Sunday Happy

We are moving into the house!!! Oh wait, no we are not, at least not for real, but we are thinking about setting up the tent and sleeping in the yard for a while. It's summer and it's been so freaking hot and why the hell not right?

And to prolong our move in date some more, the mr and I have decided to re-floor the entire downstairs. HA! We figured we kinda wanted to but weren't really sure if we should. And so we said screw it, lets just do it now and get it over with. So keep that in mind if you offer to help cause we might just take you up on it.

Other then house stuff, the week has been full of all the little littles, birthday parties, flowers, and tomatoes! The farm started dishing out the fattest, juiciest, most lovely tomatoes. I have found myself on a few occasions devouring whole tomatoes by accident, like i look at them and just need to eat them. (they take away my will power) Thinking I might have to make a cake with a few of the this week (if i don't eat them all) and frost them all twirly, whirly sparkly like the cupcakes that I made this week, (they looked so awesome)  I think the mr would like that.

But for today, no baking. I would actually like to stay away from anything that creates heat (besides coffee) because it is finally not so hot and humid and my brain needs time to reform from the melt. We will probably just go floor shopping (blah) but that way I can ride with windows down and my head sticking out of the window like a dog. Fun fun.

Some stuff on the internet that isn't about pokemon (I still don't quite get it...)

-Slice, Dice, Chop Or Julienne: Does The Cut Change The Flavor?

-I want to turn a really old industrial building into a house.

-Nineteen of Roald Dahl’s Most Important Food Inventions

-This is one bad ass Nike ad. India's first Nike ad is gorgeous, sweaty, intimidating, and totally inspiring

-And this..A Modern Day "Green Acres": Family Home with Rustic Mid-C Trailers, Yurts & Cute Critters.. So cool. I oculd totally see doing something like this for the family. A compound of yurts. Ha

 -Living Room Hammocks & Hanging Chairs.. Huh, thinking I might be needing one.

-Crazy, beautiful. OSSA: The Unwilling Dance Performance of a Deconstructed Puppet

- Not fair. Forget Beanbag Chairs. Amazon Is Giving Its Workers Treehouses.

-In love with these pieces from Henry Street Studio

-Whoa, that's a lot of people. PHOTOS: For #WorldPopulationDay, How Earth's 7 Billion Live

And some pictures from life this week.

Enjoy the day.

-C

Skillet Bread with Chard, Mushrooms, and Onions

I am running extremely low on food in my house, like there isn't a can of beans or a box of pasta left. Yeah, I have a few zucchini left, but I think that mr might be getting a bit sick of it. (He has had zucchini noodles for lunch and dinner for the past few day). And I was going to go to the grocery store before dinner, but then I didn't. Why? well because I didn't really feel like it.

Turns out that I didn't need to go to the store for dinner.I had a few mushrooms, an onion, and a few stalks of chard left in the fridge. (but pretty much nothing else) I just bought a 25 lb bag of flour so I am all stocked up on that and last minute I found a avocado that I thought was a beet in the fridge. All I needed to make a dinner, and a quick and easy, and really tasty one to boot. Plus being so mother F*ing hot, it was perfect because there was no need to turn on the oven.

Now the question is,now that dinner was made and being that the fridge is so empty, should I clean and defrost it? Answer is yes, yes I should, but am I going to? Probably not. I just don't have it in me to stand in font of the fridge, hacking ice away with a large spoon and boiling water for an hour. It's to hot. I'll do it later.

The stuff. Flour, baking powder, olive oil, salt ans water for the skillet bread. A few humngo stalks of red chard, a couple mushrooms (I would have used a few more if I had them). an onion, and a few cloves of garlic.  Missing is the pepper and the avocado and lemon that I found while rummaging the fridge.

The bread is super easy. Just whisk together the flour salt, and baking soda then add in the oil. Mix until it's crumbly then mix in the water until it turns into a soft dough. Gather into a ball and stick in bowl then into fridge for a few minutes to let the dough rest.

After the dough has rested, take it and cut into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into ball and then roll out as flat as you can. Heat up a skillet to high heat and once hot, place rolled out flat onto (dry) skillet. Cook first side for about 3-4 minutes or until browned and cook, then turn heat down a bit, flip and cook other side until browned. Remove bread, turn heat back up, and repeat with remaining flats.

For the rest. Remove the leafy part of the chard and set aside .Thinly hop up the mushrooms, onion, and the chard stalk. Mince up the garlic. Toss it all (not the garlic yet)into a lightly oiled skillet , season with salt and pepper, and cook on medium heat until starting to brown. Now toss in a few splashes of water and the minced garlic, mix around, and cover wit a lid. Cook for another 8-10 minutes until the veggies are nice and soft.

Cooked and ready, but wait, chop up the chard leaves and toss them into skillet. Another splash of water and a few more minutes under a lid will wilt them up real quick.

Skillet beads are made, veggies are all nice and cooked up. The avocado and lemon where found, sliced.

Not bad for a last minute-lean out the fridge of all food-dinner. Not bad at all.

Don't melt

-C

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Skillet Bread with Chard, Mushrooms, and Onions

Make 4 flatbread

For the skillet bread

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4-5 tablespoons cold water

For the rest

• 2-4 white mushrooms
• 2-3 large stalks of chard (any color)
• 1 sweet onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• water
• An avocado and a lemon (optional)

To make the skillet bread. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Pour in olive oil and mix until crumbly then add in 4 tablespoons of water (5 if it seems to dry) until a dough forms. Gather dough into a ball, stick in bowl and cover, and place in the fridge to rest for about 10 minutes. Once dough has chilled, remove and cut into 4 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then, on a clean surface, roll out as flat as you can. Grab a skillet and place on high heat. Once skillet has heated up, place a rolled out dough on hot, un-oiled surface and let cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the bottom cooked with golden brown spots. Turn heat to medium and flip bread. Cook the other side for another 4-5 minutes or until browned. Remove flat and turn heat back up. Cook the rest of the bread like the first one.

For the rest. Remove leafy parts of the chard from the stalk and set aside. Take stalk and chop into pieces about 1/ 2 inch think. Slice onion and mushrooms up as thinly as you can. Mince garlic. Garb a skillet, stick on medium heat and drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss in chard stalk, onions, and mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix around until the stuff starts to brown a bit. Add in a few good splashed of water and the garlic and then place a lid on the skillet. Cook for about 10 minutes, giving the mixture a good stir every few minutes. Once the veggies are all soft and yummy, chop up the remaining chard leafs and place them into the skillet. Add another splash of water and place the lid back on. Cook until the leaves have wilted.

To assemble. Flat bread on plate. Scoop some of the sauteed veggie mixture on top. A few slices of avocado on top with a squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of cracked pepper...You are good to go.

Sunday Happy

Ah summertime. I hope that you are finding yourself on a beach or river(or someplace you want to be) with nothing but time to relax and enjoy yourself. It's Sunday and we all need to relax today. We deserve it.

The past week has been pretty satisfying. The house is going gang busters. We had some insulators come and blow insulation into the walls on the first floor and later next week the upstairs is going to be spray foamed insulated.... And then we can move it (No not really) but this is huge. But now got to get ready for the guys to come and finish so we have to hall ass ans finish wiring, prepping and all the good stuff that they need us to do. We got a deadline to meet, but once that's done its on. We can start hanging sheet rock (who wants to help?) and finish the bathrooms and kitchen and everything!1 AAAAHHHHH!, but we are all good. It's getting done and starting to seem like we might actually get to move in before the winter.

But it wasn't all work. The days when the insulators where at the house we took off for the mountains and found some rivers. The mr went fishing, the pup went swimming (and now I don't need to give him a bath for a while) and I played with river rocks and read. We also visited with the bees up on the roof just to check how the ladies are doing and so far this season they are doing great, buzzing along like the bees do.

Today is one of those days that could go either way. We can work, maybe we really should work, but it's suppose to get hot and humid and I really don't want to. What I really want to do is go to the library and pick up (and drop off) books, go see the littles that just got back from Germany and share the watermelon that has been sitting on my counter all week with them. Maybe even go for a bike ride and take a nap.  Sounds nice right?  Hum. We shall see. At least I know there is a carrot popsicle in the freezer with my name on it.

Stuff of interest on the internet.

- A Golden Girls-themed café....And now I have the theme song"Thank you for being a friend" stuck in my head.

- A USED CARGO VAN BECOMES A MOBILE STUDIO.

-I have all sorts of ideas for making myself a little reading nook. NOTHING QUITE LIKE A PRETTY NOOK.

-Summer Produce Guide from Saveur

-Did you know there is a naked restaurant? I don't know about you, but IF I wanted to eat naked, I would just do it at home, for free.  The Fascinating (and Infuriating) Experience of Dining in the Nude

-I feel like I have lucid dreams, but that could be just in my dreams....What to Do During the Day to Increase Your Chances of Lucid Dreaming at Night

-I want a concrete bathroom floor. The mr does not. What do you think (that I am right, right!) Raw Beauty: 14 Gorgeous Spaces with Concrete Floors

-I am getting this app just as soon as I can figure out my apple ID. THE ‘SHAZAM’ FOR PLANTS WILL IDENTIFY ANY PLANT FROM A PICTURE

-All about the shoes. Gravity-Defying Shoes Installed on the Streets of London

-Inside the World of Large-Scale Food Heists. It's for real, even around these parts (stolen maple syrup happens more then you think)

Pictures of some of the awesome that happened this week.

Have a great summertime Sunday.

-C

Caramilzed Cantaloupe and Caraway

Let's see, what did I do yesterday?

Nothing. Well, not completely nothing. I did wake up and go to the gym, but then came home and fell  asleep on the floor for more then an hour and woke up in a puddle of drool. I also continued my binge watching  of the Mindy Project so I can be up to speed when season 4 started tonight on hulu!!!!!. And I  cut up a cantaoplue. That's a good amount of stuff for one day, right?

Anyway. even when I am gone from home for just a few day, I never really quite feel right when I get back until I cook something inn my kitchen.. So after my floor nap, I got up with a hankering for some of the juicy cantaloupe that I got from last weeks farm share (and forgot to stick in the fridge before we left so I came home to very ripe cantaloupe) Cut it into chunked, tossed with slightly toasted caraway seeds and then caramelized a bit more. Super fresh and clean and a very almost fall like way to eat the melon. And even though it took me about 4 minutes to do, it's all I needed to make me feel normal again.

Ah, home and food and Mindy.. Nothing better, Now to back doing stuff all day.

The stuff. Some cantaloupe and some caraway seeds. 

Place caraway seeds into a dry skillet and place on the stove on high heat. While the seeds are toasting, remove seeds and rind of the cantaloupe and cut into mouth sized chunks and place into a bowl. 

Once you hear the fist pop from the seeds, dump them in the bowl with the cantaloupe and toss around. Then dump the seed covered chunks back into the hot skillet. 

 Sear each side until browned.

And scoop it back into the bowl. 

Eat right away. IF you want to get down with a scoop of yogurt on top or maybe a bed of some green, I think you should. 

Enjoy you Tuesday my friends. 

-C

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Caramelized Cantaloupe and Caraway

• 1/4 of a cantaploupe
• 2-3 teaspoons caraway seeds

Toss caraway seeds into a dry skillet and turn heat onto high. Toast seeds for about a minutes or so or until you hear the first seed pop. Dump seeds onto cantaloup chunks and toss around then dump the cantaloupe into hot skillet. Let chunks sear for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until they are starting to caramelize. Remove from pan when you are happy with doneness. 

Eat right away.

Mustard Roasted Celeriac with Split Pea Gravy

My winter farm share is coming to an end this week. One more pick and then a three week stretch until the summer share starts… WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!! Stock up as much as I can is what.

I have been strategic about the roots and veggies that I have chosen to bring home the past few weeks.(My farm lets you pick what you want)  I know what I can buy at the store, things like carrots and potatoes, so I have been passing those up, but the roots like beets and celeriac… I have been bringing home baskets of those and hoarding them in the fridge and basement in preparation for the laps in farm fresh food and knowing that if I want to by these at the store it s going to coast me a million dollars  a pound. (a for real million dollars)

Yup, lots of roots around here, especially celeriac root which is fantastic. I am kind of obsessed with celeriac, with its fibrous, knobby exterior, soft but almost meaty texture inside, and a flavor that  is close to celery but so much better.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to do a posting featuring this amazing root vegetable  (I eat it almost every day)

So here, an amazingly tasty, hearty but not heavy, celeriac recipe.  Perfect for spring and the change into summer…. Mustard roasted celeriac with an fanatic split peas gravy that will have you licking you bowl clean.

 The stuff….For the split pea gravy we have a carrot, a parsnip and a large onion chopped into small chunks.  Salt, thyme, a bay leaf and of course the split peas. Then there is the celeriac root* sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds and some plain old yellow mustard .

*Note. I don't peel my celeriac root. I really enjoy the fibrous exterior but realize that some don't(The mister does not like it) so peel it if you want. 

Toss the chopped parsnip, carrot, onion and the spices into a pot on medium heat and let veggies sweat a few minutes until tender.  Add in the split peas and enough water to cover everything.  Turn pot on high and bring to a boil, then cover and turn to low. Make sure to give the pot a good stir ever few minutes and add more water if needed 

While the gravy is cooking,  take the celeriac rounds and brush each side with yellow mustard, sprinkle with pepper, and place on a baking sheet. Stick into the oven to roast for about 25 minutes, flipping the rounds after about 10 minutes.

Once the peas have soften, remove the bay leaf and puree until smooth and oh so creamy. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. If you find that the gravy seems to thick, just add in more water until it's the consistency that you want. The gravy is made, the celeriac is roasted… now we are ready to eat!! Stick the celeriac on a plate and dump good amount of that gravy right on top. Feel free to add a bed of spinach, or a grain or anything you want, because why not, and also some chopped tomatoes for a little acid and prettiness.

Serve with the fanciest knife and fork you can find. Extra yellow mustard and sriracha sauce are great condiments to have close by.

Happy Tuesday!

-C

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Mustard Roasted Celeriac with Split Pea Gravy

• 2 medium celeriac roots
• 6 tablespoons mustard
• 1 large carrot
• 1 medium parsnip
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2/3 cup split peas
• 2-3 cups water 
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons thyme or italian spice mix
• salt and pepper
• spinach (optional)
• diced tomatoes(optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Small dice the carrot, parsnip and onion and throw into a large pot. Spinkle with salt and pepper, add in the thyme and bay leaf and add a splash of water. Stick on stove on medium heat and stir. Let cook until the veggies become soft and fragrant. Now add in the split peas and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then cover and turn heat down to medium low. Let cook until the split peas become tender (about 25 minutes) string on occasion and adding more water if the peas are not completely summered while cooking.

Once the peas are tender, let cool for a few minutes, remove bay leaf, and either dump into a blender or blend with an immersion blender until nice and creamy. If gravy seems to thick, add in more water. 

Scrub or peel celeriac roots and slice them into 1/2 inch think rounds. Place on a baking sheet and brush mustard on both sides and spindle with pepper. Stick into oven for about 10 minutes, flip, then back into the oven for another 15 or so minutes, or unit the celeriac is tender.

When the celeriac is done remove from oven and  stick a few rounds on a bed of spinach (or not, or any kind of grain or green you like) Top with a hearty helping of the gravy and toss on some chopped up tomatoes.

Eat with at knife and fork like a fancy person.