Local Huh News

The headline reads:

Charges filed after underwear removed 

A few select quotes:

• Clyde, formerly known as Clyde Overcash, recently displayed the white, size 2X briefs in the window of his Council Street shop, Off Main Antiques, and later said in a statement to police he considered it art.

• Cave wrote that “someone should spank that person” and later said it was a “disgusting and stupid thing to do.”

• At the time, she said she still had the underwear and has painted it to actually look like art.

You KNOW you want to read this awesome article in a local paper. Be sure to check out the priceless comments section.

Four

That's how many days of work left until VACATION!! And how many nights of recipes!

Sunday: Salad with Gardein Tenders

Monday: Panko-lemon fish, pesto broccoli

Tuesday: Stir fried peppers, tofu over brown rice

Wednesday: Summer Lasagna

Thursday: leftovers

Or-gonzo!

YJDKIY took to taming the beastly utensil collection that resides on the Ave. It's taking every ounce of willpower to not just chuck the whole thing and buy one new, really nice version of each. I am bizarrely attached to some of the odder and older ones.

Seriously, we don't need 4 peelers, 3 scissors, 5 spatulas, 2 pasta thingies, 3 ladles and 6 flippers do we?

Everything out of its drawer or utensil holder and out for inspection.

As organizey as that would be to start over with singles, it's extremely unpractical for this kitchen, as I know we use more than one peeler or flipper before the dishwasher is run.

I did weed out a good 10 utensils that are gone-zo now though!

So Freaking Good

That was the comment at the dinner table couch last night. YJDKIY has to agree...I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

Recycled smashed black beans and sweet potatoes wtih cumin and lime juice in crunchy taco shells topped with cheddar, raw red cabbage and avocado.

The crunchy and creamy, sweet salty and tangy, avocado and sweet potato...nummy nummy nummy! I don't think I can eat plain bean tacos again!

Pita* Pizza

I bet I haven't made these since...oh, 1999 maybe? Those involved white pitas, gobs of plain cheese and spaghetti sauce though. These were much healthier...

and included four varietals.

Veggie

Veggie with pepperoni and romano

 Basil-tomato with mozza

Greek (Correll Farms cherry tomatoes were super sweet and tasty!)

Even the Canine Component couldn't wait for them to come out the oven! Somehow she knows as soon as a cheese wrapper opens, even if she's allllll the way in the other room and appears at my feet waiting for a taste (which she never always gets!)

*forget that thing I said about bread! Although, I'm not sure this totally counts since they are thin and crispy not all doughy!

(Past) Local Lunch

YJDKIY's high school got a makeover recently. But not just a makeover, a complete rebuild in the form of Ty's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition! You can read more about the new green high school, set to open in the Fall on this blog.

Of interest to me was an article in the local paper featuring the new food/cafeteria resources! I would love to get a tour of this industrial kitchen before it gets gross with actual institution food and high schooler germs. :P

Watauga County Schools nutrition director Nicole Mayernik stands in front of her favorite appliance at the new Watauga High School cafeteria -a high-tech steamer/cooker that can accept direct recipe information from a computer. Photo by Lauren Ohnesorge from the Watauga Democrat.

A few highlights from the article indicate THIS school is moving in the right direction!

• Child nutrition director Nicole Mayernik worked with culinary students to design a menu that's as inviting as any food court.
• Expect ethnic flair to hit the taste buds also, as themed bars will be a notable part of the WHS dining experience.
• One population at WHS that will see the benefits of the new menu? Vegetarians.
  Vegetarians make up an estimated 12 percent of students, Mayernik said, and new "fiberful" vegetarian options served a la cart will help them get their protein and stick to their dietary restrictions. The menu is constantly evolving. Mayernik plans to survey parents and consider their opinions on the selections. (YJDKIY....a la CART? ahem!)

  (Additional recommended reading about FarmToSchool programs in NC)

Experimental

This post, like many others starts with: The intended recipe...

YJDKIY decided that I'm kind of over bready things, even wraps until cooler weather comes back. So tortillas for the Sweet Potato Burritos were out. I thought about just doing naked burritos, but decided I'd poof them into something greenier!

Using the biggest kale leaves of the bunch (this would work much better when kale is actually in season and normal size), and trimmed the stem in a v-shape up into the leaf.

To save time, I diced the sweet potato and microwaved it for about 10 mins with a little water.

Meanwhile, I blanched the kale leaves for about 3 minutes, finishing with a cold water bath to stop the cooking.

Once the sweet potato was smooshy, I used a potato masher to mix in some black beans until a nice gooey base formed.

Recipes always call for using the juice, but I always rinse them in hopes of reducing the 440 mg of sodium. I don't know WHY beans need that much salt, I'm going to have to start cooking my own! Added a little garlic powder, cumin, pepper and lime juice.

A dollop on the kale leaves and rolled up.

Baked at 350 for 10-15 mins until warmed through, topped with a little cheddar cheese and broiled for about 5 minutes.

Served with toasty pita triangles (they were so crunchy I don't consider them bread! I know, it's a quirk, just pretend its cute) and asparagus. These were tastier than I thought and worked out pretty well. Larger versions would sub excellently for burritos and smaller ones would be superb appetizers.

Offender

Blogger apparently ate this post last night (or either ConAgra hacked my account and deleted it):

As YJDKIY was answering (mostly wrongly) Jeopardy clues last night, a commercial break sneaked past my mute button and I had the um, pleasure, of watching this:



Does anyone else see a problem with that? I get it, kids are picky. But do we really need to teach kids and reinforce to parents that vegetables taste bad? And that they should eat this product instead?

Also, if you pause around the :10 mark, you can read the disclaimer:

"Full serving of vegetables" means half-cup of vegetables per serving. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2005) recommends 2.5 cups of vegetables (or 5 servings) per day based on a 2000 calorie diet.

I went to the Chef Boyardee website, to check out just what a serving looked like, but after spending 10 minutes on the site, couldn't find any nutritional info whatsoever. Clever. All I got were "Crazee Games" "Awesome Offers" "Tastee Food" "Big Chef News" and "Mom and Dad Stuff". You would think nutrition would be under Mom and Dad Stuff, right? Nope, you'd be wrong.

Follow!

Knock knock, HOUSEKEEPING:
The follow button is up! If you're a regular and just don't know it yet, click the button and you will! In that middle column under the blog list!

Alt version

YJDKIY modified the planned recipe a bit to be...grainier, and hopefully a little healthier and fillinger. What I ended up with was Beans, Greens & Grains, take two.

2 cups of barley

Saute 1 sweet onion & garlic, add canned diced (organic) tomatoes (crazy since I had all those fresh ones!), and simmer. Add some lima beans, fresh dried basil, oregano, pepper and agave. Simmer.

Add fresh chopped baby spinach until it cooks down.

Cress Farm cantaloop

Top beans greens grains with cheesers (grated romano!) and serve with melon smiles! Food groups covered!

Even Steven?

Today including the following:

[X] 2 hours driving for the genius bar
[X] Earthfare shopping stock up
[X] Being bizarrely eligible for a free hard drive replacement on a 4 year old computer
[X] Losing last 4 months of data (photos, music, docs)
[X] Not spending $1400 on a computer, but resurrecting mylittleblackbook
[X] Two hours setting up the new hard drive with the backup files I did have
[X] YOFORIA!

I've heard about it for so long, and finally finally I get to enjoy the goodness! I went with a dark chocolate/peanut butter mix, with a tiny dollop (I refuse to say squirt) of vanilla. Toppings included strawberries, granola and a smidge of coconut. It's a darn good thing this place is a solid 56 miles away! 25 calories an ounce (I think I had about 8 oz), no cholesterol, ORGANIC, no corn syrup, minimum sodium, live cultures.

Related, I think they have a super business model. Self serve so the customer is doing all the work, little retail space, one size fits all and encourages LARGE purchases, "healthy" dessert item. If someone would like to lend me $200K in liquid assets, $350K in net worth, the $25K franchise fee, royalties and advertising fees, and building costs, I'll gladly share the profits. :P

Count down to August

Back to some marked Six O'Clock Scramble recipes this week. I won't lie, it's so hot all YJDKIY really feels like eating is Lindy's (even froyo seems too heavy!). 

SUNDAY: Barley with lima beans, spinach & artichoke hearts; fruit salad

MONDAY: Wild rice & corn off the cob casserole; side salad

TUESDAY: Sweet Potato Burritos; asparagus

WEDNESDAY: Greek Pita Pizza; cucumber salad

THURSDAY: Falafel balls with tzazki; kale

FRIDAY: Other cooker...I hear there might be kebabs involved

SATURDAY: Date night!

Guests

Uninvited guest in the form of this thinkpad (which I have to say isn't as stinky as I'd have guessed) YJDKIY has to use since I got this evil screen o death this afternoon on the mac:

Invited guest in the form of a cook! While I was busy making genius bar appointments and researching education store prices, the kitchen was filling with the yummy smells of

eggplant parmesan

with farmer's market fresh eggplant from Correll Farms. Don't be fooled, I didn't make it through even half of that glass of red vino.

Mater Whomping*

You know it's summer when your window is filled with red delicious (local/home grown) lycopene

(and it's too hot to be outside after 8 am)

*YJDKIY's high school AP history teacher used to say he was 'gonna whomp your mater' if you didn't learn something or misbehaved in class...I just now remembered that, fitting.  :P

More

Y'all it's hot down here. YJDKIY made this pasta salad at like 8:30 am (mainly so it could marinate all day) because I didn't want to turn on the stove tonight.

Started off steaming some diced red pepper and zuchinni. I just can't do those raw and I don't know why.

Red onion is my favorite of all the onion.

This was supposed to be of the Mediterranean variety, but I kept adding more veggies. When I went to pick the basil, at approximately 8:42 AM the neighbor's thermometer said 92, and it's kinda shaded!

Basil chiffonade...sort of.

For the seasoning, some olive oil, balsamic, the basil, oregano, thyme, garlic salt, pepper and a pinch of brown sugar.

The garlic looked so lonely over there, the bowl was asking: "Please can the garlic come out and play?" How could YJDKIY not make something savory without putting garlic in it I ask you?

All mixed together and no room for the pasta. I recommend cooking your pasta last, despite this container dilemma as you will end up having more veggies and less pasta which is a good thing.

Trying to resurrect the greek thing, I skipped the olives and tomatoes, but did include some feta.

Transferred to a more size appropriate container for chilling.

Mac & Trees

aka Snack & Cheese!

Back to Nature's 100% Whole Wheat White Cheddar Cheese Mac is almost as good as Hodgson Mill's! The ingredient list is pretty good too. Pan-seared italian spiced tofu from Earthfare (it had all kinds of stuff pressed in there...including anise seeds, which I really could have done without!), Correll farms pepper and perfectly steamed broccoli.

Red Carpet Review - Summer Movie Premieres Edition

YJDKIY hasn't had a fashion fix in a while, so I scrounged up some red carpet photos from the premieres of a few summer movies, including Salt, Knight & Day, and Inception.

Ellen Page looks cute in this green dress but the clunky black shoes do not work in any way shape or form. She's also under 30 and needs a lot less eye makeup. C+

Leo is always simple, clean, elegant, Hollywood. A

And then Nicholas Cage...who is the exact opposite of that. D

I think this is Kristen Cavallari, but I don't know who that is. I love her shoes and the color of the dress, but the cut looks like JLo's jungle dress from the 2000 Emmys got in a fight with Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket. F

Brad and Angelina are also classic, simple, elegant and Hollywood. Thank goodness he got rid of that nasty beard! I love her shoe choice even if the dress is a little short... A (A+ if he'd just button that shirt!)

I LOVE the color of this dress and the shoe combination on Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe!). She would be an A if the hair was a little more...glamorous! B+

Holy fabric draping class batman. This is just a disaster on such a pretty Cameron Diaz. Her hair is nice though! D

Hmm, Tom and Katie could look worse, but they could look better too. He can't work the unbutton and that is the most unflattering dress length/cut and shoe choice on long(ish) legs I have ever seen. C-

Liev and Naomi...I really want to like this. I love the silvery blueish colors. But the dress fabric is not flattering (but the shoes are great...hers not his, those are awful), and something is just a little off. B-