Kids and food

I love this.  Right before I took the shot I said, "close your eyes".  For no reason, really.

Later, they painted.  Homework for Cap.  Their art, like them, bound with simpatico yet distinct.

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A yummy sounding soup popped up over at Orangette a few days ago.  Soup has been on my mind as the temps outside have dropped.  I realized that the seasonal nature of this recipe meant that I had all but one of the ingredients called for (canned coconut milk), which bumped it right up to the top of this week's meal planning because it would cost very little to make.

I haaaaaaaaaate preparing winter squash.  So tedious.  I decided to tackle as many squash as I could at once to get it out of the way.  Three sweet dumpling squash, two acorn squash and one buttercup squash turned out to be my limit.  I roasted the sweet dumpling squash (and finished it in one day) and saved the acorn and buttercup squash for the soup.

Warming and delicious.  I goofed and put in a tablespoon of sriracha rather than a teaspoon.  I added some water to take the edge off the heat.  Note to self: this soup was very straightforward to make having prepped the squash the day before.

We've had some sweet potatoes waiting in the wings in a bowl next to the squash on a shelf in the kitchen.  (I wonder what it's like to have a root cellar?)  I followed this recipe and roasted a few sweet spuds.  My potatoes needed a longer cooking time (I put them back in, raising the temp to 375º for an additional 10-15 minutes).  The kids both enjoyed these, Sag in particular.

I flipped through Gluten-Free Girl's latest cookbook (borrowed from the library) while half-watching the Pats game on Sunday night.  It's a nice looking book, and when I realized I had stuck post-its on nearly two dozen pages about halfway through the book, I laughed, stopped what I was doing, and put it on my Amazon wish list (which is how I keep track of such things).

She had a "recipe" for cooking quinoa which nudged me to make a pot.  Gem has always liked quinoa, but Sag has not.  I wanted to see if this recipe which guaranteed "fluffy" quinoa would do the trick.  I had my quinoa with a dab of Kerrygold and the roasted sweet potatoes.  Sag ate a few bites of his quinoa (with wheat-free tamari).  He didn't love it, but he didn't hate it, either.

I much prefer my quinoa cold, in salads.  Maybe because I don't taste the "nutty" flavor that most people use to describe quinoa, maybe because I find the texture of quinoa so enhanced when it is layered with other textures, but cold quinoa tossed with some veg (in this case: red onion, leftover roasted sweet spuds and "semi-homemade" sweet dill pickle relish), oil and vinegar (in this case: evoo and ume plum vinegar) and seasoning (in this case: garlic powder, salt and pepper) is a game changer for me.  Yum.

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Buzzfeed posts some very entertaining, yet consistently ephemeral, food stuff.  But, this post woke me up.  I have a feeling this recipe will change my chicken roasting/eating life...forever.

Peace and love.

Catching up: the food

sausage-sweet potato frittata.

pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.

Thai nut relish.

Hosted a wee potluck brunch last weekend and served these dishes.  All the recipes are terrific.  A variety of flavors and textures, all satisfying.  The Thai nut relish was a revelation (unsweetened shredded coconut as a base?  genius).  Oh, I also reduced the powdered sugar in the frosting significantly and the texture of the frosting was unchanged.  Win!

pumpkin muffins with raisins and choco chips.

These muffins were fabulous.  Moist and tasty.  If eaten on the first day, also nicely crusty.  Delicious with a schmear of cream cheese or butter, too.  I used coconut crystals and reduced the sugar.

Kyoto cherry rose green tea.

A recent discovery at Terra.  I had it iced on one of the last warm and humid days of the exponential Indian summers we had this year.  I have been enjoying it hot with a spoonful of local honey since turning the heat on last week.

roasted sweet potatoes.

Another gem of a recipe from Martha Stewart's site.  I did not have Old Bay seasoning so subbed with poultry seasoning that I need to get through speedily because of its recent "expiration" date.  This was simple to put together and highlighted the natural goodness of sweet spuds, well (flavor/texture/color).

cornbread stuffing with ground turkey, pecans and raisins.

Making this stuffing was a valuable first step in tinkering my way towards the scrumptiously sublime stuffing of my dreams.  It was much better than the horror of last year's stuffing.

• loved the pecans and raisins.

• if I make cornbread stuffing again, will decrease or eliminate the sugar in the cornbread.

• ground turkey, while nice for the non-red meat eating member of our family, didn't quite cut it, flavor-wise.

• the chicken broth (store bought...Imagine or Pacific Foods) was too one note...bordering on cloying.

• I forgot to plan for making gravy...gravy likely would have helped this stuffing go down easier.

• I gave most of this stuffing away to gluten-free friends and they loved it.

I have the ingredients for my next effort lined up and ready to go.

shakshouka.

Lovely, lovely breakfast food.  Teaches me patience every time while I wait for the eggs to cook just so.

cabbage head.

1. Wish I had a cleaver.

2. Confession: a cabbage bigger than one's head brings with it a tide of CSA fatigue.

beef-pork meatballs.

Delectable.  I don't think I will ever make beef-only meatballs ever again.  The pork added a fantastic je ne sais quoi to these nuggets of yummy.  I adapted the recipe quite a bit, but found it to provide a solid base.

sweet relish.

Sag and I love sweet relish.  But, of course, sweet relish contains loads of sugar.  It occurred to me this week that I could make sweet relish at home controlling for sugar.  After some Googling, I decided to pick up a jar of Bubbies (the store didn't have the relish so I bought the pickles).  I chopped up half the pickles, added some of the pickle juice and stirred in 2 Tbs local honey.  This relish nearly filled a repurposed salsa jar.

spaghetti carbonara.

I don't remember how I came to start reading Kate Christensen's blog.  I have not read her fiction, but she is a writer who likes food.  I like writerly things/people.  I like food.  She is from Boston and I like Boston.  So, somehow, I found her blog and I like to read it.  She posted a Carbonara recipe last week that entranced me.  I had never made Carbonara at home.  It is a dish that I have adored the occasional times I have had it.  I did not grow up eating it.  It always struck me as an otherworldly combination of crazily indulgent ingredients.

So, I was genuinely struck by the simple and straightforward recipe.  Pasta+bacon+garlic+olive oil+eggs+Parmesan cheese+black pepper.  Really?  Not only could I do that, but I realized that the relatively short list of ingredients was a signal for alchemical magic ahead.

Yum, yum, yum.  This was utterly comforting, nostalgic and perfect.  As I ate, this song came on and folded in a whole other layer of memory.

(I am a believer in every moment being perfection in it of itself...but it's not always easy to read the moment as so.  Eating this for dinner last night, many, many things came together and I became one with perfect.)

Peace and love and happy taste buds.

Absence results in avalanche

I promised myself to post today to not let it go longer than a week since my last post.  And I do hope it won't be as long till my next one.

I was going to pick one photo to save time (which I only wanted to do in order to facilitate the actual happening of writing a post), but looking at my photo stream made me warm and fuzzy and I could not pick just one.

I am delighted by an unexpected turn of events.  This Fall has been defined by a surge in cooking and baking as I have mused about it here in this space.  The development in the last week or so is that I have made some food which has made me go "hmm".  And I find myself very curious and wanting to learn more about the science behind the alchemy of cooking.

I have requested Ratio and Gluten-Free Girl Every Day from the library.  Both authors are proponents of using ratios to develop recipes and deepen one's understanding of how recipes work.  I cannot imagine I will ever be creating my own recipes...but am kind of thrilled to be exploring cooking and baking in a new way.  Maybe I do like it, after all.

And now, the pics...

local intersection.  I had just stepped out of Anthropologie, a store I go into maybe once a year.  I like it every time, but then forget about it until someone or something reminds me and I go in again.

sweet rice flour!  we've started using it, but I have not batched "my" all-purpose flour mix yet.  (I need a snazzy name for it.)

Chinese lump candy (aka rock candy).  the kids, particularly Gem, have been loving it.  some less processed sweet for the stomach system.

pumpkin chocolate chunk bars.  the first of three items I baked in the last week that came out vastly differently than I thought it would.  it tasted good, but the texture was very wet.  it was like a pumpkin pie without the crust.  the recipe poster's photo shows a much cake-ier looking bar so I was disappointed...and wondered what went awry.

we returned upstate for pumpkins.  the kids enjoyed our trip to Gill's Farm last year so we made a day of it with auntie and uncle.

boys on rock in woods.

beautiful birches.

more often than not, lately, all I want for breakfast is a piece of toast with Kerrygold and a big ass mug of black tea (English or Irish Breakfast) with honey.  must be the bits of stardust in me that hail from the British Isles rallying for some recognition.

pumpkin bacon scallion biscuits.  the greatest of expectations dashed upon a cruel and rocky shore.  these were a shocking bust.  and I am fairly certain it was me...and that I can tweak my performance to turn out a better product.  these were soft on the inside, bordering on mushy.  the outside was crusty...but I was seeking a flakey experience throughout.

I made something a couple of weeks ago, it was the oatmeal raisin cookies, and I questioned the use/quality of nutmeg (an ingredient I normally dig, especially in savory dishes).  well, I finally checked the date on the jar and, oops, it was way past expiration.  at the market, they were out of "regular" nutmeg so I decided to get a jar of whole ones.  I enjoyed the "return to a simpler time" aspect of grating the nutmeg...and, not surprisingly, the wonderful aromatherapy.

apple cider donut hole.  making these was a mixed bag.  I guess you could say the hype (in my head and heart) could not quite be lived up to.  the logistical pain of frying donuts for the first time will never be as challenging as it was yesterday and so I can envision myself making these again and having the total experience be a happier one.  the donut "holes" themselves were really good.  I mean, a warm and crispy fried dough ball?  what's not to like?  these were light and pleasing.  they were not cooked well through, though.  next time they need to be smaller.  and I need a working candy thermometer for next time.  I really had no idea what temperature the oil was.  and speaking of oil...Cap is our resident fryer and being a kinesthetic learner, I had to experience frying to understand the ins and outs of how/how much dang oil is used to deep fry.  it's a frakking lot.  and...honestly, it felt like a waste.  so, next time, I guess I'll make more donuts.  but it would have to be for a crowd because, really, they are best still warm from frying.  see?  my complicated mixed feelings.  also disappointing: Cap didn't want one (he wasn't feeling well) and the boys did not like them.  I am usually not invested in the rest of the family loving, or even liking, what I make, but this one made my heart twinge a bit.

pumpkin tea cake with cream cheese frosting.  sometimes, I will change what I call something to reflect a shift in ingredients.  for example, the pumpkin bacon scallion biscuits were called pumpkin bacon chive biscuits in the original recipe.  but, this one, I could not call these pumpkin bars, not with this frosting, which elevated/transformed the final product to more of a cake.  I am now using coconut crystals or honey or maple syrup as substitutes for cane sugar when I bake.  but, for this frosting, I decided to use the powdered sugar called for because the thought of a brown cream cheese frosting made me sad.  this came out wonderfully.  the cake was dense and it had a rustic, hearty quality that paired nicely with the sweet, sticky frosting (which was way too sweet for me...and raised the burning question: how much can you decrease the sugar in a frosting without negatively impacting the texture of it?)  I froze half the cake and plan on serving it at a brunch this weekend.  I am going to make a non-dairy frosting for it using vegan cream cheese and will use less sugar.  I may make a tiny test batch using coconut crystals to see how unsightly the resulting brown is.

celery root, sweet potato and red onion.  I adapted this Martha Stewart recipe to use up the celery root from last week's CSA share.  I thought the apple, even a tart one, would make it sweeter than I wanted...but the celery root had more of a kick to it than I expected and next time, I will put the apple in.  this was pure CSA goodness.  we are very much entering root vegetable season here and I will be making variations of this kind of peel, cube, par boil and skillet fry for weeks and weeks to come.  Martha Stewart's website is becoming a reliable source of recipes for me.  (another thing that makes me go hmm.)

we are in the midst of a delicious and bountiful apple season.  the simple pleasures of gazing upon Mother Earth's color spectrum, inhaling the delicate and unadorned scents and biting into juicy, crunchy, sweet, flavorful apples has been incredibly happy-making.

I have also been amassing tabs in my Google Chrome...of things I wanted to share here...

• homemade mosquito spray.

• coconut white chocolate recipe.  I have ordered the cocoa butter and am stoked to make this!

• apple honey "lemonade" recipe.  "aid digestion and boost immunity"?  yes, please.

• daily rituals of creative minds.  this reinforced things I already strive for and think highly of.

• 8 fascinating facts about anxiety.  5,6 and 8 were the ones that surprised me (both because I recognized myself in them and I never made a connection to these experiences and anxiety).

• re-Sendakify Sendak.  thanks to Lana for this one.  a must for fans of kid lit.

• a lovely poem.

• making lemonade out of lemons.  if by lemonade we mean gorgeous and haunting black and white photos...and by lemons we mean a frightening and destabilizing medical experience.  this one is from Lana's photo blog.

• 15 Peruvian foods you have to try.  I don't want to jinx anything by saying we're going to Peru in a few months, but that is the plan.  one of the things making me anxious about this trip is wondering what Gem is going to eat/how to feed him.  I was pleased to see that apart from the desserts on this list, most seemed gluten- and dairy-free.

• another lovely poem.

• GO: A Kid's Guide To Graphic Design.  looks like a cool book.  Kidd's first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, blew me away.  this one is not a novel, it's about graphic design and aimed for humans 10 and up.

• gorgeous and stunning nature photography.

• headspace.  a meditation app I am thinking about trying.

• pumpkin muffins on my to do list.

• pumpkin truffles on my to do list.

• raw almond butter cups on my to do list.

• my latest percolating obsession: stuffing.  of the 25 on this list, I'm going to try the Kitchn one first.  (gluten-free, of course.)

• I am wanting meat less these days and was delighted to see this come across my virtual desk this morning: 37 vegetarian dishes for Thanksgiving.

Phew.  Okay, that was a lot.

Peace, my loves. 

Oatmeal raisin cookies

Cap loves oatmeal raisin cookies and, sadly, this is the first time I've made them for him.  I looked at two recipes over at Gluten-Free Goddess, but due to laptop mishaps (my iteration of the Macbook Air has a hardware bug that has mostly just been annoying, but this morning it did an unexpected buggy total shut down which is untenable...must bring it in to the mothership), focused on the one with eggs and chocolate chips in it.  I subbed raisins for the chocolate chips, coconut sugar for the brown sugar, brown rice flour for the sorghum and millet flours, and potato starch for the tapioca starch.

The verdict: these look better than they taste.  I am highly motivated, though, and am already thinking of tweaks.  Next batch I will use half brown rice and half almond flours.  (There was a slightly sandy quality to the cookies.)  I may also pick up a bag of sweet rice flour and try a batch with that and almond flour.  Also, I am going to reduce or eliminate the nutmeg.  It's possible that our nutmeg is going stale...but it just tasted strong and almost bitter.  Finally, I was left with a strong sense of the absence of butter.  As much as I love my Kerrygold, I do not often miss butter in the GFCF food that I make.  So, this experience stood out.  I may try a batch with butter.  Cap eschews dairy, generally, so I'll see what he wants to do.  (He has not tried a cookie yet.  Gem hasn't tried one, either.  Sag thought it was okay, he said it was flaky.)

Peace and love.

Weekend update

I am overwhelmed, yo.

In one of those hyperly-noticing-every-little-and-big-thing-I-wish-was-done-but-isn't places.

Yuck.

Here are the (seventeen) tabs I currently have open in Chrome:

• Ikea Hack Standing Desk For Shorter Ladies.

•.Gummy Bears recipe.

• my Goole calendar:

• Sesame Kelp Noodles recipe.

• Fresh Ginger Syrup recipe.

• Momastery post that has had me very seriously pondering a 40 day internet fast.

• Momastery post with amazing letter to child posted during her 40 day internet fast which has had me seriously rethinking the fast thing.

• Texts From Mittens.

• The Two Simple Equations That Lead To Financial Success.

• Louis CK Was Almost Right About Smartphones, Loneliness, Sadness, The Meaning Of Life and Everything.

• Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.

• another Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

• A Raft Of Grief.

• Pasta With Pea Sauce recipe.

• Fig And Almond Cake recipe.

• Wanna Be On Your Mind:

• Silver Dollar Pancakes recipe:

The first thing that's kind of killing me: most of these tabs come with multiple thoughts/ideas attached to them.  

For example, the gummy bears recipe...

~~~I've been wanting to decrease the kids' sugar intake~~~they might like these~~~ooh the molds are on sale at Think Geek~~~I'll order a bunch of stuff to get free shipping~~~the Think Geek box arrived days ago and remains unopened~~~I spent a long time looking for other stuff to order~~~if I had just gotten the molds and paid for shipping I would have spent $50 less~~~I shouldn't have spent all that money~~~are the kids going to even like these~~~when am I going to make these~~~

Exhausting.  Stupid.  Unstoppable.

Well, seemingly unstoppable.

The second thing that's kind of killing me: this current reality of my desktop (in/arguably a virtual environment) totally mirrors the current reality of my home/body/mind (in/arguably my actual environments).  Lots of thoughts and ideas, intentions and dreams, converted into STUFF that PILES and GATHERS.

Sparks happy and bright devolve into dusty lumps forgotten-in-plain-sight.

This brings me down.  Not in the good-for-me grounding way described here, but in a pulled under into the doldrums way.

And yet, and yet, I push through...through these moments that are not comfortable (unfortunately, they are not comfortable for my little family, either), but are simply a part of my life.

Peace and love.

Whole30 :: Day 2

Did better at breakfast today: that's my latest yummy vinaigrette in the jam jar and white peony tea with honey in the glass...plus hard boiled eggs wrapped in prosciutto, creamy cucumber salad and lovely lettuce.  And, I sat down to eat.

One of these Whole30s I may push through 30 days with no honey, but not this one.  My stomach/digestive system really protests the absence of sugar and honey.  I am being mindful of minimizing honey as much as makes sense.

The Whole30 book reminded me of magnesium's sleep-friendly properties so I served some up at dinner (the kids and I take a dose with breakfast daily).  We all fell asleep quite easily.  Time will tell whether this was a coincidence or not.

Funny, as I was making the pesto yesterday with our ginormous bunch of basil, a tiny voice inside suggested I save some of it to use for something else.  But, I didn't have anything else in mind and am focused on close to zero waste, so I blitzed it all (and gave some of the pesto to a friend, which made both of us happy).  So, of course, this very simple and yummy sounding recipe for lemon basil cookies came across my Reader this morning.  I may be buying some basil at the farmer's market this weekend.

Another post, with a recipe for duck fat roasted garlic sweet potatoes has me intrigued about duck fat.  Last week at the farmer's market, Kelly and I stopped by the Mangalitsa Pork vendor where we discovered they sell little jam jars of lard for $5 a pop.  I'm sure it's not going to be like duck fat, but it's a smaller and more affordable place to start.

I have started watching Orange Is The New Black, and it is solid.  A bit Oz, a bit Weeds (created by the same person), quite addictive.

Peace and love.

Sleepy snowy day

Mister Pond was on Fallon last night early this morning and I stayed up to watch so I am tired.

The day was spent going back and forth from the kitchen to bake/make something and the living room to chill for bits.

I opted to stay in from the snow today and made a kickass hot chocolate for the kids to warm themselves by when they came in.  I also made: Brussels sprouts (I wanted pine nuts but didn't have any so tossed in some sunflower seeds...would not recommend), roasted plum tomatoes, banana muffins, pretty perfect oatmeal, and, for the first time ever, Beef Stroganoff (wow, so good).

(I left out the cream and used 1 can of full fat coconut milk.  Used ghee rather than butter.)

Last night's pork chops.  Pretty, no?

Nothin' like warm 'nana  muffins on a winter morning.

Beef Stroganoff, where have you been all my life?  This was so yummy!

Gonna go let my eyes glaze in front of the boob tube.

Peace.

Oh my shiva

I have a great appreciation for alchemy.  In life, as well as, in the kitchen (where so much of my life seems to be happening lately).

This afternoon I roasted some plum tomatoes in the oven.  I don't know why, but they were the best I've ever made.  So so so so delicious.

Haven't made it to my book.  The pork was done early, ran the cookies down to Kelly, texting with Donna to catch up...now Gem is feeling cold-y.  It's going to be a quiet evening.

Peace.

P.S.  Looking forward to watching The Americans tonight!

Lesson learned

Of course, sometimes, things go way wrong in the kitchen.  As much as I appreciate the science behind cooking and baking, I am not naturally drawn to it and, therefore, know little about it.  This is why I generally stick close to recipes, especially when I am making something for the first time.

But, I am a free spirit and optimist at heart and every now and again I am tickled by an idea and leap.  Without pause, without looking, without minding anything.

Which is how I made an Apple Date Cake that looked like this:

Where to start...I will make this again.  My mother used to bake an apple cake.  I loved it.  Kelly made an apple cake for Kate's birthday last Fall that brought it all back for me...and now I am semi-haunted.  Though this cake did not hold together, the apple cake-ness of it has grabbed my heart.

While making this cake, I was happy to pull out a Japanese grater that I don't often use, but love.  It's handy for grating things like daikon (that's what I remember my mom using it for, most).  I thought it would be good for the grated apple called for in this recipe since a bit of mush/wetness wouldn't hurt to moisten a cake.

Okay.  The recipe.  Here it is.  (This blogger's photos and aesthetic are pretty drool-worthy in my opinion.  I would not blame you for getting lost and maybe never finding your way back here.)

This is not a Paleo recipe and calls for 1 cup of garbanzo flour, in addition to 1 cup of almond meal and some potato starch (the almond meal is Paleo, the potato starch may or may not be Paleo, there's some division on white potatoes, but I have been consuming white potato in very small amounts).  My first thought was to replace the garbanzo flour (which is definitely not Paleo, I am avoiding legumes) with another cup of almond meal.

But, then, I thought a "balance" with another Paleo flour would work better and decided to sub in 1 cup of coconut flour.  And, that was my mistake.  Apparently, coconut flour sucks up a ton of liquid when used in baking.

I could kind of tell, as I was scooping the dough into the pan, that this cake was going to be dry.  It was very sandy in texture.  The thought to add an egg or two tickled the outer edges of my mind, but I decided to see what would happen...trust in the process thus far.

It looked nice (albeit dry) coming out of the oven...

After it cooled, I cut the first slice out (sorry for the very golden photo)...

Though the flavors were there, and the bits baked around the dates, in particular, held together and were moist, it was a dry, crumbly mess (and so unlike the cake photographed in Scandi Home's post).

I will try this recipe again.  Next time I will use 2 cups of almond meal.  And if that doesn't work well, I may try using some coconut flour and add eggs.  Stay tuned.

Peace and love in learning.

Do do do

Not surprisingly, Sag is much more relaxed doing geometry exercises than straight computation equations.  Doing naturally engages him where figuring comes a bit harder.  (Math work has become very challenging and time-consuming for him lately.)

After wavering a bit, I've decided to go ahead with my birthday gathering tomorrow evening.  Lots of folks are sick...it will be a cold night...but timing is kind of everything when it comes to birthdays and scheduling with friends who have kids/families.

I wasn't feeling great myself, yesterday, but my immune system has powered through, it seems.  Feeling much better today.  Once the kids get through their schooling stuff and I finish up my party favor playlist (which I'd be happy to send to anyone, just let me know), I will move along to doing some cleaning and food prep.

What I am making for the shindig: deviled eggs with basil aioli and capers, nut and seed bread, olivada, raspberry brownie bites and sesame kelp noodles (with the Winter Faire sauce).

I've meal planned and made a grocery list for next week (Sat - Fri meal planning seems to be what works for us right now).  I have no formula yet, but have intuitively aimed to buy and spend less.  (And the list is looking good...shorter and less meat to buy!)

Practical practices beginning to form (sorry to those of you for whom this stuff is head-scratchingly obvious):

• choose recipes/dishes based on what we already have in the pantry/fridge.  

• choose recipes which have ingredients in common so, for example, a can of coconut milk can be split amongst two dishes that need half a can each.

• pay attention to the freezer and stay on top of what can and should be used (both ingredients and leftovers), as well as, tossed...before shopping for more.

• rotate meat recipes on a wider scale (the yields tend to be bigger which means less variety during the week); repeat yummy, new veg recipes more frequently to gain practice/efficiency in making them.

I am encouraged by how things have unfolded in this aspect of my life.  I am hoping to turn my attention to developing a meaningful and sustained Qigong practice next month...without losing steam in the Paleo eating/planning/shopping arena.  Fingers crossed.

Peace.

Brussels sprouts and banana bread

Mise-en-place makes me happy.  A morning Americano makes me happy, too.

I ditched my plans to go to Trader Joe's this morning.  I want to conserve money and realized that we don't need anything from there for the week.

Instead, I gave my attention to making Brussels sprouts with bacon and kimchi (I did not follow the recipe exactly).  And was rewarded mightily.  It was satisfying to the senses and soul every step of the way.  Yum.

I also decided to bake the kids a loaf of banana bread.  This is a favorite of theirs that, more often than not, strikes me as having just a few too many steps to make it "go to".  But, we had ripe bananas and I am focusing on using what we have/spending less/wasting less...it was a happy convergence.

The apartment smells lovely, that sweet and warm banana bread aroma hanging in the air.  Off to make some lunches, then an appointment with Vinny.  Then, back to the kitchen for some dinner prep and, perhaps, a Paleo loaf of fruit bread.

Peace.

Caramelized coconut chips

Oh, wowowowowowow!  I flipped open my copy of Well Fed and found this recipe on the very last page. 

It caught my eye because Cap made some popcorn a few nights ago and though I didn't physically want it, I totally did in my mind.  I remembered vividly (it hasn't been that long, but in some ways it feels like forever) the buttery, salty, toothsome goodness.  I am very olfactory and the smell of the hot oil and sweet popping corn does something to me.

So when Melissa related her love of popcorn and how these caramelized coconut chips fill in nicely for the void left by that particular food?  I was intrigued.  And, thrilled, since I knew I had all the ingredients on hand.

Fifteen minutes later, I was taking my first taste.  What a marvel.  See first sentence, above.

potato chips, I miss you no more.*

* popcorn is Cap's salty crunchy snack of choice.  and popcorn fresh off the stove with melted pastured butter is really yummy.  but, what I've been missing more than anything else in this food group is 'tater chips.