A Thing of Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

On a cloudy, almost raining day, I gazed out my family room window and realized that on days like today - overcast, rain threatening (again!), unseasonably cool, those little things in life seem even more glorious than ever.  I realized that on beautiful summer days, the sky blue, the sun shining, I tend to overlook some of the more dramatically beautiful things in my own back yard...

Like future pesto.....

And THRIVING cilantro, the photo of which came out blurry as I was shedding tears of joy at my triumph...

"You like me! You really, REALLY like me!!!"

The first baby summer squash.....

Mmmm...grow fast, little one! So I may sliced you up, drizzle you with olive oil and saute' you for dinner.....

Piles of marigold flowers...standing one by one, sure, they're pretty, but after being plucked (without permission) by a four year old and piled on the patio table, the colors are truly astounding...

Cool Coleus!

My mother-in-law, while she adored flowers, was always appreciative of foliage - this was one of her favorites.

And THIS is one of my favorites...

My favorite color is the one that you're not sure if it's blue...or purple.  I love this color!

And in that oh-so neglected corner of the yard, where weeds run rampant and some grow to eight feet tall, a surprise sprouted sometime over the past few weeks....

Which is why I rarely weed....you never know what you might be destroying.

Close up, it's even more beautiful...

I do remember planting this, but it was several yards away...ah, the mystery of backyard life!

And further on down the yard is a rose bush.  I remember planting it, then forgot about it.  This year we dug up and handed to a neighbor an overgrown wisteria that never did take well in our shady yard.  Without that, and without our giant maple, I came upon this....

And what would an essay on beauty be without mentioning Bubbles...

(which, by the way, was Daddy's nickname for her as an infant, when she was constantly blowing cute little spit bubbles...)

...And of course, Best Friends!

And perhaps the most astonishingly beautiful thing I have seen...

The Quilt Square (?)

Complete with oil-slick trimming along the coast...and state borders.  (Huh?  If it's so plentiful, then why am I paying $2.65 a gallon???)  I ditched the birds.  They scared me.  The square came out fine.  Not what I had in mind - I tend to have big ideas that don't fit on a 9" x 9" square of cloth...but I feel I redeemed myself by putting a recipe for Boston Cream Pie on my "Memory Book" page....a recipe that I think shall make an appearance on this blog....some day....SOON!

And because I like people to walk away from my blog with a smile, I leave you with this.....

(No, it's actually straight...I cock my head and say "Aw!" every time I see this photo, so THAT's why it's crooked!)

Thanks for stopping by!

That's It! We're MOVING!!!!

Can you guess what those two red blobs are?

I'll give you a hint:  They make me want to move to New Mexico.  Or maybe Kansas.  Someplace with clean-cut, smooth borders.

They're supposed to be Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.  And as I was trying in vain to cut them out, I said words that rhyme with "Nantucket".... A LOT.

Why I even bothered to cut these tiny fragments of fabric out is beyond me....I could have simply used a drop or two of my blood...

Anyone wanna buy an island?

Well, I suppose I'm joking!

This is pretty much my "New England" quilt square:

And despite the fact that Martha and her Vineyard tried to kill me, despite the fact that my original Maine - after going cross-eyed cutting out that rocky coastline - was, um...backwards!  And that's not meant to be an insult to my friends and relatives in Maine...that's more like a "tsk tsk" to one not-so-bright marvelously mundane woman in Massachusetts who (duh!) traced her Maine template incorrectly, and despite the fact that my original Connecticut's fabric was too similar to my background fabric...

Despite all those things, I think I'll stay.

It needs some embellishment, but I'm not sure where to go with that just yet.

I did pick up these feathered friends...

Massachusetts and at least one other New England state lists the Black-capped Chickadee as their official state bird.  The one on the right looks like he's ready to swoop down and gobble up my Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, though, so I might save them for another use!

I think I'll be making a second quilt block...and this one involved no swearing at all...

Well, except during childbirth nearly four years ago! :)

This photo is one of my favorites of my little "Punkin", and was my Allrecipes avatar for a year or so, so I think it would be a good contribution to the quilt.  I may let Punkin decorate that one.

I'm still nursing my wounds! :)

My New Allrecipes Favorite...

This was dinner tonight...

Honestly, pasta and roasted vegetables are one of my favorite combinations.

And not only was this my new favorite Allrecipes discovery, but the bonus was I had pasta for the first time in about 3 weeks!  Course, it was Dreamfields low-glycemic something or other, but it tasted sooooo good.  Especially alongside this...

Vegetable Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms.

As usual, I did put a little twist on the recipe - using a nice assortment of veggies - and let me say this is one delicious meal!  Even without the pasta!  I can't wait for my garden to start producing, because I have most of these ingredients growing there.

Here's a quick rundown of what I did....

Cast of Characters:

 Shredded parmesan, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, garlic, spinach, white mushrooms, chopped marinated artichokes, portabella mushroom caps.

Salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder were extras.

First, use a spoon to gently scrape the gills from the mushroom.  I also cut off the stems.

In a small bowl combine about a tablespoon of balsamic, tablespoon of olive oil, clove of garlic and some pepper.

Mix it up and hand your sous chef a pastry brush, instructing her to paint the tops of the mushroom caps.

In a baking dish, drizzle a bit of olive oil, then place the balsamic painted mushroom caps, top down, in the dish.  The original recipe calls for marinating them, but I like just the touch of balsamic flavor that a quick brushing provides.  They "marinate" long enough while you prepare the other ingredients.

Tell your sous chef to quit slacking and peel and chop a little eggplant, as well as chop a few spare white mushrooms.

My sweetie trained at the Play-Doh academy, so her butter knife skills are well-honed.

Heat some oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms and eggplant.

Before I knew it, mini-me had deftly sliced and diced some zucchini and summer squash.

(Um, no, I'm kidding.  I did most of the work!)

Add them to the eggplant and mushrooms in the skillet - I added a bit of a salt, pepper and dried oregano, too.

Oh, and by the way, I feel this recipe is a perfect one to experiment with a "little of this, little of that" technique.   A little more or less of anything - except maybe overdosing on the balsamic - won't ruin this one!  Such a versatile recipe...you could stick with one or two veggies, or go a little crazy like me.

Rip up some fresh spinach, discarding any tough stems like we found in here.

Rinse it and add to the skillet....

...and fold into the other vegetables until the spinach is pretty wilted, but not totally cooked.

Mmmm.  I could make a meal out of that!

But instead, I wisely opted to fill the mushroom caps with the mixture.  (and I sprinkled a little garlic powder on the inside of the caps before stuffing them...just because)

Top with a little mozzarella - you could use more, but I'm counting calories and just started adding some dairy back into my diet, so let's not get carried away!

Chop a couple tomatoes - you can seed or not seed.  I've also used canned in this recipe.  I opted to seed them this time.

Wait a minute.  I could have sworn there was another tomato wedge there a minute ago...

What are you doing?

Silly girl!

Take WHAT'S LEFT OF the tomatoes, chop them and divide between the mushroom caps, then do the same with some chopped arthichokes.

Sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake at 350F for 15 to 20-ish minutes, depending on the thickness of your mushrooms.  You're really just heating them through a bit.

This is the finished product....

You can serve as is, or with a little side of angel hair pasta - I scooped up some of the "fallen" veggies and topped the pasta with them and some more parmesan.

My assistant was too exhausted to eat...or too full of tomatoes! ;)

Thank you Allrecipes!!! 

A New England Tradition

I was beginning to panic as I started to see all those quilt block photos being posted over on Allrecipes.   

If you don't know what I'm talking about, the AR Community is putting together a quilt - anyone who wants to can chip in a quilt block or two, and in the end there will be a drawing to select who gets the finished product.  Might even be a traveling quilt, which I think would be cool!

While I love quilts, have a friend that sews and quilts beautifully, and have even lent her a hand on occasion, my talents involving needle and thread are still in their infancy.  My original plan was to cross-stitch, something I'm MUCH more comfortable with, some pretty lilac (sigh!) pattern, as the subject of my block.  I found a gorgeous pattern on-line, ordered it, skipped into the house from the mailbox...and then realized I would have to come up with something else.  While it's a gorgeous pattern, it will take me about 6 years to complete, it is so intricately detailed.  This I know to be true.

So it was back to the drawing board.  What could I do that represents me or where I'm from?  I've lived in Massachusetts all my life, and I always will.  I started thinking about Massachusetts and my favorite things about where I live...

"Pumpkins, cranberries and fall apple-picking!  

Cape Cod, and clam bakes, and Sox when they're winning!

Soft serve with jimmies (you call them sprinkles).

These are a few of my favorite things!

Homemade clam chowdah, and pahking my caaaahhhh..."

I hate when I lose my R's....

Anyway, it's not really just Massachusetts I love.   We have pure maple syrup....mine usually comes from Vermont.  And blueberries grow wild everywhere here....but I drive four hours into Maine to get wild Maine blueberries in season.  From where I live in central Massachusetts, the other New England states are between a 20 minute to two hour drive away, and while they all have their own specialties and their own claims to fame, they all feel like home to me.  Kind of like in your house you have a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a bedroom or two, a porch...well, I've got six states.

So that's my plan for my quilt block - New England.  If all goes well (or not, because you know how I love to laugh at myself!) I'll post a pic soon.  Meanwhile, my excitement over my New England theme got me reminiscing about my childhood, family gatherings, summer vacations at the beach...and since my husband was working tonight, and tomorrow is Father's Day, my gift to him was for me to make this for dinner...

I'll give you a hint:  It's something he would never, ever, EVER eat.

And here is the most important ingredient:

Johhnycakes, you say?  Nope. But that is a Rhode Island thing, like celery salt on your hot dogs.

Here's a couple more clues:

Buttah.  Gahlic.  Cheap Beer. (The "r" is silent in beer, by the way.)

(Tomatoes are just for show.  And Cabot butter and cheese from Vermont is one other reason to love New England.)

Give up?  

OK, this is the final clue.

They're called clams!  Although, when I went to the fish market today I didn't buy "clams", I bought steamers.  (Again, the "r" is silent).  Growing up, THIS is the only kind of clam I knew.  I suppose you'd call them soft-shell clams, although they're not soft and may cut you if you step in a broken one barefoot.  

Now, I know some folks won't be into this.  I've grossed out a few visitors or dining companions before, so I'll tell you when to close your eyes.  Don't worry, I have yet to gather the courage to try sushi or cow tongue yet, so I feel your pain.

First things first, when you buy your clams you want to rush them home, place them in a big pan or baking dish and cover with water - ocean water, if you're near the beach, but I use fresh water.  Sprinkle a fair amount of corn meal over them.  Trust me.  Gritty clams are like nails on a chalkboard to me.  They are alive and will ingest the cornmeal which will"clean them out".  (I told you it was important!)

Are you grossed out yet?  Oh, it gets better, my darlings!

Stick the pan in the refrigerator for at least two hours...we've done it as long as 24 hours, and I think I heard if you use ocean water you can keep them there up to 48 hours, but you might want to Google that to confirm...like I said, I use fresh water.

First things first, clams take like five minutes to cook, so start melting your Cabot butter. 

Meanwhile, in a large stockpot, pour in enough water to cover the clams by about an inch, then add your beer...

Then the rinsed clams...

And a somewhat smashed clove of garlic...one big one or two normal sized ones.

Now, there may be some dispute here...some people bring the water to a boil, then dump the clams in.  My Uncle Jim always started them in cool water, poured in the beer, let the clams mellow out a bit, then gradually turn up the heat.  So that's what I do.  And don't waste your Guinness on this, folks.  Traditionally, we used Schaefer or Schlitz.  The water:beer ratio is probably going to be 4:1 anyway, so pick a beer that Canadiens laugh at.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Boil for about 4 or 5 minutes.  

WARNING!!! WARNING!!!  Scroll down slowly in case you're not ready for this....

This is them done - you can tell, because the shells are open.  If you have any that are still closed up, toss 'em.  They're no good.  

Remove from heat, BUT DO NOT STRAIN THEM! Transfer the clams to a large serving dish with a slotted spoon.  Then, through a coffee filter (or for larger batches, paper towel lined) strainer, strain the broth.

(Or not.  Uncle Jim didn't)

I'm flying solo tonight, so I just used about a cup and a half or so.

Pour your melted butter into small dipping bowls - everyone usually has their own bowl of broth and their own bowl of butter. 

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! 

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS!! 

 

To eat a steamer, first you remove them from the shell.

If only I knew Photoshop well, I could have applied a nice French manicure action.   But of course, if you're "ew"-ing right now, it's probably not due to my lack of manicure!

WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!

Next step, you'll want to peel off the membrane  (yes, I said membrane).  You'll know it when you see it.



Then, dip the clam into the broth, then into the butter, and enjoy!

 If you dare....

And if it makes you feel any better, I was kind of grossed out tonight too.    While my husband couldn't stand to be in the same room as someone eating steamers, I did make his favorite cake for him for Father's Day....

How I married a man who doesn't like homemade cake is beyond me.  :)

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! 

My Culinary Deck - The Beginning

Last year I grew a wide assortment of herbs - aside from extra basil and parsley in the vegetable garden - in pots on my deck. While my kitchen doesn't connect directly to the deck, it's definitely close enough to run out and grab a handful of basil or a sprig or two of rosemary in the midst of cooking.


Let's see, last year I grew parsley, chives, garlic chives (didn't do so well), mint, rosemary, sage, marjoram, cilantro (did great as soon as I gave up on it and ignored it), thyme, basil, oregano and some peppers - jalapenos, chili peppers and hot cherry peppers.



This year, I'm off to a bit of a slow start but there's still time...



First, we did a couple big pots of annuals to go on either side of our front entrance.




Problem is, I like seeing that gorgeous cobalt blue lobelia and those pink double impatiens so much that so far they've remained on the deck where I spend more time. We've had quite a rainy spell lately, so everything is waterlogged. I need to go whack those impatiens a few times to get the wilted petals off, making room for some new ones - the color is really pretty and they look like little rosebuds.



I never had luck with basil until last year. I threw a packet of seeds in this window-box planter and left it on our outdoor table (which we never use for eating, because I use it mainly as a potting bench). This was last year's crop...



Mmmm...pesto!

This is how far we've gotten so far...

This time I put two rows of basil the entire length of the planter. It freezes BEAUTIFULLY. Last year's crop lasted me until maybe February? I chop it, pack it into ice cube trays, add a smidge of water and freeze. When the cubes are frozen, I pop 'em out and seal in a plastic Ziploc bag. Each "cube" is about a tablespoon, although if you're like me you rarely measure herbs!

My only issue is, I expect I'm supposed to thin them out somewhat, but I've always had a toughtime deciding who lives and who dies, so I might just let them duke it out.
Sharing a cozy little flowerpot with my friend, Rosemary (who has a twin sister also named Rosemary who lives next door with the Thyme twins) is my one-time nemesis, Cilantro.

Me and Cilantro got off on the wrong foot a few years back, when I made a Black Bean and Orzo salad and went a little too heavy with it. I hated it! Then a few years later I started to acquire a taste for it, tried to grow some, and it hated me right back. This year, we've hopefully put all that in the past...and if all goes well, maybe I'll resurrect that recipe!



Now onto Greece, which I now want to visit, I have some Greek Oregano where the Marjoram once grew...M might be coming back, so they'll be neighbors.

Now onto those boisterous Thyme sisters...

Lemon Thyme is the one with the flowers - she got a haircut shortly after this picture was snapped. I have a large patch of Lemon Thyme and Common Thyme in my front yard - I plopped a couple small plants on the hill, just to get them in the ground one hot summer, and they've been there ever since. Because my husband tends to use fertilizers and other yucky stuff in the front yard I never harvest that for cooking, but I love to squeeze a handful and smell that wonderful lemony-thymey smell. This year I opted for some in pots so I could actually use them. I'm thinking "tea" this summer, and I also saw a recipe somewhere for thyme cookies...lemon thyme might work, too!


Finally, I'm recycling/reviving some chives I found growing in a pot this spring. I put them in the top of a strawberry pot with some coleus in the side pockets for some color.


Oh, that other pot was some sort of heirloom carrot. This is was happened to them...


It's called "Martha" and it is very, very destructive!

But cute...

We'll visit the vegetable patch soon! Thanks for stopping by!

My Progress So Far...

So, how are YOU doing on your New Year's Resolutions? (If you made any, that is!)


Well, since 2009 year is almost half over I figured I would take a moment to reflect on those resolutions that I was oh-so-passionate about back in January...


First, the obligatory "Lose Weight". LW has been a faithful companion of mine for years, even during those (brief) years when I weighed in at a whopping 110 lbs (as an adult, I mean....technically my lowest weight as a human being, post umbilical cord severance, was 8 lbs. 3 oz.). Foodie at heart, my weight has plagued me for as long as I can remember, and these days as a (gulp!) middle-aged woman, evil hormones are jumping on the bandwagon. Sheesh, why don't they just slap a beard and a furry chest on me while they're at it?!? (Psst...just kidding! No, really...BACK OFF, guys!!)


ANYWAY, guess what? I've lost weight! Not a lot, but it's noticeable. I may even browse through me closet inventory and start trying on new (old) clothes. It has, however, been a bumpy ride...






I started out strong, carefully picking healthy foods, exercising regularly...then I'd level out, gain, lose a little, gain some more, two steps forward, one step back, one step forward, three steps back. I actually almost gave up - I was hovering between 7-10 pounds down, and really frustrated by it. As I look at this little graph, I can see where I sort of backed off on the exercise, I see the cake we had (which I ate most of), the occasional overdoses of chocolate, the beginning of ice cream season (if such a thing ever actually begins or ends! We New Englanders eat more ice cream, per capita, than anyone else.) and even the Monkey Bread incident (which, again, I ate most of).


A couple weeks ago, I gave up. Just flat out didn't care.


My epiphany came the day we registered my daughter for pre-school. We went for the tour, met the teachers and even some of the kids that will be in her class this fall. We were told what their schedules would like, what some of the special events would be, and when the director mentioned "Parent Visit Days", I shuddered. And I remembered one of LB's blogs over at The Muddy Runner, talking about why he does the things he does to stay in shape. And this is what went through my head that morning, standing amidst a group of happy, chattering preschoolers being dropped off for school:


I don't want to be the fat parent in my daughter's class.


And I won't. I flat out REFUSE.


So, I pondered my weight loss options. Everything from buckling down and doing what I know I should be doing, to diet pills, to any one of those "cleanse" programs. Ew. Sorry, I have certain digestive issues and familial history that force me to do that once every three years for exam purposes...that is NOT something I would ever choose to do on my own! And frankly, it's not the answer to my problem.


Now, if you refer back to Exhibit A (aka the rollercoaster ride that has been my weight), do you, um, notice anything? Like perhaps, the last week or so??? :D hehehe! I have found something that is not only working, but I'm actually happy with it! It's not something that I'm going to do for 30 days and see what happens (er, um, even though it is a 30-day detox program...)


My wonderful friend, Gitano, has been on TrueDetox, and was so kind to share it with us. When I first heard of it, I thought, "Oh gee, another quick-fix, cleanse thing" But it's really not. You do drink the Master Cleanse drink (lemon, hot water and a little honey/maple syrup/agave, and or slice of ginger and/or cayenne...), but it's not meant to sustain you. It's a four-stage plan where you eliminate high-glycemic index foods form your diet - no flour, white rice, potato, pasta (not even whole wheat pasta in the beginning), no processed sugar, no processed food, no red meat, no dairy (OUCH!), no coffee (well....try. I actually DID give it up!) and no alcohol (I cheated there too - just once. Sorry, I had previously commited to drinking that glass of wine, so there was no getting out of it. O'Connors Restaurant would have filed a lawsuit - I just KNOW it!). It is a well-balanced eating plan, geared toward giving your liver and kidneys a break from all those toxins we keep sending their way, and creating/maintaining a healthy digestive system.


This is what you eat - fruits, healthy grains, raw or lightly steamed veggies, and lean protein like chicken and fish. Sound familiar? Yeah, I think I heard of it before...it's called "GOOD NUTRITION". Timing is important, too, as they want you to focus on eating things at the right time, and not combining certain foods (like starch and animal protein, not combining your fruit and starch until later phases).


This is what my Phase One week has been:

• Master Cleanse drink (it's like a nice cup of herbal tea!)



• Half hour later: Fruit (berries are the best! I've been partial to bluebrries, fresh cherries and strawberries)



• Half Hour later: Grains - My choice was steel-cut oatmeal. Made a batch Sunday and kept it in the fridge. I alternated between adding a little plain unsweetened almond milk, agave or natural sugar (from organic evaporated cane juice)



• Mid Morning snack: TWO servings of fruit



• Lunch: 2 starches (such as, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup chick peas with some sauteed onion, garlic, cumin, etc) and a big salad (You want to eat as much raw veggies as you can) with a healthy oil-based dressing



• Afternoon snack - raw veggie (carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, etc)



• Dinner: Grilled chicken or salmon, and a big plate of steamed veggies.



• Water, lemon water, herbal teas - as needed throughout the day.

After dinner? Water, herbal or green tea. This was a tough one for me, because I'm an evening snacker, but green tea has been my savior. It's really important to fast for 12 hours, meaning at night, because your body detoxifies during that time. Phase One is supposed to be 1,200 calories a day....I track my food over on Livestrong/The Daily Plate, and I never even made it to 1,000, but I know what I ate, and I know nutrition - what I ate, along with my normal vitamin supplements, are well within proper nutritional guidelines.


The results? I'm down 3.4 lbs at the end of my first week. That makes 13.3 since January 1st. I'm not exactly thrilled, because this is NOT where I wanted to be (I was planning on about 20 more pounds), but the important thing is I'm happy, I feel good, I'm not hungry, I DO NOT miss coffee, and I have not had any real chocolate cravings, not even when I caught a whiff of that Hostess Cupcake my hubby bought. I do miss my yogurt though, and am looking forward to re-incorporating healthy dairy into my diet. Pasta does beckon me, although if I want I will be able to start whole wheat pasta again soon. And I may be excommunicated from The Pioneer Woman club, because the longer I'm staying away from red meat, the less I seem to have the desire for it. It may become the next "pork" for me (remind me to tell you about Thelma, my uncle's pet pig, who went to live on a farm twenty-five years ago, and is now 32 years old and probably 7,000 lbs.). But I am so comfortable with Phase One that I've opted to stay here for a while. That's the thing about this TrueDetox - it's really something you could follow forever, because it's that well-balanced!


I shall return with more on my New Year's Resolution progress (and anti-progress!), and I'm looking forward to having you all watch my rollercoaster plummet.


I just hope the other kids' dads don't all hit on me come September. That can be soooo embarassing!


P.S. Unless, of course, Benicio Del Toro has children???

P.P.S. Don't get all hoity-toity on me - my husband has a crush on Wonder Woman, and I am fine with it! ;)