Dessert, there's always time for you

I'm busy, as usual, ergo the past two weeks have wrought a lot of left-over creations to our household. Luckily for me, I managed to snag a wonderful husband who will eat ANYTHING I make (even stuff I won't touch).


(leftover surprise: four types of rice mixed up and reheated with
leftover vegetables soup, topped with sauteed rainbow chard...yum!)

Also, our microwave went on the fritz a few weeks ago, so recently I have been relearning how to cook some things on the stove top. It's actually kind of a fun experience, and the extra counter space where the behemoth microwave used to sit has been repopulated with other appliances. I wrestled with the idea of buying a new one, or maybe getting a toaster oven instead. I think for now we'll go without, and learn to appreciate the extra minutes it takes to re-heat something on the stove top. I've found the extra time it takes are well spent tidying up the kitchen.



One thing I'm trying not to neglect with my busy school time is the ever-present need for dessert. I recently baked a apple tart for a dinner with friends, complete with 5 types of local apples. Also, I picked up a few local pie pumpkins and tried my hand at pumpkin pie from scratch. I'm not sure if it's worth all the work, but it is nice to avoid the cans and end up with a free savory snack of pumpkin seeds!



(photos of completed pumpkin pie to follow...if the sun ever comes back)

I'm still here, I promise

I've been busy

(or lazy - however you want to call it), full of excuses for a messy house, and neglecting the things I enjoy the most: friends, family, and food. I've started a new portion of my schoolwork which essentially required me to work a full time job instead of attending classes. I feel like I am learning more these past few months than I did in the previous 7 years of college combined. This is the first time I've had to put in these kind of hours (yes, I've been spoiled by school) and it has given me a healthy respect for the women who work full time and then come home and attempt to cook a healthy meal for their family.

Honestly, I don't know how they do it, I just want to come home and put my feet up at the end of the day. I can see why fast food becomes an easy way to satisfy the hungry children. Luckily for me, I've been able to spend the past few year building up my culinary knowledge. I can generally throw together a meal with foodstuffs found in the pantry when I need to, and I've learned the value of a good crock pot. I can honestly say we have not resorted to fast food (yet), although we do still order the rare pizza now and again (but only from reputable sources).

We are still eating, I promise. Just not documenting it for the world to see. I want to try to continue some sort of blog, even when "school" is filling my days. I think I'm going to attempt some sort of regular post, albeit brief, of what we're eating around here.

So here's a sample of what we had this week...

Pizza
with a tomato based sauce, topped with fresh mozzarella shallots, black olives,
artichoke hearts,and lots of fresh basil and oregano from the garden.

Ribs
simmered all day in the crock pot with soy sauce and other flavors,
plus sauteed collard greens and mixed white and brown rice

Singapore Noodles
Inspired by this great blog that I have enjoyed for years. My noodles were thrown
together with leftover odds and ends (noodles and eggs are the lazy grocery
shoppers friend) such as celery, carrots, rib-bits, and green onions.

Yum...