Buffalo Meatballs

with oat groats and pesto, and broccoli rappini.

Rye and Ribs

I love leftover ribs: I chop up the meat and serve it with whatever grain I have on hand; it's always delicious. We had it with corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, and lemon cucumbers.

Orange Roughy

with corn on the cob and tomatoes. Yum! I've discovered flash-frozen fish at the grocery store; it's going to change a lot for me in terms of dinner planning.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

One of my favorite things about summer. I chop up tomatoes, sautee them in olive oil until they've reduced a good bit, add garlic, salt, and basil, and serve. Simple, and so good. we had it on whole wheat noodles, with a salad.

Omlette

with herbed ricotta cheese. Also green beans and blueberry cornbread.

Pork Steak

with roasted brussels sprouts and blueberry cornbread. I ate myself silly on that last; incredibly good. I used the recipe for cornbread in Chez Panisse vegetables and threw in lots of fresh blueberries.

Sandalwood Socks

I posted these halfway through, but here's the finished pair. The photoshoot was no fun; wool + summer = itch.

Foxglove Tank

Knitting in the summer is so wonderful; it's amazing how fast projects go when one doesn't have to make sleeves! This is made of bamboo, a slinky and light fiber just right for upcoming dog days.

Herbed Buffalo Meatballs

with corn on the cob and buttered wax beans.

Hash

Two nights running now we've had hash of bacon and vegetables over rye berries; mighty satisfying.

Chicken Thighs

With quinoa and roasted broccoli.

Herbed Buffalo Burgers

I trimmed the Aerogardens and diced everything up (dill, thyme, oregano, basil, chives) and added it to the ground buffalo. I made patties, fried them, and served them on sourdough toast with cheddar cheese and sauteed turnip greens. On the side we had the turnips (tiny, delicious) and a salad of romaine lettuce.

Farmer's Market Bonanza

Roasted new potatoes, yellow (wax?) beans, crookneck squash, and salad.

Feta and Spinach Chicken Sausage

with fried potatoes and salad. My salt tolerance seems really to have changed; I love it, but the sausages were like little salt-bombs in my mouth.

Chicken Thighs

with roasted brussels sprouts and oat groats with parmesan and olive oil.

Clapotis Two

This is the second iteration of this pattern I've made, and the only time I've ever made a pattern twice. I ran out of yarn before it was done, but, since it's a scarf, it didn't matter too much. I love the colors (which, as always, are much more vivid in real life), and only regret that it's not going to be cold enough to wear it here for a long time.

Soup

A very nice vegetable soup, with kale, kohlrabi, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and whole wheat egg noodles. Also another meal of buffalo meatballs, escarole, and oats with pesto.

Brah Brah Sweater

Voila, the latest, made up as I went along, of a bamboo/silk blend. The title of the post allows me to introduce an issue I have so far kept off the blog: my devotion to (obsession with) the HBO show "Flight of the Conchords." Have you not seen it? You must; you'll laugh like a lunatic. Are you a straight woman? Then be warned that it is extremely likely you'll fall painfully in love. "Brah Brah" is a reference to an episode in the second series; a sweater is involved, but no one but a knitter would notice.

Pasta

with pesto and tomatoes, with salad. *Two* ice cream sandwiches for dessert; I went hog wild.

Lamb Chops

with quinoa, corn on the cobb, and salad.

Pork Chops

with shredded and sauteed brussels sprouts, and quinoa. All tasty. None measuring up the meals I had on a recent visit to Philadelphia, the delights of which included: lamb spareribs, brussels sprouts with truffles and almonds, rapini with hot pepper, dim sum, a lychee mojito, avocado gelato, and more.

Pasta with Pesto

and salad. Can't beat it.

Out of Season Sweater

Here a winter sweater, finished just in time for summer. I'll get to use it next week though, in the chill of the library archive where I'll be for a few days.

Teff

A loyal reader (thanks Naunihal!) informs me that teff is the grain used to make Injera. Google informs me that injera is that delicious fermented pancake-like bread one gets at Ethiopian restaurants. Google also says that it is the smallest known grain, and fairly bursting with good-for-you things. I may be trying my hand at some injera-making; stay tuned.

Skirt Steak

with brown rice and roasted cauliflower.

Meatballs

Made of ground buffalo, seasoned with ketchup and an egg. I sauteed them with turnips, carorts, and spring onions, and we ate them with pasta and pesto.

Hello Kitty Waffles

Daycare is closed today (!), so I am home with The Three. Eldest Child wanted waffles in her new Hello Kitty waffle maker, so that's what we did. Today's improvised recipe:

1 1/2C whole wheat flour (King Arthur's new "white whole wheat")
1/4 C teff flour (don't know what teff is; but if my local organic grocer sells it, I buy it)
1T sugar
1/2 t salt
2t baking powder
2 eggs
6T (more or less) coconut oil
1 3/4C milk

I have to say, Hello Kitty makes a nicely portioned, tasty waffle.

New Scarf

Voila, my latest, knit in a bamboo/silk blend suited to the heat of a southern summer. As ever, the colors (of both, thank goodness, my skin and the scarf) are not true, and are more vivid in real life.

Skirt Steak

marinated in soy sauce, with steamed brocco-flower (Frankenstein vegetable!), and leftover oat groats with parmesan. The steak leftovers became a treat for our god-dog, Rodney.

CSA Rapini

Sauteed with garlic, chopped up, and mixed with oat groats, parmesan, salt, and pepper. With salad mix. I wolfed mine and stole some of my spouse's.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 39 yesterday, and celebrated with a little dessert party. Over the weekend my kind spouse brought home a dozen of Miss Sue's eggs (I'm on record as being crazy about those eggs). Naturally I was thrilled, but since we already had four dozen eggs in the house, I was also a little abashed about how they'd ever get eaten. Then it came to me: cake and ice cream. Specifically, Frank Stitt's strawberry ice cream (six yolks) and an angel food cake (twelve whites). Both were successful, very delicious. The angel food cake brought back childhood memories to me, since that was the last time I'd had angel food; it's very, very good. I made two batches of ice cream base, one of which worked, the other of which didn't (I overcooked the custard and ended up with scrambled eggs). I regretted the second batch, but the first was perfect so I suppose I don't need to ask for more.

Vegetable Pasta

Sauteed broccoli, yellow carrots, and spring onions, with a smidge of bacon, over sprouted-grain pasta. if the Ezekiel company makes it, we eat it.

Spring Salad

One of my favorite signs of spring (actually, it's a sign of late spring) is the appearance of sage flowers in the garden. I can take sage or leave it alone, for the most part, but I love how pretty its periwinkle flowers look in a salad. They taste mildly sage-y. For dinner we had the salad, rye berries, and the last two nights' leftovers (meatballs in soup).

Kamut Pasta

with sauteed greens and meatballs made of the following: ground pork, an egg, chopped fresh sage, grated apple, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Impromptu Soup

of sweet potatoes and kale, using a Christmas lima bean soup base. The Christmas lima beans were my first booty from ranchogordo.com, a website that will make you want to order beans. They were beautiful and delicious. So was the soup, which I served with a dollop of pesto, and toast with a spread I made with ricotta, plain yogurt, scallions, and dill.

Pork Chops

with rye berries and roasted brussels sprouts.

Grilled Mahi

with quinoa and the first turnips of spring.

Lamb Chops

with brown rice and sauteed red cabbage. The cabbage was particularly good, though I didn't do anything special: sliced it fine, and sauteed in olive oil. The key, in my opinion, is to brown it a little bit. This takes a while, but is worth it.

Violet Sock (Part I)

Half the pair done, and normally I'd wait to post until they both were, except that I'm so excited about how well the yardage worked out. See that little coil at the bottom, under the sole? That is the foot or two left from the skein. If you don't knit you will not maybe be as thrilled about this as a knitter would. Usually, you see, one either doesn't have enough in the skein or ends up with lots leftover; rarely does the Yardage Goddess smile and allow you exactly as much as you need for the project. (This sock, for example, used exactly one 135 yd. skein, so you can see how finely cut it was to have only a foot or two left.)

Sauteed Pollock

with rappini, and oat groats with parmesan and dill. I hoovered my plate clean.

Chicken with Preserved Lemon

This was my second attempt at this dish; this time I had the nigella seeds (thanks Mom!) the recipe calls for. They are also called black cumin, as well they might be, since that's what they taste like. I served it with rye berries and no vegetable, because I just couldn't get it together to make one. Very delish, and lots of leftovers for lunch.

Crab Cakes

with spinach and coconut rice. I made the latter by making brown rice in the rice maker as usual, adding a dollop of "coconut concentrate" (basically, what's left of the coconut after oil is pressed from it). I thought it was delicious, but the texture could have been improved in a few ways, starting with less coconut (and hence, less slight graininess).

Speaking of delicious though in need of improvement: I tried, two nights ago, to make chicken, potatoes, and sprouts in my tagine. The first time I tried it I used too little water and ended up with raw vegetables. This time I used too much water and boiled it into mush. Said mush, however, was incredibly tasty, as I have just re-confirmed by having its leftovers for lunch.

Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit

Will I in fact do anything the food section of the NYT Sunday Magazine tells me to? All signs point to "yes." Today I ordered five different kinds of heirloom beans from a grower in Napa Valley for no better reason than the NYTSM made it seem like a good idea. More than that: I became instantly certain that beans are my future, my new staple of choice, the Answer to Everything. Never mind that I'm the only one in my family who likes beans, that I've had them before, that they are in fact just *beans*. The food section of the NYTSM has spoken; I have obeyed.

Meatballs (An Underrated Comestible)

I made them with ketchup, garlic, salt, and an egg. We had them with brown rice, and roasted brussels sprouts and shiitakes.

Chicken Sausage

with rappini and oats with pesto.

Home Again

After a trip to NYC. Celebrated with sauteed perch with dill, spinach, and oat groats with parmesan.

Chicken sausage with feta and spinach

with brown rice and broccoli rappini.

Grilled Mahi

with brown rice and roasted brussels sprouts.

Pasta

with pesto and spinach. I'm assuming it was delicious.

Placeholder Post

I have not actually been able to taste anything for about four days now, which has cut into my food-posting energy. I can say that I made a banana-orange-walnut spice loaf this weekend that smelled so good it made me unable to stand still (from The Best Recipe, a favorite of mine). I'll let you know if it tasted as good as it smelled as soon as I'm in a position to say.

Nina Ricci

In case anyone was wondering, the very next time I'm invited to walk and be photographed on a red carpet, this is what I'll be wearing.

Cap-Sleeve Vaila

The short-sleeved sweater: a garment I love. Doesn't feel bulky under a coat, yet keeps one warm; offers endless color and textural possibilities through the magic of layering; is much faster to knit than long-sleeved varieties. This pattern is called "Vaila," and worked out pretty much just as I'd hoped. Sweaters can change a lot in the wearing, but so far so good.

Lamb Chops

with fried potatoes and Aerogarden-grown green beans. It was all good, but those last were succulent and crisp and sweet.

Whole Wheat Egg Noodles

with rappini and parmesan. Sometimes I make a meal as simple as this because I'm tired and have no better options, but last night it was because I had a massive craving for it. Bitter vegetables must have some compound I need, because honestly, my mouth watered at the very thought.

Pork Butt

again! But with wonderful sides: roasted fennel, carrots, and shiitakes, and rye berries. The last is the newest addition to my whole grain stable, and it's a good one: mild flavor, texture much like barley. Said to be a good hot breakfast cereal too, but I made mine on the "brown rice" setting on my rice maker.

Grilled Mahi

with roasted brussels sprouts and barley with Aerogarden dill.

Leftover Pork Butt

with barley and roasted cauliflower.

Oscar Night Dinner

Every year we have people over for dinner on the night of the Academy Awards. We also collect ballots, and award a small plastic hippo to the person with the most correct votes. The small hippo is just an effigy of the slightly more substantial plastic hippo that stays at our house, adorned with the initials of each year's winner. Why a hippo? The reasons are receding into myth, but a hippo it is and ever shall be. This year we served barbecued pork butt, homemade onion rings, coleslaw, and potato salad. The first two dishes were made by my spouse, and were exemplary in their kinds. I made a carrot cake and decorated it as shown at the last minute, in a fit of inspiration. "Who drew that Thurber-esque hippo?" my mother asks; I did!

Whole Wheat Egg Noodles

with sauteed shiitakes, chopped-up parboiled rapini, and parmesan.

Trout

with brown rice and shredded sauteed brussels sprouts.

Purple Cardigan

Everyone around me is bemoaning the continuing cold weather. I am bemoaning the approaching warm weather and the attendant close of wool-knitting season in the south. Once the mercury hits 70 degrees it's nothing but cotton, linen, and hemp until next winter. Thus, I'm blowing through my wool projects as quickly as I can; I just finished this one a couple of days ago. I'm very happy with it, as it shows my advancing knitterly skills (in detailed ways that no non-knitter would even believe could matter to a sane person) and my increasing ability to pick projects I'll actually want to wear when they're done.

Pumpkin Blueberry Cake

Yesterday I made Rose Levy Berenbaum's pumpkin walnut ring (from The Cake Bible). As usual, I treated the recipe as more of a guide, substituting whole wheat flour, leaving out nuts, and using some unidentified squash pulp I'd frozen a few months ago. On a whim I also threw in a cup of blueberries, and it turned out delicious. As you see, I made it yesterday and half of it is gone already.

Lamb Chops

seasoned with salt (a little too much) and rosemary (fresh, with flowers). Also brown rice and fried brussels sprouts. I believe I hav the only five-year-old in the state who exclaimed last night, as she approached the dinner table, "Yay! My favorite kind of brussels sprouts!"

Whole Wheat Egg Noodles

with spinach and pesto.

Pasta with Rappini

Or rapinni? My Italian-speaking friends, help me out! Anyway, we had pasta with chopped up parboiled rappini, garlic, and sardines. I didn't tell my spouse about the sardines until after he had tasted the dish and pronounced it excellent. I assured him I only tricked him because sardines are so good for us.

Pork Steak

My favorite spondee! We had it broiled, with brown rice and spinach. Spinach: how I love it. Comes in a bag, washed and ready, takes five minutes in a pan with hot butter, is delicious. You know why you cook it with butter? Because dairy neutralizes spinach's natural oxalic (I believe) acid, which is what makes your teeth feel furry if you cook it in, say, olive oil.

Halibut

with brown rice and spinach.

Superbowl Guacamole

I don't remember learning to make guacamole; I think it's possible that, as a Californian, I simply osmosed it during childhood. I made a big bowl for tonight, which will probably become dinner. I mashed up: 3 ripe avocados, two chopped-up bunches of cilantro, the juice of two lemons [should have stopped at one—ed.], half a red onion (diced), a box of cut-up cherry tomatoes, and a hefty pinch of salt. It will be better after a few hours have passed, but heavens, it was good right at the start, too. A question: why did I use cherry tomatoes? Because they were displayed next to the avocados in the store. It was a silly choice; lots of extra work for little extra flavor.

Chicken Tagine

As Che says of Evita's world tour in Andrew Lloyd Weber's masterpiece "Evita,", this was "a qualified success." On the one hand, I was brave and browned the chicken in my earthenware tagine right on the stovetop; the chicken browned, the tagine didn't crack, so all was well. Then I took the chicken out and briefly sauteed some cut-up potatoes and brussels sprouts, added the chicken back and popped on the tagine top for about half an hour. What resulted had ups and downs. Ups: the chicken was perfect, and where the potatoes and sprouts cooked properly they were delicious. Downs: a lot of the potatoes and sprouts didn't cook properly and were a lot closer to raw than I would have liked. Next time I'll add a cup of water before I put the lid on and see what happens.

Hash

Of leftover ribs, spinach, and brown rice. Extremely good.

Cooking for One

I've almost forgotten how to do this, despite having done nothing but for most of my adult life. But circumstances in the last weeks led to a number of for-myself-only meals, and I remembered the freedom of cooking without reference to anyone else's taste (or tolerance for sheer weirdness). Not that I do anything all that weird. Last night was an impromptu frittata of spinach, with a large sardine mashed up in the egg. Mmm mmm good.

Sort-of Snickeroodles

Friends, I have invented the perfect cookie for me. Let's observe:

I/2 C butter
1/2 C coconut oil
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t salt
1/t nutmeg
Zest of 2 lemons
2 eggs
2t baking powder
2C whole wheat flour
3/4 C kamut flour

You just put them together the way you would any other cookies, then bake for eight minutes at 400 degrees. Seriously, every pleasure-center in my brain registered a direct hit with these babies; I may never make another cookie again.

Lamb Chops

with spinach and quinoa.

Sunny Hat

Here's what I did with the remaining skein of yellow yarn. The stitch pattern is from a book by Barbara Walker, who basically invented modern knitting.

Sunshine Scarf

Fresh off the needles. The thing about knitted lace is that the magic happens in the blocking. "Blocking" refers to soaking a piece of knitting and then drying it flat pinned in the shape you want it to assume. It's important to any knitting, but crucial in lace. When lace comes off the needles it looks like a big blob of yarn; after blocking, it is open and drapey and beautiful. One of these days I'll remember to take pre-blocking pictures for comparison and I'll show you what I mean. The pictured scarf is a wool/silk blend I got in LA.

Chicken with Preserved Lemon

Wow. This had all the earmarks of disaster: missing ingredients, timing off, quantities dicey, but was, in the end, a triumph of triumphs. It's from Authentic Moroccan Recipes by Fatema Hal, and features a chicken browned in oil with salt, pepper, ground ginger, and caraway (should have been something called "nigella seed,"), then simmered in water with saffron (I didn't have any) and a preserved lemon (I had some). As I sat there reducing the sauce at the end, I thought, no way is this ever going to be good. Then I started eating it (over brown rice) and simply couldn't stop. I would never have been able to pick out the ingredients in it if I hadn't made it; together they became a flavor all their own.

Cod

with blood orange sauce! I was just sauteeing the fish in butter, when I got inspired and threw the juice and zest of a blood orange into the pan (after taking the fish out) and reducing it until syrupy. Majorly good. We had it with brown rice and broccoli rappini (the latter of which showed up in a subsequent dinner, with red cabbage, over pasta).

Frittata

The frittata rule seems to be this: the more days' worth of leftovers you throw into it, the better it will be. Last night's had multiple evenings' worth of chicken, cabbage, apples, spinach, and some fresh parsley for good measure, and was delish. We had it with brown rice.

Fried Chicken

with brown rice and spinach. There was *nothing* wrong with that meal.

Sauteed Flounder

with quinoa and a "salad" of sauteed bacon, cabbage, apples, and goat cheese. That last is an imitation of the salad we had over the weekend at our favorite restaurant, Chez Fonfon.

Meatballs!

How I love them. These were made according to my Moroccan cookbook, with cilantro, paprika, and onion, though I did substitute buffalo for beef. I am, apparently, the sort of person who has buffalo on hand.

Lamb with Chestnuts and Cinnamon

What a success. My mother got a tagine (Moroccan, conical-topped, earthenware cooking dish) and a number of Moroccan cookbooks for Christmas. I was so taken with them that I ordered the books and a tagine of my own. The tagine is not here yet, but the books are, so last night I took Authentic Recipes From Morocco, by Fatema Hal, for a test run with the above-named dish. Lordy, was it ever delicious; spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and turmeric (because I didn't have saffron), and orange zest (because I didn't have orange blossom water), it was rich and deep and mellow and I couldn't get enough. In general I have been convinced for a long time that I have much to learn from the school of spices-in-savory dishes school of cuisine; this recipe suggests I'm right. For those who don't like chestnuts (hi Mom!) it would have been just as delicious without them.

New Year's Eve Calamari

fried, with roasted brussels sprouts and a glass of Lillet Blanc. We went to bed at ten, but the meal was a little celebration all by itself.

African Groundnut Stew Pt. III

Did you forget the link to this wonderful recipe? Here it is again:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/african-groundnut-stew-recipe.html

For the vegan in your life, or for anyone else (who doesn't have peanut allergies) it can't be beat. I made a big pot last night, with the following modifications: I left out the chilis and added half a cup of coconut pulp and a bag of kale.

Herringbone Rib Socks

Another knitting project done. Yay! But, I'm still on vacation and now have no active project. Ack!

Christmas Lentils

Here in LA, ho ho ho. A number of people needed to be fed today, including a vegetarian sister, so this is what I put together:

1 bag lentils
1 onion
2 carrots
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 ribs celery
1 C barley
2 cloves garlic
A whole buncha water
Adequate salt

No points for originality, I know, but it can't be beat for deliciousness.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

A stellar soup, born of the desire to use up our last CSA delivery. It (the soup) contained:

2 onions
1 garlic clove
1 butternut squash (in little cubes)
1 bag of greens, chard and kale
1 can of Great Northern beans
2 C chicken stock from a squishy yellow box
2 C water
1 C coconut puree
1 whopping hit of curry powder

That coconut puree is something I buy from the same place I buy my coconut oil (tropicaltraditions.com). It's essentially what's left after they press the oil from the coconut flesh, and is a terrific thing (in my opinion) to add to a soup or stew or ice cream or cookies etc.

The spouse gave the soup five stars.

Junya Watanabe, Spring 08 RTW

Oh man. Junya, messenger your stuff right over and I swear I'll wear it every day, everywhere. Ok, maybe not the head dresses, but seriously, anything else you want.

Aerogarden Pesto

On whole-wheat pasta, with salad. I tend to use a lot of parsley in my pesto these days, because it grows abundantly in the Aerogarden, and because I once heard that it cancels out garlic breath.

Cashmere Baby Blanket

This is a baby blanket for my imminent second grandchild (ok, my husband's second grandchild). The pattern is called "Hemlock Ring" and is actually a doily pattern; instead of knitting it with slender cotton on tiny needles one knits it with fluffy wool on big needles: behold, the magic of scale. Knitting is so weird. This pattern is actually incredibly easy, but looks complex, whereas I have labored for hours and mastered tricky new skills in finishing the ribbing on a cuff in a way that no one will ever notice.

Flounder

breaded in cornmeal and fried; unbelievably delicious spinach, and quinoa. The fish was a disappointment, because I managed to overcook it while still leaving the cornmeal kind of floury-tasting. I don't know why the spinach was so delicious; I just sauteed it in a little butter and for some reason it exploded into a layered flavor bouquet in the mouth.

Catch up

Yikes! What a busy week. But last night: fried chicken, brown rice, roasted cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli. But much more importantly, I made cookies! I haven't done it in ages. Here is my number one recipe:

Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat the oven: 325 degrees

Cream:

1 C coconut oil
1 C brown sugar
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
2 t vanilla

Beat in:

1 egg

Stir in:

1 C whole wheat flour
3 C oatmeal

Optional:

chopped nuts
raisins

Scoop the dough into nice big scoops (with a cookie scoop, if you have one) and flatten slightly on the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chicken Sausage

with quinoa and salad.

Pork Chops

with brown rice and roasted cauliflower and broccoli. The vegetables were from our CSA, and so good i ate a whole head of each.

Clapotis

You wouldn't know it from the infrequency of my posts, but I am in fact knitting like a fiend. The problem is that I have so many projects going at once that I rarely finish one. But I finished this one! It's called "Clapotis" and over 7,000 people world-wide have made it so far. I can see why; it's lovely.

Pork Chops with Gremolata

with quinoa and sauteed chinese cabbage. Gremolata: diced parsley, garlic, and lemon zest, except that I didn't have a lemon so used grapefruit instead. Pretty good!

Pan-Fried Orange Roughy

with brown rice and salad. My new dressing of choice, after a decade of lemon juice and olive oil, is rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Kale-Beet Slaw

I have the gamest husband in the world. Last night I put before him a dinner of roasted butternut squash, quinoa, and a dark (almost black) melange of kale, beets, and ginger, dressed with sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Did he flinch? Yes. But he bravely sampled it and declared it delicious, backing that claim up by eating heartily. Bless.

Lamb Chops

with fried potatoes and salad. It's hard to beat the basics.

Sorry About That

A busy week. But last night we had: a frittata made with leftover roasted vegetables (cauliflower, shiitakes, and garlic), swiss chard sauteed with onions and ginger, and garlic-herb toast. It was all delicious, though in retrospect I might not have combined three dishes packing such distinct and powerful flavor-wallops.