Ah...relief...

This time of the school year is just a DRUDGERY. We have 6 weeks left, and it seems like a zillion miles away. I only have one day off and two half days between now and the sweet, sweet, summer. I know I'll get there - but after weeks like this it seems like I might not.

Anyhow, took a break from everything yesterday to celebrate the return of Grey's Anatomy. Yay.

Today, it is meal planning. I still have two from last week that I never quite got to, so I will incorporate them somehow into the coming week.

At my grocer, there are baby portobello mushrooms (a vegetarian's dream), tomatoes, blueberries, and strawberries on sale. So, I found a few interesting ideas on the cooking bible. I usually fall back on my Vegetarianism for Students cookbook. It has a great, simple, recipe for shrooms in gravy over rice, pasta, or couscous. Wanted to go for something different though.

I'm going to make some blueberry muffins out of my Deceptively Delicious cookbook, a Strawberry Pie, and probably some homemade tomato soup for the freezer. It's a nice thing to defrost and eat. Red potatoes are also on sale, so I printed a couple of ideas to doctor them up too. It's smart to stock up and cook on things that are reduced in price? Why pay full price for tomato soup when I have the craving? I can buy it now, make it, and simply defrost when the yen hits.

Anyhow, I will do my darndest to actually get some pictures on this blog. Eesh. Starting to look a little bare!

My kids are afraid of it.

Guacamole, that is.

I think it's the green color.

Whatever, I LOVE the stuff. Seriously, I could eat it with a spoon. Pardon my Forest Gump reference, but -

There's taco salad with guac, enchiladas with guac, tacos with guac, chips with guac, burritos with guac, guac dip....

Do I need to go on?

I love to make mine homemade. Fresh from heaven, as far as I am concerned.

Guacamole:
2-3 avocados
1/4 red onion, super finely chopped (food processed is even pretty good)
1 seeded, small diced, tomato
1 clove garlic (optional/reducible)
juice of 1 lime
salt/pepper to taste

Mash avocados together in a bowl.

Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, and lime juice. Stir.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

EAT!!!

Avocado trick: Have trouble spooning it out? This is what I do:

Cut the avocado in half, starting at the top down the more narrow part, swooping around the bulbous part when your knife hits the seed. You should have two halves, one with the seed, one without.

With a sharp knife, quickly "karate chop" the seed with your knife and turn gently. The seed should be stuck on the knife and come out easily (works better with a butcher-style knife).

With a smaller knife, cut the avocado half into squares by running the knife only as deep as the flesh (try not to cut the skin). I usually cut around 5 long, and 6 or 7 wide.

Take a large metal spoon, and scoop out the avocado as close to the skin as possible. It should come out nicely, and in tiny little cubes.

Works for quick mashing and eating in a salad or the like.

Are you KIDDING me?

No dishwasher?!?

I can't LIVE without a dishwasher.

Well, I can. And we did. All weekend long. Throughout my cooking, baking, and creating. We washed...I don't even KNOW how many sink-fulls of dishes. Ugh.

I know I shouldn't whine, I know there are many out there without dishwashers. It's just that I've ALWAYS had one. So to have it out, for a week remaining, is just too sad to think about.

So, I am escaping into mourning tonight. My husband will be doing dishes for an hour tonight, I fear.

Good Day, Sunshine.

I've had the most fantastic weekend. It was perfect,wonderful, happy, and joyous.

What did I do?

Well, I stayed home, of course!

My life is really hectic. I work early (7 AM), and leave work at any point between 3-4:30. Then I pick up the kids and do the Mommy thing until about 10 PM. I'm not saying this to gain sympathy - I know I'm right in the thick of it with all the other Moms out there. I'm more trying to get the proverbial "amen, sista!" My day is almost more hectic when I get home. As soon as we walk in the door we wash our hands (who knows what kid came to school with which virus that day), get milk, then dinner, then I start dinner for the ball and chain. Oops, someone spilled their applesauce. Oh wait, no you cant have any fruit snacks until you finish those chicken nuggets. Then Daddy walks in the door and it's like I don't exist, until they realize they're hungry again. Then it's playtime, an apple, playtime, an orange, more playtime, clean time, more apples? Nope. Too late. Then baths, books, bedtime, lunches, laundry, cleanup, and a "do I know you?" to my husband.

So, a weekend like this, where I went no where (except for Lowe's), got some sun (tan lines to prove it, my dermatologist would NOT approve), and watched the kids play in their new kiddie pool, seems like a trip to the Bahamas. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's close.

Now, we did do some productive things. I finally got around to planting my herb garden (two kinds of basil, dill, chives, and mint). I got caught up on laundry (we took a weekend away recently and I haven't been caught up since!) And, I did some cooking.

On Friday I made these, which is yet another wonderful thing to do with rice. Excellent, excellent, and totally modifiable. I ended up adding some lime juice and cayenne pepper. Made some fresh guacamole to go on top, along with some Newman's Own salsa, the husband was a happy camper. I also ended up making this rice dish, which is now 48 hours old (in the fridge) and tastes better each day.

Saturday I made these cookies, which will forever be called the cookies that I will never make again. Oh, don't get me wrong, they were excellent. I just can't have them in the house ever again. The frosting was screaming to be used on scones. I will have to remember it for that. I'm thinking a nice cranberry walnut scone (or muffin) with the orange frosting/glaze.

Today, I made pizza on the grill and pasta salad. Usually, I like to make a good leftover dinner on Sunday. However, the nice weather just screamed for our grill, so I gave in. We still have some rice pilaf but we needed something else for lunches. So, I made my pasta salad.

Practically Fat free Pasta Salad:

(1) Boil 1 lb of pasta (as instructions dictate). I like tri-colored rotini, but monotone and bow ties will do fine. I don't care for macaroni or ziti-like pasta for this, it doesn't grab the dressing as well. Drain in colander, rinse with cold water, and place in large bowl. Add 1/8 cup olive oil.

(2) Chop and add your vegetables. Now, this is where YOU can get creative. In today's bowl, I added:

• 2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped.
• 1 large cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 large green pepper, seeded, and finely diced
• 1 1/2 dill pickles chopped
• 1 can large black olives, cut in half

YOU can add whatever you like and have on hand. Some ideas include carrots, celery, baby corn, corn kernels, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, black beans, kidney beans, ham, turkey, shrimp, the sky is the limit! I just wouldn't add chickpeas as they tend to get dried out and not good. I also would caution the tomatoes and cucumbers - do NOT add without seeding first. Those "innards" of the cucumbers and tomatoes just bleed water into the salad. This will make it uneatable in the coming days.

(3) when all has been incorporated, add 1/4 cup water and two packets of zesty Italian dressing mix. Toss together, and add red wine vinegar to taste. If you want to add to the flavors, consider Brags Amino Acids, Chipotle Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, and cilantro.

This makes a LARGE bowl of pasta salad that you can eat off for days. It is low in fat, diet friendly, and a great way to use up unused vegetables.

Now I must go back out and enjoy the last few minutes of my weekend. If your weekend was even half as wonderful as mine, you are lucky indeed. Hug your family, they're what you do this for.

101 uses..

All 8 of you regular readers may take note that I have a new tag: 101 uses for cooked rice.

One regular leftover item (that regularly gets tossed) is rice. With my whole "waste not, want not" philosophy - this has become a major thorn in my side.

So, I've decided to make it my mission to find all the possible uses for cooked rice. Good, bad, and ugly. Make-able and un-make-able. Tasty...and...well...you get the picture.

I've re-labeled the appropriate prior posts (wow, say THAT five times fast), and to kick off the official "grand opening", I'm posting tonight's dessert.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had made far more rice than necessary. This weekend, I am attempting to use up said rice in my meals. I made a fabulous dinner (which will be saved for another post), and a wonderful (very unexpected) desert.

I kept this recipe very much the same. I added about a teaspoon of vanilla to the rice and milk, and I went ahead and added ALL the Cinnamon and sugar to the top of the peaches. The result? Well, I've eaten a quarter of it, so you be the judge. I'm not sure what a one quart baking dish is, but I used a glass eight by eight pan. I also had to add an extra can of peaches to cover the top, not quite sure how one can would have ever accomplished the task.

I ended up making the dish with 2% milk, but with the starchiness of the rice, I think fat free would have been fine. Moreover, I think you could have gotten away with egg whites instead of full eggs. I will be trying that next time. Those changes would make this a very waist-friendly dessert, indeed.

So, ladies and gents, get out those rice pots, We have some experimenting to do!

I don't wanna...

Plan my menu for the week, that is.

Here's what I do every week:

On Thursday or later (that's when the ad comes out) - I go ahead an surf through the sales at the store. I take note of anything in my fridge, and I come up with recipes that will best utilize both lists. For example, at my store they have some eggplant, peppers, squash, tomatoes, pears, and corn on sale. In my fridge, I currently have a bunch of rice left over due to a planning error on my part. Too bad I already made fried rice this week.

I have a few recipes: sweet and sour kidney beans, beans and rice burritos, and a peach rice dessert that I am planning to try out. As always, I will share with my review and relevant changes. I think that will use up all my rice. If not, I've got some leftover black eyed peas in the freezer that I am sure the husband wouldn't mind me defrosting. I think I'll be out with a friend on Saturday night - so the ball and chain will definitely be on his own.

I also plan on cooking up some vegetables for puree for the freezer. Always like to keep some of that around, and I am running LOW.

As far as the recipe for tonight, Cashew Asparagus Rice Pilaf was excellent. Definitely a "will make again." However, next time I will reduce the fat in half, change from butter to EVOO, and replace the the cashews with cooked garbanzo beans. I also, very last minute, added about 6 or 7 shakes of Cayenne pepper for heat. Nice flavor (note that I also made a double batch).

We've got some family plans, so I don't have anything major planned in the way of cooking this weekend. Should be quiet! Hope yours is too!

Southern Comfort

I’m not a true Southerner. Although I’ve lived in a few different places, I primarily consider myself a Pacific-North-Westerner. However, since having lived in the south, I have picked up a few traits. Words like “y’all” and “fixin’” have been slipping into my vocabulary more and more. I’ve caught myself with a definite drawl, especially in the company of other Southerners. Plus, many of the foods have snuck into my repertoire.

One such dish, I got from a good friend at work. A new vegetarian, I immediately picked up on the beans and rice. “what is that?” I asked. “Some black-eyed peas, cornbread, and rice.” “Ah,” I responded, “how did you cook it?” She explained, “well, it’s got some onion, garlic, and ham hocks.”

Ham hocks, darn. Maybe not.

The next day, in my geometry class, I was relaying a story from one student to another. It was about my black beans and rice from the prior day. Another student insisted that I MUST try black eyed peas. They were so much better. She also insisted that I didn’t have to cook it with ham. So, I thought about it some more. Perhaps I could go ahead and cook it without the ham? I would need some other flavor to accent the beans. What would be a good substitute?

Bullion. Yes, vegetable bullion.

So, I went to work at home. A la Paula Deen, I started with a stick of butter. I chopped up an onion and minced a couple of cloves of garlic, and added them to the melted warm butter in a dutch oven. When translucent, I added 1-2 tablespoon of better than bullion and cooked it up for a minute or two. Just long enough to incorporate and get bubbly.

Then I added my SOAKED and sorted beans to the pot (instructions should be on the package), a one pound bag. Stirred it around with the hot butter, and then added water. You probably want to start with a water level that is half to three quarters above the bean line. There’s no exact amount, as depending on your climate, that can affect evaporation rates. Through the cooking process, you want to check the beans for doneness and flavor by tasting! They are done when the water is well cooked down, leaving behind a sort of starchy-broth resembling a very thin gravy. Oh, and the beans should be soft too. If the water has cooked down before the beans are done, add more water. The beans won’t keep their pretty shape very well, but you want some of them to break open to get the starch in the liquid.

Go ahead and cook some rice, and corn bread. Assemble by layering: cornbread, rice, and beans. The sweetness of the cornbread balances the salty of the beans.

Now, I repeated this dish last night. I decided that the taste would be fine with olive oil rather than butter (it was), so I started with a quarter cup. I also bought the bigger bag of beans (and thus added more onions, garlic, bullion, and water) and made a couple of bowls to freeze. I’ll let you know another day how they freeze up, but I would imagine they would do as well as the black beans I make.

I also want to plug the cornbread recipe. You want a sweet, cakey, dish to balance the beans. I almost always want butter on my cornbread, but this dish was phenomenal and needed none. My family recipe uses Bisquick, and turns out great, but I was glad to find a good recipe that uses basic ingredients. The only downside is the buttermilk, which is not something I usually have on hand .

So, I hope you enjoy one of my favorite Southern comfort foods. My mom laughed when I shared this idea with her, as she swore that she tried to get me to eat black eyed peas in my early days – to no avail. Now I act like I invented it. My Grandmother was from Alabama, so I suppose I have a little bit of the south in my blood. I reckon that when the day comes that my family and I return to the Pacific Northwest, I will be sipping my lattes with a hunk of cornbread and some honey butter.

Just one of those days...

Ever have a day when you just don't feel like cooking? Sure you do. What mom in her right mom doesn't? Working moms, stay at home moms. It all works.

Now, I, like other Moms have previously reached for the takeout menu or frozen convienience meals. However, do you realize how bad this is for your family AND your budget? Minimizing going out is a great way to decrease your outlay. Making homemade freezer meals can do the same, in addition to adding a healthy variation to your diet.

One of my most favorite meals to make-ahead and freeze is ziti. The recipe I have makes two large trays, and I always end up freezing 3/4 of the profits. Feel free to use lowfat and fatfree wherever desired, but you will give up some of the flavor.

Baked Ziti

1/4 cup olive oil
2 large cans of tomato sauce (28 oz or so)
1 small can of paste
3-4 cloves of garlic (less if you prefer) minced or crushed.
salt & pepper to taste.
2 16 oz tubs of ricotta
2 pounds of dried ziti
mozarella.

In large saucepan, heat olive oil and garlic. Cook for a minute or two. Add sauce and paste, heat up and blend well.

Cook up ziti according to instructions. Keep each pound separate or divide after cooking.

To each pound of ziti add one tub of ricotta and half the sauce. Place in 9 by 13 cassarole dish and top with mozarella. (You should have two trays of ziti.)

Bake at 350 degrees for about thirty minutes, covered to prevent ziti from drying out.

When cooled to room temperature, place in containers and freeze in serving sizes appropriate for your family. Just warm up from frozen, or thaw before reheating.

Another great idea for these leftovers is lunch the next day. The ball and chain will often grab one of the tubs out of the freezer and eat off of it for the next two days or so.

Better n' takeout.

Hello, my name is Hollee, and I am a carboholic.

No, really, I am.

Atkins...it can kiss my white flour loving behind. I love all carbs, but especially those that are "bad" for me: white rice, white pasta, white bread. One of life's simple pleasures is a PBJ made with my strawberry jam, all natural peanut butter, between two heavenly slices of plain 'ole white bread. Yum-O!

Now, clearly I can give up other things in favor of carbs - namely meat. I could give up dairy before I gave up carbs. Easy.

Why am I talking about carbs? Well, it leads me to my favorite part of Chinese takeout: fried rice. I love the stuff. But there's a certain flavor that seems elusive to most westerners in their cooking. And that, my food lovin' friends, is oyster Sauce.

We were out and about this weekend, and I did feel like cooking tonight. I had to run to the store, as we were out of items like milk and butter. So, while there I grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables. I had a big bowl of leftover rice unused. I also had (at home) eggs, soy sauce, peanut oil, garlic, and (optional) fresh tomatoes.

In a dutch oven (it's easier to stir in the rice), put down a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil and some garlic (a clove is sufficient), heat over medium to medium-high heat. Then toss in the entire bag of vegetables. Cook until warm. You really want the vegetables to be crisp-tender to contrast with the rice.

If you really MUST add meat - go ahead and cook that up before you add the vegetables. It's really not necessary in this dish.

Add 2-3 cups of leftover white rice. It depends on your preferred ration of rice to vegetables. Stir in, break up clumps.

While this is happening, go ahead and scramble 3 eggs in a pan. You can do this without dirtying another dish. Put down a Tablespoon of peanut oil, then drop in three eggs. Once the whites have turned opaque, but before the yokes have really begun to set, break the yokes and begin the scramble. No, these won't be the prettiest scrambled eggs, but they will be fine camouflaged by the soy and oyster sauces.

Now add soy and oyster sauce. Oyster Sauce is pretty thick, and it depends on how flavorful you like your rice. I added about 1/4 cup. I then added about 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce. Toss in the eggs, stir together, taste, and adjust flavor. Do NOT add salt, all the sodium you need will come from the soy. If there is not enough flavor, add more soy or oyster. Taste each to see which you prefer, and that way you can add more of what tastes good to you.

Last thing, remove from heat and add tomatoes. Let sit, covered, for just a moment. That will heat the tomatoes through. Tomatoes in fried rice? It's a Thai thing, but I really love it. Even in Chinese-inspired fried rice.

Another variation? Those of you who like yoke-y eggs can go ahead and fry one or two on the side, keeping it REALLY runny. Toss those eggs on top of your rice, break the yokes, and let that be a sort of gravy. This is very "Hawaiian style" and is actually a common breakfast in the islands.

This goes together so quick, and was a very easy "I don't want to cook tonight" dinner from my kitchen. I'm even going to get some more of those frozen vegetables the next time they go on sale, just to go on hand.

This stuff is bananas...

B-a-n-a-n-a-s!

Did you know that I am a HORRIFIC speller? Like, the WORST? It's a common joke with my math students when someone asks me to spell a word - they immediately say "she teaches MATH, not ENGLISH."

So sad, so true.

Anyway, I say this because the Gwen Stafani song spells bananas. While spelling is not my forte, I can memorize lyrics to any song. So, there you go.

Where was Gwen in the 2nd grade?

Anyhow, speaking of bananas - I kind of lost mine last night. I'm on this mission to want not, waste not. Well, wouldn't you know this weekend I bought 6 bananas to use in my tropical muffins? Wouldn't you know I nailed them on the first batch? This meant I had many, MANY bananas to go.

So, I went to my food bible and went to work.

Recipe one - Banana Chocolate Chip Dessert.

I had high hopes for this one. I mean, come on, bananas and chocolate? Yum! The problem was that I was expecting a cookie, and got more of a brownie. It's almost like the chocolate and the bananas sort of canceled each other out into nothing? Not terrible, but not worth the calories, in my mind. If you do want to try them out, don't be surprised when the batter sort of comes out runny. I also had to cook mine for an extra 10 minutes.

Recipe two - Banana Bars.

What attracted me to this one was the banana frosting. Again, not bad - but I found it to be too sweet. The frosting was so strong, that it overpowered the cake. I might as well just eaten the frosting. I guess that's not so bad!

Recipe three - Bailey's Banana Colada.

Do you like Pina Colada, and getting caught in the rain? Well, I don't like either. So sue me. I'm not sure what possessed me to try this. Probably the Baileys (who doesn't love Bailey's) and the bananas that I was on a mission to use up. It was okay. I'll never make them again.

The verdict? I should have made banana bread and eaten it warm with butter.

Darn.

As a final piece of spelling trivia - did you know that http://www.allrecipies.com/ and http://www.allrecipes.com/ will get you to the same lovely site? It seems I'm not the only chef with an ineptitude in spelling.

Quick Props.

A bit ago, I plugged a great recipe for Cilantro Lime Rice - a knock off of the Chipotle version. I never plugged WHO gave me that recipe, just that she was a "friend" from an Internet forum.

Well, said "friend" is actually named Lizzy. She's a mommy and a teacher (just like me). While she dabbles in the culinary, she excels in....HEADBANDS.

Just in case you didn't actually click on the link, I wanted to go ahead and post some pictures. This is Lizzy, who has long hair, in one of her creations:


And here I am, with my short hair:

I just LOVE supporting the average, everyday, Mommy trying to earn an extra buck.

Wait, am I in Hawaii?

That's what I thought when I sunk my teeth into my fabulous new creation. Heavenly, almost like dessert for breakfast. Inside the muffins, the three major components (banana, pineapple, and coconut) blend harmoniously into one batter. Like a good piece of Jazz music - each instrument can be tasted one by one at their given moment. The occasional chunk of pineapple, the fragrance of coconut, and the familiar texture and flavor of banana bread. A MAJOR kitchen success.

This is not a make-ahead-and-freeze type of a muffin. The crumbled topping won't survive the harsh environment of your freezer. This is a "I want to do something special for the family" sort of treat.

Tropical Crunch Muffins

muffin:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed
1 small can of crushed pineapple, drained.
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp coconut flavoring

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
2 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin tin (line with cups, spray, or oil. Pick your poison.)

Make the muffins -

In one bowl, mix the flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, crush bananas (I used my immersion blender, easy peasy!), add pineapple, white sugar, egg, melted butter, and coconut flavoring. Mix well with a whisk, as you don't want to stir too much once the dry ingredients have been incorporated.

Add wet and dry together, and stir just enough to get the dry ingredients wet. Place into muffin tin.

Make topping -

In a third bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. Cut in butter until it forms a crumbly mix with small cornmeal like crumbles. Then add nuts and coconut, and divide amongst the top of the muffins.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine were done in 17). Test with a toothpick.

Place on rack for a few minutes before releasing from the pan, a few more before eating!

When eating, do try to resist the urge to jump into a bathing suit and sunscreen. Some places up north are still too cold for such behavior. However, if you have some Kona Coffee (as we did, thanks Mom and Dad), today might be a good day to try it out.

Aloha from what might as well be the islands. At least for today.

Certainly not cool enough to blog..

There's a blog out there called that. I'm pretty sure it's a "mommy blog" and it's sort of how I feel lately. Friday marked the start of my spring break, and the week prior was...interesting...to say the least. My kids were off-the-wall crazy (students, not biological) and I found myself relaxing every night. My husband was a complete rockstar and assisted in my relaxation with foot and back rubs. Ladies...aren't you jealous! I should have been blogging, as it would be nice to get some readership (and the best way to do that is blog daily). However, my feet and family needed the break!

I've tried some EXCELLENT new recipes lately.

Hungarian Lecso: This was an unexpected tasty delight! It's basically a chunk spaghetti sauce, with peppers, and eggs. The eggs sort of turn into a meat substitute, as they form into chunks in the sauce. You put this over rye bread, and I know it sounds positively disgusting. It's actually very, very good. If you're not afraid of a little meat, go ahead and cook it up with the onions and peppers and leave out the eggs.

Zucchini Patties: These were kind of fun in a nerdy/chemistry sort of way. When you make the very simple "batter" - you think there's so way that these will become patty-like. You want to keep them small so they don't fall apart, and use a swift motion in getting under the patty with your spatula. I ended up using our griddle, and they came out perfect. Serve with a little ketchup (as I did) or try some BBQ sauce. Could also work with a spicy horseraddish sauce a la Outback "Blooming Onion."

So, after I made these patties I had 2 large zucchinis left over. I found this pretty darn good brownie recipe. These are not the best brownies I've ever had, but they're very good, sort of healthy, and a great use for something that may have (otherwise) gone to waste! I made a double batch, cooked them for about 40 minutes in a 15 by 11 pan. I doubled the frosting too. I am not an experienced vegan cook, but I would be interested in a chocolate vegan frosting - as the brownies themselves are totally vegan. I almost feel bad putting dairy on top of them; seems like such a waste of perfectly good potential. They passed the husband and kid test, and the zucchini is undetectable. A major word to the wise, however. Once you get everything together (except for the zucchini), you will swear that it will never work. To the point that I had to come back online and check to make sure I was a-OK and didn't screw something up. I almost started over, but I trusted the 4.5 star recipe and kept going. I discovered that once you add the zucchini, things come together really well. I went ahead and took off the rings to mix it with my hands. I was able to squish some of the moisture from the zucchini into the brownies. It assisted in the combination.

I tried this bean recipe that I ended up morphing for my own use. Basically, take some black beans, corn, onions, and peppers, sun dried tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper to taste. A little Cayenne pepper for heat, and cook it all up in a fry pan starting with the onions and peppers. Follow with the beans, corn, tomatoes, and spices. Then transfer to casserole dish, put some cheese over the top, and bake until melted. This is great with chips or rice. I can't find the original recipe, but it was some kind of contest for Bush's beans. You can completely change the proportions depending on what you like/want out of the meal. Add more vegetables for a lighter meal or snack, more beans if you're looking for some substance.

Finally, I found some green tomatoes at the local grocer and decided to give Fried Green Tomatoes a whirl. They turned out great, although I did alter the recipe a bit. For one, instead of milk I used some leftover buttermilk. I also changed the 1/2 cup each breadcrumbs and cornmeal to 1/3 cup each and added 1/3 cup wheat germ. I just love the way wheat germ fries up: nutty, crispy, and brown. Great little kick of flavor. A little added whole grain never hurt anyone either. Make sure you keep your temp low. After I brought the oil to a good temp, I put my burner on low. Those breadcrumbs will burn in a hurry before your tomato is good and cooked. If you're not a southerner, and don't know what green tomatoes are all about, think a lemon-like flavor with a very firm tomato texture (green tomatoes are simply under ripe ones).

I also tried a weird recipe, screwed it up, and audibled onto something (I think). Sort of an eggplant parm meets lasagna meets stuffed portabello mushrooms. We'll see if I can't perfect it to share.

I have all the ingredients to create/perfect my tropical crunch muffins. Look for them soon!

Kitchens have feelings too.

On the subject of yesterday's rant:

I wanted to go ahead and plug this great book, Better Basics for the Home. It's a great resource for anyone wanting to make their home more chemical neutral.

It has instructions for making everything from basic cleaning supplies to creating your own beauty regimen. It sort of makes my head swim in trying to figure out what to make, but I just started with a few basics and make more as I have use for them.

Not for eating, but it IS for the kitchen!