Common meal

I am a little sad.  I made some kickass dishes last night for common meal and kept thinking "gotta take some pics"...and then didn't.  Preparing for common meal is such a whirlwind.  And yesterday we did it sans Cap (he has bowed out this semester due to work constraints...though he will help with cooking things beforehand).

Anyway, I made Easy and Delicious Sausage Frittata, Sautéed Apples (Paleo Comfort Foods), Creamed Spinach (Paleo Comfort Foods) and a simple fruit salad with an incredibly luscious cantaloupe and local, organic blueberries from the beginning of summer.  Cap made his signature corn bread and jello.

Dinner was a hit.  It was the first time making the Sautéed Apples (I used Honeycrisp apples, Kerrygold butter, pecans and Penzey's cinnamon) and they were comforting and delicious.  The frittata was, indeed, easy to make.  I used Vacchiano Farm's Sweet Italian Sausage and it was so scrumptious.  The savory of fennel and pork, the pop of black pepper, the sweet of the yam and the creaminess imparted by the pastured eggs and coconut oil...a lovely dish. 

Sag ran running from the room to spit out the creamed spinach.  I was pleased to get a better result this second time around. (I am a kinesthetic learner and though I dislike making mistakes, I really do tend to learn from them quickly and efficiently.)  This dish took the most time to prepare and, for me, was fussy.  (Squeezing more and more water out of thawing frozen spinach is so not my idea of fun.)  Also, it simply is not as creamy as dairy creamed spinach.  Dropping this expectation is crucial in fully enjoying the dish.

There were virtually no leftovers despite triple batches of the spinach and apples, a double batch of corn bread and a batch and a half of the frittata.  My peeps left happy and full.

And now, an ode to my sister.

This morning I scrambled my leftover chard from the farm (originally braised with liquid leftover from the slow cooker pork) with a pastured egg.  I grilled a piece of corn bread leftover from last night with Kerrygold butter.  I had skipped the bread last night, but this morning, I heard the siren song of a piece with butter and fig jam.

My sister brought us a small jar of fig jam months and months ago.  I love everything figs, especially fig jam.  So I have kept this precious jar on the top shelf in the pantry.  Despite it being full of sugar.  Because I love fig jam.  And my sweet sister.

So, when I was inspired this morning, I considered it, and went for it.

Man, jam is SWEET when you haven't eaten it in a year!  I was really surprised by the sugar punch.  But, I enjoyed my crunchy crusted buttery corn bread with jam.  Yes I did.

(Oh and chard when it comes straight from the farm?  A wonderful toothiness remains through the tenderness of gently braised leaves.  Yum.)

As the kids and I picked up the living room in preparation for our guests, we came across the pine shaving curl my sister and brother-in-law brought to us Monday.  I asked the kids to place it on the seasonal shelf.  Simple, sweet, seasonal, sisterly.  We're planning on going up to the cabin in October and can't wait!

Peace.

Honey

Quickie post to update:

I enjoyed some homemade dressing on the salad at dinner tonight.  The dressing had about a tablespoon of honey in it.

• it tasted good, but the sweet bordered on overwhelming for my (new) palate.

• within an hour of eating the dressing, my heart rate was up.  it felt like the sugar from the honey activated the caffeine still in my system from the iced Americano I nursed all afternoon.  (which didn't give me jitters during that time.)

• after washing up from dinner and saying to goodbye to my last lingering friend, I ate a peach.  it was tart and nowhere near as delectable as the one I had at lunch time.  the difference?  the second peach was post-honey.

Very interesting.  I can't believe my relationship with honey may have been forever altered...

P.S.  Dinner received rave reviews.

Notes from our morning

A quick jot while the kitchen cools down. 

The boys and I spent a chunk of time at Kmart and Whole Paycheck.  I got myself one of those chairs that folds right up and goes in a sack you can sling over your shoulder.  I'm hoping that will get me to the pool more.  I bought pool passes to the town pool again this year and am determined to get there regularly.  Kmart did not come through on my main objective: a new Brita filter pitcher.  (What I really want is this, but we don't have the money or space for it right now.)

At Whole Paycheck, Sag waited very patiently for a turn with the cheese guy.  He had samples of smoked gouda and a new-to-him cheese, Amadeus.  He really liked the Amadeus so we got some of that and some d'Affinois which was on sale.  It was interesting watching him...I could completely understand the allure of cheese and appreciated the devotion in his process.  But, my own history with cheese, my passion for it...had been completely disconnected at the chemical/physical level.  I literally could leave it.  Had no interest in taking part.  And, unlike my experience with the chocolate on day 12, I did not feel a shred of loneliness being set apart from all those cheeses.

Wow.  I guess that's what they mean by rewiring the brain.

After loading up with stuff for dinner and beyond (it always goes beyond, especially at the big and shiny Whole Paycheck in a neighboring town), I treated myself to an iced Americano.  Zowee!  That is strong!  But, good...flavorful and hearty.  Taking baby sips.

The kitchen should be cooled down by now.  Off to clean out and reorganize the fridge and make some lunch.  Then, on to getting ready for common meal.

Peace.

Cooking for a crowd

We're hosting common meal tonight.  I rose early (for me) and picked up our chicken, eggs and apples from our CSA.  Then popped over to Whole Paycheck (appreciated that they are not sticklers for opening only on the dot) for tzatziki fixings.

Baton touched with Cap who headed downstate while I headed into the kitchen.

Dug out the pork shoulder that'd been getting loved on by a spice/herb/salt rub in the fridge for the past two days.  Placed it into the slow cooker with sliced onions and carrot disks.

Put together a tzatziki.  I'm wondering why mine looks so different from the photo accompanying the recipe.  No matter, it's hard to go wrong with plain full fat Greek yogurt, English cuke and garlic.

On deck, a veggie Thai red curry and braised cabbage.