Putting on My "30 Minute Hat"

I have recently become a big fan of Jamie Oliver. I like that he gardens and his fast, easy and often healthy approach to cooking. I've been on Youtube watching his older show, Jamie At Home and his newest show, the 30 Minute Meals one.

The book isn't out here yet, but there are some recipes from it online. Tonight, I made the Trapani-Style Rigatoni and we really enjoyed it. You can make a partial amount of the pesto and it still comes out well. You'll want to quarter it for 2 servings! I was a little heavy handed with the basil. In the summer, with loads of good cherry tomatoes to use up from the garden, I would go heavier with those. The recipe is nice and flexible that way. Also, I had to substitute dried chili flakes for fresh chili--no problem.

Another Snow Day!

I am actually enjoying today's gently falling snow flakes. It is such a nice change from the recent storms with high winds that carried the snow sideways in a face scouring way! We had a nice long playtime this morning and worked off some cabin fever.

Carbs for Cold Weather!

What could be better than a mountain of pasta for dinner on a cold, winter night?! I made up a batch of fresh pasta, tossed it in some tomato puree from the garden and sprinkled on some fresh parmesan.

Winter Bird Watching

I spend as little time outside in this frigid weather as possible, but today I didn't have to go further than my kitchen window to do a little bird watching. A Northern Flicker was checking for food at the base of the yews and up the lower parts of the trunks.

It looked cold!

In little flurries of effort, it would pull bits of bark off to get at bugs underneath.

The double glazing of my kitchen window fogged the images a little, but I wasn't going outside in the cold to try for a better shot! I think the bird probably would have flown away anyway!

Deep Freeze

We are having some cold, windy, wintry weather! While the weather is in the deep freeze, I love to pull some of our garden produce out of the deep freezer in the basement and make up something warming. This improvisation was so yummy that I've made it twice in a row!

In a saucepan, add 1 bag of tomato puree (you could sub a large can of puree), oregano, black pepper and a tsp of sugar and 1 small can of cannellini beans (rinsed) and simmer while cooking 4 oz of pasta (gemelli) in another pot. Add the pasta to the tomato mixture, serve and top with parm! So fast and delicious and serves 2!

Snow Day!

Happy New Year!

I've never been very good at making *new* New Year's resolutions. I tend to just re-commit to the old standard ones like save more/spend less, eat healthfully/exercise... I think I do pretty well with these at this point, but there is always some room for improvement. I also set my mind to new goals whenever the mood strikes, at any time of year. But I do like the feeling of 'newness' of the New Year!

My main short term goal at the moment is to get busy looking at the garden catalogs, focus on what I actually need and do some seed orders. I could be winter sowing now! But even if I don't get going with the sowing until February and beyond, it will be ok, as long as I get the seed packets as soon as possible and develop a plan for the garden.

I love looking at all the beautiful pictures of veg and flowers in the catalogs. I start to suffer this time of year, from missing all the fresh foods from the garden! I do the best I can with what I have frozen and what the grocery store offers.

Yesterday's grocery shopping trip really reflected our cravings as it was all lettuce and salad type veg! Today, I washed and chopped all the Romaine we'd bought, stored most of it in the fridge, and made up a big bowl of Greek inspired salad for lunch. We'll probably eat like this for several days or even a week, and then, I'll feel like making some winter food again like soups. I want to try the cauliflower and cheddar soup in the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution book. I also want to do some curries.

I try not to make this blog about 'OMG, look what I bought!', but we have just been through the season of some moderate indulgences and I am so excited about a kitchen appliance that Jeff and I bought the other day at Williams Sonoma when we were out shopping at Garden City. I'd been admiring it all fall since first seeing it in the catalog. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I broke down and got it, but now that I've used it--I am in awe! I still don't understand how it works--it seems like magic! If you love lattes or cappuccinos or hot cocoa, and make them at home all the time, this is for you! It is the Breville Electric Milk Frother.

It wasn't on display in the store, so I figured they did not have it, but when I asked at the checkout, low and behold, they had it out back. It seemed meant to be!

One of the best things about my coffee set up at this point is that I can make more than one nice cappuccino or latte at a time, and share!