how to: miso soup

I have gone off and on miso soup through the years, but lately, it's defenitely been one of my "go to" quick and healthy meals. Who doesn't love a bowl of salty, brothy veggies, with a little tofu or noodles thrown in on occasion? Sign me up!

Over the years, I've tried a variety of recipes and approaches towards miso soup, and have run into several road blocks -- mainly, that traditional miso soup relies heavily on a broth containing bonito, which does not fit in with my "strict" vegetarian diet. (Plus, I just think it tastes nasty. My preference, and all!)

Recently, I've discovered what I believe to be the perfect vegetarian miso soup, using a quick, homemade broth that is both clean tasting and complex. Observe:

1. Per serving, bring 2 cups of water, one dried shiitake mushroom, one strip of konbu, and as much ginger as you would like to a boil:

After the broth boils, remove it from the heat and allow it to steep as long as you'd like -- at least a half-hour, preferably an hour if you have the time. (This is an easy thing to do in advance, if you'd like.)

2. While your broth is steeping, prepare your other ingredients:

Tonight, I used a big pile of sliced shiitake mushroom caps, some asparagus from my freezer, and sliced green onions. I also like sugar snap peas, pressed and cubed tofu, soba noodles (broken into 1-inch pieces,) and julienned carrot in miso soup. I try to limit myself to three additional ingredients, just to keep the whole thing from turning into a stew. :)

3. Remove the dried mushroom, konbu, and ginger from your broth. Return it to a boil, and add your additional veggies:

Lower the heat and simmer the soup for at least five minutes, unless you are using noodles, then check the package and simmer until your noodles are cooked through.

4. Stir in a spoonful of miso:

I don't like the mess of removing some of the broth, dissolving the miso in this broth and then returning it to the pot, so I press my miso through a small strainer directly into the soup.

5. Enjoy!


Have you ever made miso soup before? What is your preferred method?

yesterday in food

Dan and I went out for Chinese food on Friday night, so I decided to cook at home yesterday -- and made some fabulous meals!

Lunch:

Cleaning out the freezer at work, I discovered two Boca burgers from . . . um, summer? I think the last time I had one was at National Night Out! Anyhow, even though they were a little freezer burnt, they fried up beautifully in the cast iron, topped with a little monterey jack and served on whole-wheat toast with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and mayo. Mmmmmm! Pickles, Spud Puppies, and coleslaw on the side! (I tossed thinly shaved green and red cabbage, sliced green onion, and julienned jicama and red bell pepper with Liz's dressing recipe -- it's the BEST, and I always have the ingredients on hand for it!)

Quick pause for a "kids say the darndest" -- my students have become quite culinarily curious lately, and have been excited to try new fruits and veggies that either my coteacher or I bring in. Lately, they've loved fresh fennel, grapefruit, and pomegranates! I cut up some of the jicama for them to try on Thursday; as they were munching away, one of the boys said, "what's this called again?" I replied; he continued, "OH -- I thought you said 'hiccups!'" We all thought that was awesome!

OK, back to food. Dinner was per Dan's request -- sushi and miso soup!

Dan picked up a teensie piece of fish for himself from Coastal Seafoods, and I made myself a couple of veggie rolls with cucumber, red bell pepper, and avocado. Even though I didn't add quite enough miso to the soup, the meal was awesome! I left the table stuffed and satisfied, full of veggies, tofu, edamame, and rice. :)

I don't yet know what we're up to today, but I'm sure I'll be back later with more food! I feel like baking, but don't know what I'm going to make. Suggestions? Ideas? I'm thinking either bars or muffins, but don't really have a plan as of yet. Decisions, decisions!!

maybe? maybe not.

Before I forget again, I better talk about the quick stop we made at InfiniTea Tea House yesterday! Stopping at InfiniTea wasn't part of my original plan for "28 Hours of Fun," but while we were running errands, we were on our way by, and Dan doesn't need much convincing to stop for a cup of tea! :) I stumbled upon InfiniTea back in December, and was shocked, amazed, and pleased by their array of teas, made-to-order chai lattes, simple but gorgeous decor, and selection of tea accessories for brewing at home. Dan had a cup of Chinese black tea, (I forget what kind -- sorry -- but it was excellent!) and I had a coconut truffle chai latte . . . hell yes! They make all of their chai lattes to order with almond milk and honey, but I did see a bottle of agave nectar on the counter, too, so it's definitely vegan-friendly. You can purchase loose tea to take home, as well as have a cup of ANYTHING ON THE WALL brewed for you on the spot! They have several Zojirushi tea kettles set at a variety of temperatures along the tea prep area, and I noticed our tea guy using a timer for both Dan's black tea and my latte. Man, do they know their stuff! I was really impressed, and we will definitely be back. They offer a selection of "tea flights" as well, which is something we will certainly have to try on a return visit. :) If you live in the Cities and like tea even a little bit, you definitely have to check out InfiniTea!

On to meals from today . . .

I feel like it's been a while since we've had breakfast burritos, so we were due!

Same as usual -- whole-wheat tortilla stuffed with refried black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, hashbrowns, scrambled egg, salsa, sour cream, and hot sauce. Mmmmmmmmm! A glass of orange juice is the PERFECT accompaniment to this meal -- salty balances sweet, and rich balances acidic. YUM! Plus, all of the protein really holds me over well. Happy brunch!

Dinner was, again, miso soup:

Am I growing tired of miso soup yet? Maybe. Maybe not! Things have changed a bit around here lately, which means I'm on my own for a lot more meals, and miso soup is one of those things that is a cinch to make for one . . . though it's been so long since I've been focusing on cooking for one, I've forgotten many of my old standbys! Miso soup is one that I remember, though, and a delicious meal in a bowl!

What are some of your favorite meals for one?

can't get enough

I don't know whether this seems to be a strange thing to crave, but lately, I can't get enough miso soup!

I don't know whether it's the salt, simplicity, or shiitake mushrooms that I crave . . . maybe all three? Anyhow, I feel as though I have been eating gallons of miso soup lately, and have yet to get sick of it! Awesome.

What are some of the foods you can eat again and again without getting sick of them? For me, it's definitely miso soup, breakfast burritos, pretty much anything involving cheese, smoothies, and usually, chili. (Although I totally burned myself out on chili since Christmas . . . I swear, I made the batch of chili that never ends! I FINALLY finished the last serving yesterday! Whew.)

In other news, I signed up for a couple of yoga classes starting over the next couple of weeks! One class is an 8-week series on the philosophy of yoga, and the other is a 6-week series on yoga for back health. I've never taken a yoga class before, and I'm so excited to start! Truthfully, I pretty much can't afford to do this, but sometimes you just gotta spend a little money on yourself for something fun, right? :)

ALSO, Dan and I are starting what I hope to be a new "routine" this weekend -- 28 hours of fun! We are going to take turns planning (and paying for) an evening and a day's worth of activities, starting on Friday night and continuing into Saturday night, since we have been extremely lazy about "dating" lately. This weekend is my turn, and I can't wait! We're going to go out to eat and watch a movie on Friday night, then head to an art museum AND see a play on Saturday! Hooray for fun!

Only one more day until the weekend -- wahoo! Hope you have some fun and/or relaxing plans!

meals . . .

Sorry for my lack of energy, here . . . can't tell if my body is having a stress-induced meltdown, or I have the flu! Regardless, I barely did anything today -- a little laundry and a sinkfull of dishes zapped all of my energy. Frying an egg and toasting some bread for dinner was WORK, I tell you!

BUT, I did make a few tasty things over the past few days . . .

First, chili:

One of my favorite recipes is the "Very Veggie Chili" from Vegan Planet -- I use black beans and something else (this time, black-eyed peas) instead of the chickpeas, and also add some TVP for heartiness. Always a winner!

More pizza:

It was good at the time, but I don't even want to think about pizza right now -- ugh! Hopefully Dan will eat up all of the leftovers for me. :)

And blessed miso soup:

Perfect cold-weather, feeling-icky food. I would have made more tonight, except that chopping veggies sounded too hard today! :(

Time for more tea . . . !!

Oh yes . . . and Merry Christmas! Mine wasn't terribly merry, (eh sick,) but at least I had lots of fun singing at church before the sickness set in!

I promise a much better New Year's post . . . hopefully I'll be healthy by then!

SNOW DAY!

I have pretty much always worked for non-profit preshool/child care programs in my career, which means, we NEVER get snow days. Typically, policy has been we don't close unless the public schools close, and the public schools never close!

Well, that is, until this week! Seriously, this is the first time I've remembered Minneapolis and/or St. Paul Public Schools closing in well over ten years. (I remember the University of Minnesota shut down one day during my freshman year because the air temperature was a high of -20 Farenheight, with even scarier wind chills. I'm sure the schools were closed that day, too!) It was such a surprise, receiving a call from my coteacher on Sunday night, with the message "SNOW DAY" loud and clear! THEN, last night, my boss called, stating, "another snow day tomorrow!" Wow! (The reasoning? I guess we got such a dumping of snow over the weekend, the city has not yet been fully plowed, so the school busses can't get through.)

Well, really, the reason doesn't matter -- snow days are the BEST! Of course, my favorite thing to do on a snow day is BAKE! Now, I've drastically changed my Christmas cookie plans for this year, since my parents have decided to come up. My mom does a ton of baking most years, and I didn't want to duplicate anything she's making, so my list has been cut from a dozen different things to about five. I wasn't even planning on making roll-out cookies this year, (since my mom already makes them,) but yesterday, I just couldn't help it! Snow days require frosting and sprinkles, in my opinion!




No offense to my grandma, whose "Christmas Cookie" dough I almost always make, but I decided to do something simpler this year, with a smaller yield. I settled on Real Simple's Basic Sugar Cookie Dough, which was just right. I ended up getting 40 cookies from this recipe, (the suggested yield is 18,) likely because I rolled the dough a little thinner and used smaller cookie cutters than they did. (I also believe strongly in re-rolling scraps. If I hadn't, I would have wasted at least half of the dough!) My cookies only took about 9 minutes, too, instead of their suggested 12 to 15. After cooling, I whipped up a super-simple buttercream, (1/2 cup butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and about 3 tbsp milk, or until the frosting held together but was still creamy and spreadable,) and attacked my stash of sprinkles. Wahoo! Dan didn't feel like helping with the decorating this year, and that was just fine -- the recipe was manageable enough, I finished the decorating before I was sick of it. :)

AND, since we cannot survive on cookies alone, (although it would be fun to try,) I did some actual cooking these past couple of days, too.

First, "Saucy Hungarian Eggplant," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers:

For some reason, seeing bulgur in the cupboard made me think to make this dish! Really, though, it is spectacular and easy, and one of my favorites from this cookbook. I couldn't believe the prices on decent-looking artichokes from California this week, so I decided to pick up two for us to enjoy alongside. (We also had salad! It was a veggie-full meal.)

Last night was an incredibly simple miso soup supper:


Here's my recipe, which serves two:

1. Combine 6 cups of water, 2 strips of kombu, 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, and 4 "coins" of fresh ginger. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover your dashi. This can steep basically as long as you'd like, but for at least a half-hour. Remove and discard the kombu, shiitakes, and ginger.

2. Return the broth to a boil. Add 1/2 package firm tofu, pressed and cubed small, about 12 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced, and 1 "bundle" of soba noodles, broken into about 1-inch pieces. Boil for five minutes, or however long your noodles take to cook, stirring frequently.

3. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 bunch of green onions, sliced, and 2 tablespoons of miso. Enjoy!

We had a small bowl of leftover soup, which I wasn't expecting, but because we had barely done anything all day long, I guess our appetites weren't at their normal level! Alas, I guess I'll just have to have the leftovers for breakfast this morning!

Off to enjoy snow day #2, here -- if I feel like getting out to buy more flour, I'll definitely be doing more baking! Wee!

weekend eats

We've had a nicely laid-back weekend -- running errands, doing laundry, hanging out at home and reading, and, of course, cooking!

Monster batch of beans and rice:

I make a huge amount every time, because this dish is so versatile. We tend to have portions topped with shredded cheese (this week, a smoked chipotle gouda,) for lunches, scoops stuffed into tortillas and baked in the oven for burritos, and mountains on top of lettuce with avocado, salsa, and sour cream for taco salads. On its own, the dish is relatively low in fat and quite high in fiber, and a nice way to get some whole grains, beans, and veggies in us several times throughout the week. I had a big bowlful topped with cheese for lunch today, and I scooped it all up with some organic corn tortilla chips. Bonus!

Dan's brother, Ryan, came over for dinner last night and I made sushi!

Huge platter of veggie sushi (cucumber, avocado, and red pepper) for the vegetarians, (Ryan and I,) and Dan went to Costal Seafood and bought himself a couple of small pieces of fish. I made him a couple rolls with his fish, and then sliced the rest as thinly as I could for some sashimi. He was happy. :) Ryan and I dominated the edamame, too!

Leftover buttermilk syrup + stale bread = perfectly good reason to make French toast!

I am EXTREMELY picky about my French toast, and almost never order it in restaurants, because it is almost always awful. My secret tricks? Start with very stale, almost dry bread, (I tend to dry mine out in a 200-degree oven if it's not dry enough on its own,) and let the bread soak in the custard mixture overnight, for maximum gooey center potential. Plus, a half-teaspoon of Penzey's baking spice added to the custard mix just makes everything better!

What are your French toast tips/tricks?

Lately, Sunday night has become pizza night at our house! This first pie is topped with olive oil, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and salt and pepper:

This second pie is topped with organic pizza sauce, red onion, sliced fresh garlic, mushrooms, kalamata olives, and a mixture of four cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan, goat, and feta -- can you tell I was cleaning out the fridge???)

I love pizza!

weekend eats and baking projects

Did a little baking today . . .

trail mix cookies:

I made my usual oatmeal cookies, adding a ton of leftover trail mix that was languishing in our fridge. Fantastic! Lots of flavors, textures, and colors in these babies.

granola:

The usual, made with a few cashews this time. Yum!

And, a few meals . . .

Sushi!

I made a few cucumber, avocado, and asparagus rolls for myself, and since Dan bought himself a small piece of sushi-grade fish, he was a happy camper, too!

Beans and Rice:

Plated, with some roasted asparagus:

I can't believe how long it's been since I've made beans and rice, and Dan and I both agreed it's been too long! So yum.

Stay tuned for a few pictures from the hike we took on Saturday afternoon. Hope you had a good weekend, too!

soup, and soup.

I'm having a week of being "stuck" on foods -- first it was pasta, now soup!

Thursday night's dinner:

Tofu Mom's Kale-Sausage Soup, which is a favorite at our house, (made with homemade spicy Italian veggie links,) with Cheese Muffins on the side. Seriously, if you eat cheese, make these muffins. Unbelieveable.

Friday night's dinner:

Loaded Miso Soup! Ingredients: peanut oil, carrots, oyster mushrooms (I would have preferred shiitakes, but, well, sometimes you get what you get,) ginger, vegetable broth, water, soba noodles, tofu, spinach, green onions, and miso. Yum!

local!

First, a couple of dinners from this week:


Local potatoes, local kale, and local eggs. An oldie but goodie.



Sushi and miso soup again -- avocado rolls for me, tuna rolls for Dan. (He ate a bunch of avocado, too!)

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I woke up at 7:10 this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep because I was too excited about going to the Farmer's Market. So, I gave up on sleeping in, hopped in the car, and loaded up on local goodies:

This week's haul ran us about $50, but as you can see from the grocery shop picture below, we got almost all of our produce for the week from the market! Yay, local! Clockwise from bottom left: plums, salad mix, eggplant, Yukon Gold potatoes, watermelon, red onions, "Kellog's Breakfast" heirloom tomatoes, beets w/tops, carrots, baby heirloom tomato mix, fresh mozzarella, cucumber, apples, garlic, artichokes, wild rice, and basil. (Yes! Local artichokes! They were a buck apiece, which is why I only bought two, but still! How exciting!)

A post-Farmer's Market lunch:

Heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Slice of homemade bread not pictured.

And the week's co-op (and grocery store) haul:



BAKERY:
local multigrain bread

BULK:
locally-roasted, organic, fair-trade coffee

FROZEN:
organic grape juice concentrate

HERBS & SPICES:
kava

PACKAGED GROCERY:
organic extra-virgin olive oil
locally-bottled, organic, fair-trade vanilla extract
organic crushed tomatoes
Seventh Generation dish soap

PRODUCE:
organic lemons
local, organic mint

REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
local, organic, whole-wheat pita

Also, a package of dried lima beans from the regular grocery store, since the co-op doesn't carry them! Do you think this is strange? I do.

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And last . . . the final grocery budgeting results for August! Given all of the stocking up we did on sale items, (and all of the stocking of the freezer, too,) we did well sticking to our budget of $500, coming in at a grand total of $488.57 spent! I think this is a budget we can live with, comfortable without feeling deprived.

I must confess . . . I wasn't sure, when we started this budgeting adventure, that we could do it. And I'm still unsure that I can keep up with the level of work required for this type of eating -- especially the volume of dirty dishes! However, I'm pleased with how our eating habits have changed. We are eating a lot more beans and a lot less cheese than we ever used to, slightly less organic overall, but still very healthy, in my opinion. And even less processed food, too!

How has the economy changed your family's eating habits?

dinners, budgeting

We enjoyed homemade sushi and miso soup for dinner the other night:


Sushi was our usual cucumber and avocado roll, but the miso soup turned out better than I've ever made it before! I made a simple broth from a big chunk of fresh ginger, some mushroom stems, and a couple pieces of konbu. After straining the broth I added miso (obviously,) sliced oyster mushroom caps, and a huge handfull of fresh spinach. Yum! Green onions would have been an awesome addition, too, but we were out. Alas.

I made the most gorgeous, delicious pizza for lunch yesterday:

"Artisan Bread" half-whole-wheat crust, smothered in caramelized onions, mozzarella, parmesan, cremini mushrooms, and kalamata olives. We had a big, green salad on the side, too. Yum!

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Week two of grocery budgeting went well. First, the haul from the co-op looks a little weird due to Dan's trip to the Boundary Waters. This week:

BULK:
local, organic soybeans
local slivered almonds
local walnuts
organic, whole-wheat pasta
trail mix
PACKAGED GROCERY:
organic creamy peanut butter
organic ginger tea
organic tomato paste
14 frut leather
12 Clif bars
2 Virgil's Root Beer
plastic wrap
unbleached parchment muffin liners
Seventh Generation laundry detergent
PRODUCE:
organic bananas
organic avocadoes
organic lemon
REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
5-grain tempeh
local, organic plain yogurt

This week's co-op spending ran us $96.93, which seemed high to me since we didn't get much produce, but I figure all of that shelf-stable processed stuff adds up quick! (We also stocked up on nuts for granola, which get expensive quickly.)

To round out the week's produce, I hit the Farmer's Market this morning:

Berries, berries galore! I was in heaven. I spent a fortune ($53!) but got a ton of gorgeous, fresh, locally-grown produce. 10 cups of raspberries, (8 went immediately into jam, the other two into the freezer,) 2 pints of blackberries, 2 pints of blueberries, (both went straight into the freezer,) broccoli, honey, potatoes, and tomatoes.

~~~~~~~~~~

I thought I'd do a quick, mid-month grocery budgeting recap. We've spent $262.36 so far, which has included stocking up on some in-season produce and sale items at the co-op. We're exactly halfway through the month, and roughly halfway through our budget, so I feel like we're in good shape! Wahoo! Nice to know this wasn't quite as hard as I thought it was going to be.

I think I need bigger bowls.

Yoga Challenge (day 16) and FLOG

Today is really the first day since I've started this challenge that I truly considered skipping the yoga -- I did get some exercise (walking) earlier in the day, and we ate dinner kind of late, so I'm still pretty full. HOWEVER, I will do yoga! I slept in this morning, (almost until 10:00!!), so I'll stay up a little later and do 25 minutes of "PM Yoga for Beginners" right before bed.

I'm sure glad I set "prizes" for myself if I complete this challenge, because if it wasn't for that, I bet I'd skip tonight! :)

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No breakfast today, since I woke up so late! (I did drink coffee, of course.)

Lunch:

I loosely followed this recipe for black bean soup, but changed things up a little bit . . . more veggies, slightly fewer beans, adding a chipotle chili in adobo and some tomato paste, etc. This was delicious topped with a little queso fresco and green onions, with a side salad of romaine, avocado, and tomato, (topped with lime juice and olive oil,) and some homemade "Broa" (Portuguese Corn Bread,) from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Treats:
No pictures, sorry! I had a cookie at home, a Tootsie Pop while I was waiting for Dan to have his beard trimmed at Fantastic Sam's, and THEN Dan bought me an ice cream cone! It was a sugary afternoon, and my gut let me know later -- that ice cream cone sat like a ROCK in my tummy for quite a while. Ugh. (But it was delicious!)

Snack:


Dinner:

Dan and I shared this big plate of sushi and edamame. Sometimes I use white rice, sometimes brown, in my sushi -- this week it was brown rice. The brown rice doesn't stick together quite as well as the white rice, but it is definitely nutritionally superior, so there you go. :)

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Ugh -- back to work for me tomorrow! At least it's only four more days until Friday, right?

back in business

After spending the holidays away from my own kitchen, I was excited to get back to town last night and do a little cooking!! Dan and I spent a LONG time discussing what to have for dinner during our drive back -- and we settled on sushi:

Veggie rolls with red pepper, cucumber, and avocado for me, and a little ahi sushi grade tuna for Dan. Not pictured: miso soup.

There are even a couple of rolls left calling my name . . . sushi for breakfast is GREAT.

Oliver was happy to see us return as well:

Well, either that, or he was just happy to make mischief in my suitcase while I was unpacking.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

potstickers!

Dinner Tuesday night:

Miso soup and edamame potstickers! (Dan and I did share these -- don't worry about me eating them all by myself.) :)

I had had a package of dumpling wrappers in the freezer FOREVER, and figured it was about time I used them up. Yum! Originally a Cooking Light recipe, I modified these slightly, changing up the spices a little bit. They were great!

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I have a busy weekend ahead of me . . . I have to work on Saturday, and then I have TONS of cookie baking and decorating to do! Expect a sugar-filled post in a few days!

Farmer's Market Extravaganza!

I made a deal with myself at the Farmer's Market yesterday -- I knew that I had a couple of things in mind that I wanted to pick up, but I took out plenty of cash and told myself I was allowed to buy whatever looked good, and I'd deal with the (positive) "consequences" later. :) I only ended up spending $23, but I don't think I could have carried more home if I had tried! Look at what I got:

Two big bunches of basil, "candy-stripe" beets, baby zucchini and summer squash, kale, bananas, lemons, broccoli, baby new potatoes, and two cartons of strawberries! Everything was local, except for the bananas and lemons, of course. :)

When I arrived back home from the farmer's market, I got busy.

Pesto:

I have big plans for this all week long!

Homemade pizza for lunch:

I made a crust from some unbleached all-purpose flour, some spelt flour, and a touch of gluten, topped it all with homemade marinara, smoked mozzarella, zucchini, red onion, kalamata olives, artichokes, mushrooms, and dabs of homemade pesto!! YUUUUUUUMMMMM. A very satisfying lunch yesterday, with watermelon on the side. (Dan and I laughed about how triangular our lunch was!)

Strawberry Galette:

I had planned on making a strawberry pie, but decided I didn't want to fuss around with pastry quite so much, so I made a free-form, rustic galette. Next time, I won't brush the top of the pastry with lemon juice and sprinkle it with sugar, since it browned WAY too much. But this was so damn tasty, I'll give you the recipe -- I based it loosely on the pastry and blueberry pie recipes from Betty Crocker.

PASTRY:
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
13 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery sticks, chilled and cut into small pieces
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water
Combine the flour and salt, and cut in the Earth Balance, leaving some larger pieces of the marg still in tact. Toss in the water with a fork until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill.
FILLING:
6 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Toss the above together. Roll out the pastry into a large circle, and transfer the circle to a large baking sheet or pizza pan. Pile the filling into the middle of the circle, spreading evenly. Dot the top of the filling with an additional 1 tablespoon of margarine. Fold up the edges of the pastry, overlapping around the filling. Bake the galette at 425 degrees Farenheight for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown!

I also made a jar of strawberry jam with the strawberries that were left after making the galette:

(I only made a half-recipe, since I had just over two cups of strawberries left.) So easy, and so delicious! I've made this jam with raspberries and blackberries before, and I think it would work well with blueberries, also. I can't wait to experiment more! I see strawberry-rhubarb jam in my future, I think. :)

I didn't actually make this yesterday, but I did thaw and bake it!

I had made a double-batch of homemade bread a while ago, and had parked most of it in the freezer for later consumption. After taking almost all day to thaw and rise, this loaf baked beautifully, and make excellent toast for breakfast this morning. :)

Dinner last night:

Brown rice, cucumber, avocado, and sesame seed nori rolls with a side of steamed edamame. 1 1/2 rolls each seems to be just the right amount for both Dan and I!

And lastly, Dan had to work yesterday morning for only a couple of hours, and after the farm tour he gave, he decided to walk through the woods and gather a surprise for me:

Black raspberries! These were SO good, and a very fun treat. We ate them as is over the course of the afternoon yesterday.

Less cooking planned for today, but I still have a few recipes up my sleeve. Until then . . .