggplant into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices
• Brush tops of eggplant with olive oil (this is where I was really good; I actually measured out 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and only brushed it on. BIG change for me)

Sliced and ready to go

• Lay slices in a single layer, coated baking pan
• Bake in oven for 20 - 25 minutes, until browned and very soft when pressed

as you can see, I wasn't able to get just one layer. I 'snacked' on those top two.

NOTE: At this point, I had to put Stella to bed, so I just removed the eggplant from the oven and turned it off. I was totally expecting disaster. Not only was I "winging" a recipe, but I was letting it sit out for the 45 minute bath & bedtime routine... But it actually worked out!

• Top eggplant slices with cheese and sauce
• Bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted

The one slice with the 'good' mozzarella cheese. All the others had fat free cheese :(

Result = Yum. I would certainly do this one again (maybe splurge with some better cheese or some breadcrumbs.) This is basically a bread-less and pasta-less Eggplant Parm, but I did not miss those carbs at all. I think it is due to the thickness of the slices of the eggplant. They were substantial and yummy.

Pin this, bitches!

Week 7

This afternoon's pick up was nice as there was no rain. It was also a little exciting for Stella, because I let her walk over to the fence for the near-by dog park so we could watch the doggies for ten minutes or so. I will continue to let her think that I am just an awesome mom and love "doggies doggies doggies doggies DOGGIES!!!" as much as she does, and not that I was trying to stay out of the way while the coordinator tried to explain to a few homeless people who wondered into the veggie tent that, no, sorry, you can't take the carrots. Ahhh, #salemma

Anyway. There were no choices this pick-up. The items also had a few pre-measured portions out (so I didn't have to weigh one pound of carrots while keeping an eye on a roaming toddler.) Very handy!

This weeks pick up included all items that require no Googleing on my part:

• One pound of carrots
• One pound of pickling cucumbers
• Two Green Peppers
• One Eggplant
• One head of garlic
• One bunch of Basil

Typing it out, it seems like more, but the bag certainly seemed on the smaller side. I think the lack of a head of greens was a factor in this feeling. 

In putting away tonight's bounty, I found the Kale, which I honestly forgot about. It is not wicked hot, so Kale chip time. I feel with this batch, I went into it a little more confidently.

I made a few modifications after the last batch:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees
• One bunch of Kale - washed, spun & patted dry and broken into bite size pieces
• One tablespoon of olive oil
• In a large bowl, drizzle the olive oil over the Kale, and massage in. (Really? "Massage"? What does that even mean? Do I need to buy the Kale a drink first? I have no clue. But I did massage my Kale, so you should too.)

• Once the Kale is covered in the oil, spread evenly over two trays and place in the oven. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste

ready to go in

• Check once at 5 minutes to separate any leaves that are getting a little too cozy
• Remove from the oven after an additional 20 minutes.

You are now the owner of some crunchy Kale chips! 

I munched on these while calling the credit card company (always fun!), left some for Paul for when he gets home, and plan on crunching any extras on my lunch salad tomorrow since I used the last of the croutons this evening. Super easy to do, and much better then sauteed Kale (IMO).

Green Beans and Other Stuff

Yet another recipe found on pinterest. This one included all items already on hand, so it went right to the top of the list
Balsamic Green Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 1 lb. green beans
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 small red onion
• Feta cheese

{For the dressing}

• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt/pepper

DirectionsMake the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients.Trim ends off green beans and rinse. Steam (or boil) for about 3-4 minutes until crisp-tender. In a colander, rinse well with cold water to stop cooking, then pat dry. Cut green beans into 1 to 2 inch pieces.Dice red onion and halve cherry tomatoes.Place onion and green beans in a bowl. Drizzle dressing over top and toss to coat.Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to marinate.When ready to serve, add in tomatoes and feta and lightly toss.

Why do I feel like I did a really bad job of "trimming" the ends of the green beans? I have childhood memories of snapping off the ends, but I think it would have been wiser to use a knife in this case. A little too much waste down the drain.

Just a few ingredients made up the very yummy dressing. Although I have to admit that we did not have fresh garlic, so I was going to use the jar in the fridge. BUT I was unable to open it. Cursed weak hands!

I loved the colors of this, and the overall easiness of getting it together. All in all, I would make this again. BUT it did seem to be yet another side dish. I really need to figure out some main courses here.

Side Note: I used the left overs Monday night as the topping / dressing on lettuce for my dinner. The recipe stated that this should be eaten within the day, but it seemed to be fine for me two days later. It was a yum again. 

Week 6

Rain rain go away. Not only was this afternoon's pick up in the rain (which is slowly becoming the norm) but it was also cold. Very odd seeing that it is mid July and we had record breaking temps in the 100's just a few days ago. But what else would we talk about in New England if the weather was not cray-cray?

There was another fabulous volunteer at the depot this evening. She saw me running up with Stella in my arms (too muddy to let her roam free) and immediately offered to help me gather my goods. She informed me she is the mother of 17 month twins. God bless her.

The Week 6 bounty included:

• 1 & 1/2 pounds of red onion (look at that color!)
• 1 pound carrots
• Beet (other option was scallions)
• Kale (there were two other leafy greens to choose from, Bok Choy being one, callaloo the other)
• 1 pound green beans
• 1 head of salad lettuce

Once home, the normal routine of lettuce washing commenced. I contemplated a quick batch of Kale chips since it was so chilly, it would have actually been nice to turn on the oven. But laziness and a stubborn, cranky toddler both did me in for the evening.

I was able to crank out a little chopped tomato, mozzarella with some of the salad lettuce for a nice little dinner this evening.

this never gets old

Meanwhile, a cranky and stubborn Stella insisted on being pushed in her stroller around the house. And did not want to get out of said stroller. Rainy nights are so much fun! So, I did a mom-improvise and served her dinner as is:

bath time was equally fun

Peppas and Onions

The plethora of peppers and onions has been growing in the fridge. I wanted to do a stir-fry of sorts with these; but really - who am I kidding? Baby steps.

I decided to just wing it again and do a basic saute with some meat I bought over the weekend. It was a Monday evening, so my husband Paul (a chef by trade) was home and provided a little "guidance". He also put our daughter to bed, so I had a toddler free kitchen, which resulted in a much earlier dinner time.

I also started a pot of rice to go along. Due to the chef-husband, there are always an assortment of spice flavoring options. This evening we opted for a little Cajun rice.

First, I cooked the meat -- thin-sliced steak-tip meat, with a little olive oil on a warm pan, and salt & pepper to the steak.

Lesson Learned: I probably should have cut the meat up first.
I ended up cooking half way, removing and cutting, then finishing off

Once the steak was cooked up (only a few minutes, I am not a well-done meat kinda gal.) I added the onions and peppers to pan to cook.

the smell was pretty awesome

At this point, the chef-husband was back in the kitchen. It is kind of hard for him to let go of any kitchen reins, so instead of having him over my shoulder the entire time, he finished off the pepper and onions. He added a little water to the pan, along with some minced garlic from the fridge. I was totally okay with the over-taking as it was another 90 degree day.

Once everything was done, I opted to plate myself both some rice and a wheat wrap with some shredded cheese and the peppers, onions and steak. I ate the wrap and was stuffed, so the rest was perfect for a work lunch the next day.

yum

I am glad I did this - I feel perhaps a little more confident now to do a stir-fry. Everything was really yummy and lunch the next day heated up really well.

flowers from the yard. I love the color. they match the kitchen

Pinterest Mediocore (?)

If you have ever been on Pinterest, you have seen the zucchini post.  You know the one. It's looking all cheesy,  gooey and yummy...

you know, this one

Well, I really wanted to try this with my zucchini,  so I did. "Cause that's how I roll. It was pretty easy, and something I would make again (if I ever find zucchini in the market)

scooped out and ready to get stuffed

all loaded up

I might have been a little heavy handed with the cheese.
But who doesn't love cheese?

I had this as my dinner during the week. This would definitely make a better side dish.

All in all, not a Pinterest win, and not a Pinterest fail. A Pinterest Mediocrity!