supercath!

I think it's time I invested in a cape. :)

Besides picking 12 pounds of strawberries, I've also been to the Farmer's Market, co-op, Target, and library this weekend, and have been cooking and baking up a storm.

To start, here's the "aftermath" of 12 pounds of strawberries . . .

5 quarts, hulled, washed, and frozen for smoothies, pies, and whatever else:


Four jars of jam, all in the freezer for now . . .


AND, a strawberry-rhubarb pie!

A little soupy, but still delicious.

(My new pie-making motto? When in doubt, add extra cornstarch.)

There's also a quart of fresh berries in the fridge, but they are going to need to be eaten quickly -- fruit at the peak of freshness doesn't last long!

I've also . . .

made a batch of granola:


made a loaf of bread:

(more on the bread later . . . this was actually part of the bake-a-long!)

roasted a bunch of chickpeas:


started dough for pizza crust, steamed and froze 2 pounds of asparagus, steamed and chopped 10 ounces of spinach, made a batch of BBQ seitan, made taco salad filling, washed and chopped 2 bunches of kale, washed and chopped lettuce, made a batch of almond milk, diced and froze (most of) a HUGE papaya, cooked up a pile of brown rice, shredded cheeses for pizza and quesadillas, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the litterbox, and washed/dried 5 loads of laundry.

I'm tired. :) (Needless to say.) But boy was that a weekend well spent! I love relaxing just as much as the next person, but sometimes it just feels good to get stuff DONE! (And somewhere in there, I still found time to read some and watch a movie!)

before . . .

Yeah . . . that's 12 pounds of strawberries. Oh yum.

Stay tuned for the "after" . . . coming soon!

yoga woes

As you know, I have really been working harder this year to incorporate more yoga into my life. Why? Well, I get plenty of exercise/activity in my daily routine, (lots of walking, plus general chasing around of preschoolers,) but I do very little that works on flexibility or strength. (But I have amazing endurance! It's not all bad!) Plus, I have a super-wonky back, and need to be stretching to keep things moving in-between chiropractic visits.

Enter: yoga. And I've REALLY been trying. Really, but it's been very hard, fitting in 20 to 30 minutes several days per week.

Why?

I feel like I've tried it all -- doing yoga during my break at work, writing it down on my calendar "to do" list, getting dinner prepared ahead of time so I can practice while dinner is in the oven, etc.

But it's not really working. I am often too tired to do yoga during my break at work, (and yoga just makes me sleepier,) and when I get home, I'm often so incredibly hungry (even after a couple of snacks mid- and late-afternoon,) that the thought of delaying dinner 20 or 30 minutes seems like torture.

Today, I woke up early and did yoga first thing this morning. And it wasn't that bad.

Truthfully, I'm really not a morning person . . . AT ALL. And I admit, the first ten minutes of the practice felt like complete torture. And my muscles were so tight from being inactive while sleeping, I didn't feel like I had that great of a practice. But once I got going, the practice felt better, and by the end, I was happy that I had rose early.

Maybe this will be the solution to my yoga woes? Maybe. Hopefully! Any suggestions/ideas are welcome!

Single Girl Salad

First, dinner Tuesday night:

I made another round of "Chile-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu," from VCON, with sides of roasted blue potatoes and steamed sugar-snap peas (tossed with a little butter, salt, and pepper.) I STILL had plenty of breading left, but since it's been sitting in the fridge so long, I decided to toss it. Next time, I'll probably cut the breading recipe in half, but still use two packages of the 'fu!

And now . . . the Single Girl Salad!

Dan's out of town until Sunday night, (he and his brother went canoeing in southern MN,) so I'm totally on my own for the rest of the week. Other than working my way through a pile of leftovers in the fridge, I planned a couple of fun meals for myself -- Greek salads, full of my favorite veggies (and FETA!), and Sweet and Sour Tofu, which I LOVE but Dan doesn't care for.

I've decided that romaine might be my favorite salad green. Why? It's crisp and crunchy, substantial enough to stand up to a pile of veggies, and flavorful but not overly-assertive. What's your favorite salad green?

lazy Sunday

Dan and I were uber-productive both Friday night and almost all day Saturday this past weekend, so when we found ourselves on Saturday night with "nothing to do," we jumped for joy!

A lazy Sunday was such a pleasant surprise!

First thing we did? We SLEPT IN. Now, I know this might not seem like a huge deal, but I can't begin to remember the last time I've slept past 8 am . . . EVER. Know what time I woke up yesterday morning?

10:00!!!! WOW!

First order of business? Coffee. Second? Pancakes!

I made whole-wheat lemon-ricotta pancakes, and they turned out beautifully fluffy, lemony-delicious, and were heavenly topped with tons of fresh fruit and a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

After cleaning up the kitchen, we headed over to Theo Wirth park (which is located in Minneapolis!) for a nice, long walk. I feel very lucky to have this beautiful of a park within biking distance of my apartment!




















After our walk, we were both hungry, so Dan suggested we get ice cream. Yum!

I ordered the "Hot Grin" sundae from Sebastian Joe's, which was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, hot caramel, salted mixed nuts, and whipped cream. OH BABY! I love the salty-sweet combination, but this one was almost too much for me . . . Dan had to help me with the last couple of bites.

When we got home, we lounged around on the couch and watched a movie. I don't think I've watched a movie in a month!

After the movie, it was time for dinner:

I made Herbed Ricotta Tart, with sides of roasted asparagus and salad. This was a delicious, EASY recipe! Wahoo! I did make a few modifications, (I used homemade pizza dough instead of the crud in a can, I didn't precook the green onions, etc.,) but this will definitely be a repeat at our house!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend, too!

on work.

First, here's last night's dinner:

A nice, big bowl of beans and rice was in order, after a seemingly long work week! Dan and I have been eating huge quantities of black beans lately -- I feel like I just cooked up a huge batch, but I took the last two jars out of the freezer last night! Must buy more. :)

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I really don't blog much about my "other life" (i.e., as a preschool teacher,) for a number of reasons -- this is a food blog (mostly,) I want to keep some confidentiality in my life, I can't (and won't) plaster pictures of other people's children on the internet, etc. BUT, I can tell you about something exciting we've been up to lately!

A few weeks ago, I noticed some rogue milkweed growing up through the woodchips on our playground. I kept a close eye on it, not really drawing much attention to it, until I noticed a TON of these:

Monarch eggs! I freaked out! (Literally, when I noticed them, I shouted, "Jackie! We've got eggs!") The kids all ran over and were totally and completely excited that we might have baby caterpillars, and eventually pupae and butterflies! We got busy:

Here's our awesome sign:

I quote from the kids, "Don't touch the eggs, please! Caterpillars are growing."

We've been protecting our milkweed like mother bears:

The sticks and yarn have since blown down in a thunderstorm, but the kids are busy devising some other plan for protecting their eggs.

Why all the hard work? 'Cause now . . .

Yessssss . . . we've found about a half-dozen caterpillars! I'm convinced there are more, since so many of the eggs have clearly hatched, but I think they have been hiding down in the woodchips, and coming up just to eat. We shall see . . . I'm hoping they will get bigger and bigger, and eventually become butterflies!

I spent some time browsing Google images when we first found the eggs, so we have a set of picture cards in our classroom, describing the whole life-cycle. The kids have learned the word "metamorphosis," and say it like they are silly TV announcers or something. We have been reading poems and stories about caterpillars and butterflies, the kids have been wearing shirts to school with butterflies on them on purpose, I took tons of pictures of different butterflies on my hiking and camping adventures these past couple of weeks, and I want to get ahold of a couple of body pillow cases, so the kids can pretend to be pupae. We're butterfly crazy! Woo!

kids say the darndest . . .

These are all unrelated, but all funny!

~~~~~

"You're wasting my temper!"

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"My grandma bought this for me from God."

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"Before I was at this school, I did not know where I was."

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"In fake world, do you want some soup?"

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"Trouble is trouble . . . trouble is trouble."

more yum

Just a couple of dinners from this week . . .

Rice and Dal:

I'm constantly trying to "perfect" my dal recipe, and it's getting closer every time. My theory? "More." More ghee, more spices, more chilis! This was quite a tasty batch, especially over Jasmine rice. I know brown rice is superior nutritionally, but hot damn, white rice just tastes so good!

Huevos Rancheros:

Other than warming up leftovers, this might be the fastest meal I have in my repertoire. Dinner was on the table in less than a half-hour last night! Plus, what's not to like? Tortillas? Beans? Cheese? Eggs? Salsa? Yum all around.

I felt compelled to use up the leftover frosting from my birthday treats:

Yes . . . MORE cupcakes. Chocolate this time, and mighty tasty! :)

just the food

Since I'm SO far behind on posting, I thought I'd focus on "just the food" while catching up!

Remember when I found morels at work?

I sauteed the morels, some shallots, thyme, and asparagus in plenty of olive oil, added some salt and pepper, a wallop of sour cream, and some lemon juice, and mixed the lot with some whole-wheat fettucine. Heaven! I've been keeping a careful eye on my "spot," but no new mushrooms have popped up since my lucky day last month. Oh well!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble:

Dan actually made the majority of this dessert, (I only sliced the rhubarb and strawberries,) and he was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was! And I quote, "wow -- now I know how to make crumble! That was simple!" Yay for Dan baking!

Homemade pizza:

It's been so long, I really don't remember what went on this. It's always good, though!

I'm always game to try out a new tofu recipe:

I was excited to try the "Chili-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu" recipe from VCON, since it looked so simple. Not only was it a snap to throw together on a weeknight, it was a nice, basic, delicious preparation for the ever-versatile block o' 'fu. Simple steamed asparagus and roasted (yellow-flesh) sweet potatoes rounded out this meal. My only complaint? That I didn't make more! I had plenty of breading left for a second package of 'fu, so I just stuck it in the fridge for a later date. Next time, I'll just make a double-batch!

Dan's famous stir-fry:

Gotta tell you, I can't think of anything better than coming home from work to the smells of peanut oil and Jasmine rice wafting through the air! Well done, Dan!

Local whole-wheat fettucine with homemade mushroom marinara:

Much more exciting than writing "pasta again," right? :)

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES!

I made the vanilla cupcakes from VCTOW, topped them with (dairy-full) cream cheese frosting, and home-dipped chocolate-covered strawberries. Yes, I did eat two, although I shared the rest with the kids and staff at work!

I was so excited to try out my new camping cookware set last weekend:

I realize this is a "lame" thing to get excited about, but since I've only been a "real" camper for a few years, each year, I add a few more things to the arsenal. My nesting set of pot, pan, detatchable handle, and universal lid were fabulous to have on hand this past trip! We made . . .

Black Bean and Chipotle Soup:


AND, whole-wheat banana pancakes!

It's definitely a challenge cooking in the outdoors, but not terribly difficult if you plan ahead. The soup and pancakes made nice changes from our usual cold camping meals!

All right . . . I think that leaves me caught up in the food department. Next? Pretty pictures of nature! More later!