This was pretty amusing

(and posted here for future reference)

Hodgepodge

Still noshing on snacks from my Earthfare adventure, but tonight's was a little less...put together. And by that, I mean NOT at all.

Hodgson Mill has THE.BEST box macaroni ever period. Don't ask me why we're having snack and cheese with tofu and peppers, but that's what was requested. Thankfully I like HM's flavor and consistency enough to not have to add ketchup, because that really would not have gone.

And YJDKIY found this promising EXTRA EXTRA firm fine herb tofu from Twin Oaks. This is the best tofu texture out of the package that I've ever seen. I baked it on a lightly Pam'd cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 375. Bonus, it's made within a day's drive from The Avenue!

Since I was expecting the flavor to be pretty mild, and wasn't planning to add any seasoning in order to keep sodium to a minimum in anticipation of tomorrow's dinner, AND because we need some veggies here, I sauted some carrots, red and yellow pepper, green beans and red onion in olive oil. The world is clearly about to end because somehow YJDKIY kitchen is out of fresh garlic.

So, while none of this really went together, it was all good individually!

---------------

Hodgepodge is a word used to describe a confused or disorderly mass or collection of things; a "mess" or a "jumble"
Hodge-podge or Hodgepodge may also refer to;

• Hodge-Podge, a character from the comic strip Bloom County.
• Hodge-Podge, a type of mutton soup.
• Hodgepodge, a Neal Morse album.
• The Sacred Chao, or Hodge-Podge, of the Discordians. The Sacred Chao is a symbol used by Discordians to illustrate the interrelatedness of order and disorder. It resembles a Yin-Yang symbol.

Most Expensive Turkey Sandwich Ever

Ok, maybe not...but more than I'd normally pay. It was kind of hard to fork over the cash despite all my recent food rules and AVM learnings.

Arnold Sandwich Thins $4.99 $3.49

Organic Valley Provolone $4.99 (courtesy of EarthFare and one of the good companies!)
Organic Applegate Farms Herb Turkey slices $5.29 (also Earthfare, but this was the worst...there are only like 6 slices in the package!)
D&W Cranberry Mustard $2.49
Organic Earthbound Farms Baby Greens $2.50 (thankfully on VIC at HT, regularly $4.99)

I do always say you get what you pay for. It was good...and I felt good eating it, but I don't think it will be a habit.

Fishy + Veggie + Starchy = Dinner

Harris Teeter finally had the good kind of tilapia on VIC after weeks of not and I had a box basmati-lentil pilaf mix with exceptionally low sodium I found at my ($70) EarthFare adventure this weekend.

Tilapia always used to taste like it was injected with pool water to me, but I am learning to appreciate the particular flavor of the fish now. Coated in melted (unsalted) butter and a TON of garlic powder with lemon juice and panko. Baked 25 minutes at 375.

Minus 2

Thankfully not degrees, just tongs of my plastic fork. Lunch bag massacre. For the record, its hard to eat yummy black bean burger leftovers (on lettuce with homemade salad) with two prong fork than with a spoon.

Just in case you were curious.

Experimental

M22 - MSF spaghetti Sweet Potato Cakes with Pineapple Chutney  Salmon with pineapple chutney, sweet potato fries, kale

 
YJDKIY was going for that Hawaiian, is it, combo tonight? In honor of it now being Spring, but freezing cold and rainy again. BOO HISS weather!

Because we all know I can't follow recipe instructions, I pretty much just winged it with the chutney.  Crush pineapple, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, cumin and Bacardi Gold mixed up, then heated until boily and cooked until thickened and slightly brown. It actually worked as a nice flavor complement to the teriyaki salmon, but that needed to marinate longer.

My secret ingredient sweet potato (baked) fries.

Kale sauted in olive oil and teriyaki with garlic. (someone should really get me one of those already!!)

2fer

Why not grill 2 nights in a row, even if it was rainy and chilly on the 2nd day of Spring? It took YJDKIY forever to find organic pork tenderloin, it cost a LOT, and it is by no means local (ahem...northern borders much?).

But, it was worth the extra effort and cost because it was sooooo tasty! The texture and flavor were drastically different from normal (disgusting) store or restaurant tenderloin. It was super tender and way less salty/fatty! And, as much as marinating the raw slab of meat grossed me out, I'm ok eating meat that ate (and lived) well itself.

Since it did take extra effort and moooula, YJDKIY made a point to eat slowly and enjoy each bite! Two food rules have been applied tonight! Have you read it yet? Do you know what they are?

First Day of Spring!

Is the perfect day for this to make it's seasonal debut:

Grilled (organic) chicken marinated in Worcestershire/teriyaki/garlic, steamed asparagus with lemon and some Annie's Homegrown (organic) snack and cheese, complete with my favorite condiment.

The 75+ degree weather was perfect to start my eat local project!

(YJDKIY can see a few tiny mung bean sprouts making their way out, and they're definitely bigger!
Yes that is a Cheerwine cap - do I get to drink soda if it's local!?)

And, for about $6 total, I picked up this to start some basil and thyme (the package said perfect for containers and I just returned two container gardening for the kitchen books to the library this morning!). We'll see, YJDKIY doesn't have high hopes for these to work and figures on buying baby plants in a few weeks.

Happy Spring Sprung!

Revisions

So, this was the plan for the last two weeks of March

M15 - Mediterranean Pasta    BEPs, kale, cornbread, Thyme & Rosemary Roasted Beets
T16 - BEPs, kale, cornbread, Thyme & Rosemary Roasted Beets   TJs Curried Chicken
W17 - Polenta with veggies Salad with MSF
T18 - Spinach Stuffed Chicken Black bean tacos
F19 - Pizza night!
S20 - N/A  Grilled (organic) Chicken, asparagus and...something
S21 - Maple Mustard Pork Chops

M22 - MSF spaghetti Sweet Potato Cakes with Pineapple Chutney
T23 - leftovers
W24 - Spinach & Black bean quesas OR polenta with veggies
T25 - Sweet Potato Cakes with Pineapple Chutney eat out!
F26 - TJ's curried chicken N/A
S27 - eat out! N/A
S28 - Kale, White Bean & Sweet Potato Soup


But, plans change and the menu is going to have to accordingly. Usually I move things around a little, but this is nuts!

Lunch and Learn

I wrote a letter to my congressional representatives. Actually, I didn't exactly write it, SlowFood USA's Time for Lunch campaign helped me do it right here. You can too. Mine went to three representatives and from only one, Kay Hagan, an (albeit) automated response.

This week, the Senate unveiled a draft of the Child Nutrition Act, and work will begin on it next week. "If your Senator serves on the Agriculture Committee, you have a short window of time to make an impact. (SlowFood blog).

Some food for thought (haha):

• National School Lunch Program serves 31 million children
• Right now, Congress gives schools $2.68 per lunch, about $1.00 of which goes towards buying ingredients.
• President Obama’s budget adds $1 billion per year to child nutrition programs. That’s an important step forward, but it’s not enough to give America’s kids a healthy future. Not when Congress spends over $13 billion per year subsidizing processed foods, and when obesity costs our nation $147 billion per year.

Additional reading:

• Farm to School
• National School Lunch Program
• Yahoo Shine! Article and related teacher's blog about the horrors of eating in the cafeteria
• KERF blog posts on real life school cafeteria experiences (I don't know ANY school lunches that looked like this when I ate in one! Ugh pizza and fries....)
• Awesome cherries
• Cafeteria Style
• Salsa yummy
• Soup
• Middle Schoolers
• Mass produced Oatmeal

Lucky Day

Yesterday was it in the mail dept! It was a good day for deliveries on the avenue. YJDKIY loves driving up to see not one, but TWO boxes on the porch.

First I dug into my prize from Good Health Natural Products: A variety case of olive oil and avocado oil potato chips...just in time for March Madness to begin! YJDKIY stumbled into a $5 (unknown until checkout time!) bag of the Rosemary ones at Big Lots, loved them, did a little internet sleuthing and found they were located only a few miles away in Greensboro, NC, "fanned" them on Facebook, and then, low and behold WON a contest the same day, resulting in 12 bags of not so good for you snacks, but holy good! Even the canine component couldn't resist following her sniffer into the bag.

Food Contest Warning:  Be especially careful to not get so excited about your loot that you immediately open a bag of these garlic goodies, only to eat more than a serving and spoil your dinner. And certainly don't let the other person in the house ALSO do that.

My second package was from Amazon and of the paid variety. Since I think Luna must be discontinuing my FAVORITE flavor and I can't find it anywhere, I ordered a carton online. So there! Also, I knew I wanted to own my very own copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules, and lucky me, it was only $5. And finally, in an attempt to both get free shipping AND practice my eating local lessons from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (can't wait to review that this weekend!), a Burpee Seed Sprouter. I know I can just use a jar, but this will fit perfect in the widow seal and hopefully inspire me to be diligent enough to wash twice daily. I almost never buy sprouts in the store, but I do love them, so here we go! Are sprouts considered grains, vegetables? I don't think they are fruit. It came with some mung bean and broccoli seeds, which I will practice on, but I really hope Lowes or somewhere carries some organic seeds and I don't have to order those too!

Greens for Green Day!

Happy St. Patty's!

Counted!

 In 1990, I still lived at home, I don't even remember anyone mentioning anything about a census. In 2000, I was in college and living in a rented duplex with three other girls that we didn't even have a key to the mailbox. I'm quite sure no census data was gathered on me then. So this 2010 census is the first one that I consider myself counting. Which may have lead to my anticipation of it's arrival, concern when others received their's and I had not, eagerness to open and check the boxes.

Approximately three minutes later...finito! I don't understand why everyone is all concerned about privacy and security. Mailing lists, shopping transactions and taxes require way more information.

If you didn't get a form, have questions, or want to see previous data, check out the Census Bureau!

Vege-table

As in, there are veggies all over the table! 

Fresh beets, greens removed, with a little olive oil. Cornbread ready to bake. 

Brussel sprouts.

Kale and discards.

Plus black eyed peas.

First attempt...not sure it was worth the effort. AND my fingers are dyed.

Lots of cookware.

But yummy on my plate.

Finished with Edy's froyo, oats, cinnamon and a drizzle of chocolate!

Local on the cheap!

YJDKIY has been searching for some slightly heeled but mostly flat silver shoes. I have approximately two outfits to wear them with, so these are not investment shoes. And, they can't be boring, because if you're going to wear silver shoes, they have to make a statement.

I could go with this, from J.Crew for a mere $278

Or this, from Payless for a whopping $22.

A deal of a swap if you ask me! It was all I could do to restrain myself from adding these to the loot for only $19:

Now, if we could just solve the handbag issue that way....

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

DST is possibly the worst invention ever if you ask YJDKIY, which might have contributed to my oh so fantastic mood this morning. Luckily the grouch was quickly remedied by biting into exactly what I wanted to bite into this morning (instead of some unknowing bystander): a horribly unenriched, white, likely HFCS and sodium infused everything bagel with a schmear of cream cheese.

Even better delivered to me on the couch in front of CBS Sunday Morning.

Based on this, and this, I think I have an unhealthy food-mood relationship.  :P

Kitchn

You may have noticed a lack of oh you know, finished, in the green kitchen.  Namely, the backsplash and lighting. So, YJDKIY has been perusing lots of kitchen design websites looking for inspiration.  Two of my favorites are Apartment Therapy and TheKitchn.

This is pretty close to the look in this house! But, since I share fashion and food thingies I love, why not kitchen designs I covet (but could never actually pull off! hrmph.)

And, one of my favorites, but for the life of me I don't know how this is functional:

I desperately want to...

...name something Ruby. That is the cutest name ever.

I defied everything I've been learning about eating in season from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle all in order to make a recipe they offer: Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp. It took me two stores to find this rhuby, but the berries were BOGO at HT.

Chopped up about 1 lb. of stalks (which I have never purchased, cooked or eaten ever!), quartered the strawberries and mixed with some agave.

Spread in a Pam'd pyrex with a mix of oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, flour, chopped walnuts and melted butter.

In my attempts to make this somewhat not as unhealthy, I skimped on butter and sugar. The butter was fine.

The sugar...not so much. Holy donald that was tart! Baked for about 40 minutes at 375, with the last 5 on broil. It was pretty tasty with the crumble, although my preference would have been for more crunchies and sweeter. Not bad for a first try at rhubarb, although I don't really like the way it turned mushy pink.

YJDKIY much prefers red in my green kitchen.

See?

But maybe I always had a fondness for that color combination.

There's even this for after dinner (this dessert is not dinner despite the fact that I ate it first). Anyone care to make a wager on how long I'll stay awake?