Ah, nothing better than a holiday weekend filled with food, is there? I'm sure there are some fascinating cultural studies on why people all over the world make food the central part of any celebration - I don't know why, I only know I'm grateful. Our holiday weekend was also filled with boating and beaching, though on our return trip today the waves were so rough that as I sit here at my desk, I still feel like I'm rocking. Which makes me think I should join my husband and sons who are all napping away the afternoon and the vertigo...
Here's a new recipe we tried this weekend, as a side dish for our cookout. The original recipe for the dressing is from a recent Everyday Food magazine, which had it as a dressing for iceberg lettuce. I used broccoli slaw instead.
Buttermilk Broccoli Slaw (serves 8 - 10)
3 tablespoons buttermilk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (I didn't have fresh dill so used 1/2 tablespoon dried dill)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (Cutting the parsley from my herb garden in front of my two year old was a big mistake. He wanted in on the fun, so the next thing I knew he was in the kitchen with a handful of green little tomatoes. That he had picked. From my revived tomato plants. Sigh.)
1/2 small shallot, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together all ingredients and then toss over two 10 ounce packages of broccoli slaw. Note: my Mom and I both thought the dressing was good, but lacked a little punch. Next time, I would add a handful of crumbled feta cheese to give it a little sharpness.
There's now a napping couch calling my name. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Eat This. With That.
This post is about eating, not cooking.
Does anyone else find it ridiculously hard to eat healthy while traveling? I don't have such a hard time when I'm traveling with my family - we often rent a house or condo, which gives us a kitchen on hand that I can stock with our usual foods. But when I'm traveling for work, at the mercy of other people's schedules and menus, I have a terrible time making the best choices.
This past trip I was determined to be better. So when I had a meal break with no obligatory dining partners, I took a 15 minute walk from my hotel to a great salad place, got a huge salad with lovely romaine lettuce, roasted chicken, carrots, tomatoes, chick peas, and cucumber, and brought it back to my hotel room to eat in my remaining free 10 minutes (all the while quite pleased with my 30 minutes of fresh air and healthy meal option). Only to find that I had returned with no fork (and no time to go find one). Dammit!!! And it's not like you can eat salad with your fingers, though I was so hungry I was about to. Until I looked around my hotel room and came upon the ice tongs. So there I sat, eating my frickin' healthy food, with hotel ice tongs.
Lesson learned. Because I've never met a cheeseburger that required a fork.
Happy holiday weekend to all, and a special thank you to our service members.
Does anyone else find it ridiculously hard to eat healthy while traveling? I don't have such a hard time when I'm traveling with my family - we often rent a house or condo, which gives us a kitchen on hand that I can stock with our usual foods. But when I'm traveling for work, at the mercy of other people's schedules and menus, I have a terrible time making the best choices.
This past trip I was determined to be better. So when I had a meal break with no obligatory dining partners, I took a 15 minute walk from my hotel to a great salad place, got a huge salad with lovely romaine lettuce, roasted chicken, carrots, tomatoes, chick peas, and cucumber, and brought it back to my hotel room to eat in my remaining free 10 minutes (all the while quite pleased with my 30 minutes of fresh air and healthy meal option). Only to find that I had returned with no fork (and no time to go find one). Dammit!!! And it's not like you can eat salad with your fingers, though I was so hungry I was about to. Until I looked around my hotel room and came upon the ice tongs. So there I sat, eating my frickin' healthy food, with hotel ice tongs.
Lesson learned. Because I've never met a cheeseburger that required a fork.
Happy holiday weekend to all, and a special thank you to our service members.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Message in a Bottle
Dilemma. I'm traveling (again), and writing this from a conference in Boston. Like any good conference-go'er, I skipped out on an afternoon session to spend some time walking outside and popping into some shops here and there. While poking around Crate & Barrel, I found this salad dressing bottle.
I. Want. It.
One of my real downfalls in the kitchen is that I am lazy, lazy, lazy when it comes to making salad and salad dressings. It's too much damn work!!! You have to tear and wash the lettuce, peel and chop the carrots, wash and slice tomatoes and cucumbers, destring the snap peas...I am exhausted just writing all of that. THEN to do a homemade dressing with all that measuring and whisking. And at the end of all that, you still have to do the main course. It's just too much of a hurdle for me, especially when I'm trying to get dinner on the table in less than 25 minutes (the length of Little Einsteins or Curious George).
In the winter this is not as much of a problem. Winter veggies are easy to roast right alongside your meat, or toss in a soup. But in the summer, there's just nothing that hits the spot like a nice fresh, crisp salad. So, in light of my New Year's resolution to serve more vegetables, I am determined to be better about making salads this summer with fresh salad dressing to go with them. And this little salad dressing bottle seems like just the perfect thing. It's cute, it's convenient (dressing recipes printed right on it!), and most of all, it's a kitchen tool. Totally my weakness.
But here's my dilemma. I'm flying back tomorrow. I wouldn't want to pack this in my checked luggage, because it's bound to be broken. So my options are to carry it home in my purse or order it on-line and pay almost as much in shipping as the price of the bottle. Or not have it at all. (But I'm afraid that, Dear Readers, is not an option.) Suggestions? Advice? Free shipping coupon for Crate and Barrel?
I. Want. It.
One of my real downfalls in the kitchen is that I am lazy, lazy, lazy when it comes to making salad and salad dressings. It's too much damn work!!! You have to tear and wash the lettuce, peel and chop the carrots, wash and slice tomatoes and cucumbers, destring the snap peas...I am exhausted just writing all of that. THEN to do a homemade dressing with all that measuring and whisking. And at the end of all that, you still have to do the main course. It's just too much of a hurdle for me, especially when I'm trying to get dinner on the table in less than 25 minutes (the length of Little Einsteins or Curious George).
In the winter this is not as much of a problem. Winter veggies are easy to roast right alongside your meat, or toss in a soup. But in the summer, there's just nothing that hits the spot like a nice fresh, crisp salad. So, in light of my New Year's resolution to serve more vegetables, I am determined to be better about making salads this summer with fresh salad dressing to go with them. And this little salad dressing bottle seems like just the perfect thing. It's cute, it's convenient (dressing recipes printed right on it!), and most of all, it's a kitchen tool. Totally my weakness.
But here's my dilemma. I'm flying back tomorrow. I wouldn't want to pack this in my checked luggage, because it's bound to be broken. So my options are to carry it home in my purse or order it on-line and pay almost as much in shipping as the price of the bottle. Or not have it at all. (But I'm afraid that, Dear Readers, is not an option.) Suggestions? Advice? Free shipping coupon for Crate and Barrel?
Sunday, May 23, 2010
You Say Tomato...
...I say "Oh dear."
We had a great trip to the mountains, and the wedding was just beautiful (talk about good food!!!). But I returned to the most pitiful plants you've ever seen, including tomato plants that were doing so well (20 little tomatoes already) but apparently decided to give up after 3 days of no watering. Quitters. I'm not sure they can be resuscitated, but I'm trying.
We had a great trip to the mountains, and the wedding was just beautiful (talk about good food!!!). But I returned to the most pitiful plants you've ever seen, including tomato plants that were doing so well (20 little tomatoes already) but apparently decided to give up after 3 days of no watering. Quitters. I'm not sure they can be resuscitated, but I'm trying.
Summer growing season is here, and our farmbox delivery is overflowing with Vidalia onions these days. I was staring at them this afternoon, trying to decide if I had the energy to make onion soup and just freeze it for the fall, when I remembered that Southern dinner party staple: onion dip. This recipe is so easy it can hardly be called a recipe, but it is always, always, the first to go.
Ridiculously Easy Vidalia Onion Dip
2 cups diced Vidalia onions
2 cups shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese
1.5 cups good mayonnaise (I like Hellman's)
Mix together in an oven-proof bowl. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until slightly browned and bubbling. Serve with Triscuits and stand back while your husband inhales.
Mmmm...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
On the Road Again
This is how brilliant I am - I decide to start posting again right as I'm about to take back to back trips. Just smashing.
The first one is a road trip to the mountains with my boys (all four of them - sons, husband, and dog) (I'll be the crazy lady strapped to the roof of the car) for a family wedding. I think my packing list is longer than my senior thesis, and it has one very, very important section: food. We've rented in a house in a fairly rural area, and are schlepping four days worth of food on a 6 hour car ride.
So here's a question for you: if you had to pack knowing you couldn't get to a grocery store for 4 days (but also knowing your dinners are covered), what would make your packing list?
Here's mine:
Coffee + half & half
Diet Coke
Coke Zero (yes, caffeine is the secret to happy parents traveling with little boys)
Pumpkin bread
String cheese
Goldfish crackers
Yogurt
Milk
OJ
Eggs
Bagels & cream cheese (crap, as I write this I remember I completely forgot to stop and get bagels this afternoon. Guess we'll be picking them up on our way out of town tomorrow. See, this blog is good for something!)
Bread
Good NY sharp cheddar cheese
Pickles (because what good is a grilled cheese sandwich without pickles on the side?)
Apples
Strawberries
Blueberries
Things that have occurred to me that I forgot to get in addition to the bagels:
Peanut M&Ms
Wine
Wine
Wine
Cheese, crackers, good salami, grapes
Bottle opener
And on that note, I'm off to do one more grocery run and more packing...
The first one is a road trip to the mountains with my boys (all four of them - sons, husband, and dog) (I'll be the crazy lady strapped to the roof of the car) for a family wedding. I think my packing list is longer than my senior thesis, and it has one very, very important section: food. We've rented in a house in a fairly rural area, and are schlepping four days worth of food on a 6 hour car ride.
So here's a question for you: if you had to pack knowing you couldn't get to a grocery store for 4 days (but also knowing your dinners are covered), what would make your packing list?
Here's mine:
Coffee + half & half
Diet Coke
Coke Zero (yes, caffeine is the secret to happy parents traveling with little boys)
Pumpkin bread
String cheese
Goldfish crackers
Yogurt
Milk
OJ
Eggs
Bagels & cream cheese (crap, as I write this I remember I completely forgot to stop and get bagels this afternoon. Guess we'll be picking them up on our way out of town tomorrow. See, this blog is good for something!)
Bread
Good NY sharp cheddar cheese
Pickles (because what good is a grilled cheese sandwich without pickles on the side?)
Apples
Strawberries
Blueberries
Things that have occurred to me that I forgot to get in addition to the bagels:
Peanut M&Ms
Wine
Wine
Wine
Cheese, crackers, good salami, grapes
Bottle opener
And on that note, I'm off to do one more grocery run and more packing...
Monday, May 17, 2010
Perfect is the Enemy of Good
First of all, where the heck did spring go? Just yesterday I was whining about the cold, and now we are smack dab into summer time.
It's been a crazy two months, filled with nothing but completely normal family and work activities, and yet the time goes by so fast...it's astounding (of course, I am sure that when I start potty training our youngest in 2 weeks, time will come to a screeching halt). I fully intended to just take a few weeks off from blog posting in order to figure out how to post better pictures, read other food blogs for inspiration, figure out Google Analytics, figure out facebook groups, and try a whole pile of new recipes to review and share.
Guess how much of that happened.
Yup, zilch.
As it turns out, it takes me about 5 minutes to do a blog post, and it apparently DOES take a rocket scientist to figure out the rest of it. Which I am not. Grrr! So, in the spirit of not allowing perfect to be the enemy of good, I am back to posting anyway.
Dinner tonight: Fresh Market pork potstickers. SO GOOD and I can thank Atlanta Mom for the discovery. They're in the deli section of fresh market. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat in a large, non-stick skillet. Drop the potstickers in the oil and allow to brown for 2 minutes (don't bother turning them). Add 2 tablespoons water and cover fast before the oil pops out and attacks you. Leave covered and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve over white rice with a bit of your favorite soy sauce, and salad on the side. These go beautifully, just beautifully, with a glass of sparkling wine (all the better to celebrate the return of the blog, yes?). Cheers!
It's been a crazy two months, filled with nothing but completely normal family and work activities, and yet the time goes by so fast...it's astounding (of course, I am sure that when I start potty training our youngest in 2 weeks, time will come to a screeching halt). I fully intended to just take a few weeks off from blog posting in order to figure out how to post better pictures, read other food blogs for inspiration, figure out Google Analytics, figure out facebook groups, and try a whole pile of new recipes to review and share.
Guess how much of that happened.
Yup, zilch.
As it turns out, it takes me about 5 minutes to do a blog post, and it apparently DOES take a rocket scientist to figure out the rest of it. Which I am not. Grrr! So, in the spirit of not allowing perfect to be the enemy of good, I am back to posting anyway.
Dinner tonight: Fresh Market pork potstickers. SO GOOD and I can thank Atlanta Mom for the discovery. They're in the deli section of fresh market. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat in a large, non-stick skillet. Drop the potstickers in the oil and allow to brown for 2 minutes (don't bother turning them). Add 2 tablespoons water and cover fast before the oil pops out and attacks you. Leave covered and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve over white rice with a bit of your favorite soy sauce, and salad on the side. These go beautifully, just beautifully, with a glass of sparkling wine (all the better to celebrate the return of the blog, yes?). Cheers!
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