It's summertime and who wants to turn the oven on?

Not me...


The kale is growing and I'm going to have to come up with some more ways to enjoy this leafy green. Until then...munch on this. You can add any kind of nut you like. I prefer toasted walnuts.


The salad can be made with any grain you have, I like the chewiness of brown rice.

Summertime Salad:


Cooked and cooled brown rice
any kind of veggies in your fridge (I used kale, bell pepper, green onion, grated carrot...possibilities are endless)
toasted walnuts or other nut
fresh parsley


Dressing:
approx: juice from 1 each: lemon, lime, orange
approx: 1/3 c. olive oil
splash or 2 or 3 of rice vinegar
salt and pepper


Chop up the veggies, add them to cooked and cooled rice. Put the dressing ingred. in a mason jar, shake it up. Add dressing to salad, stir, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours. The acid from the dressing will 'cook' the kale a bit. Add toasted nuts just before serving...

Homemade English Muffins anyone? DO NOT try to sneak any whole wheat flour into these buggers. They are made with white, yes all white bread flour and they are so freaking good you will be happy you saved the whole wheat hippie flour for the granola muffins. 


So just this once I listened to my roommate, Pat...he often asks me as I dig into my daily bowl of spinach salad..."are you REALLY that worried about your fiber intake?" 


Ya...probably not.

This fish-eating vegetarian saw it happen...and it didn't make me cringe at all...

It had to happen. Five unlucky male quail met their fate last night. There is only room for one, maybe two male quails at the the Center Street Quail Tractor Inn.

Although it was a tad bit tough to see them go, I was pleased that there were only a few food miles associated with these quail. My roommates will enjoy these little buggers...

Red was quite interested. Yes. He was rewarded with a quail nugget, of course. 

Three eggs make about enough for one egg sandwich. Taste just like chicken... eggs!

Nobody can have just ONE HOMEMADE WHEAT THIN...

These bad boys are sprinkled with grey sea salt. It doesn't get any better than this. I came across a salt mecca at Tony Caputo's Deli in Salt Lake City. Those of you who know me well know that a salt shaker is never far from my plate. Aw, c'mon, I'll worry about high blood pressure when I'm 50. For now, pass the Pink Himalayan sea salt. You can find the recipe for Olive Oil and Rosemary wheat thins here.

June garden

Our first attempt at having a backyard garden. Not too shabby, eh? We built the pvc frame for the hoop house for about 120 bucks. Found free plastic from a construction site at school to cover the hoop house and started all the plants from seeds. This is gardening on a low budget, folks...and I have to say, it's been very gratifying to see the results.

The pressure's on...(not really)

I've been flirting with the idea of starting a 'food blog.' Nope. The world does not need one more freaking food blog...but I'm going for it. 

I have fun trying out new recipes and making old recipes more healthy. Some people get annoyed with the last part of that sentence...but beggars can't be choosers...right, mom!?!

So here's what I've been cooking up...

Just one...

It's hard not to lick the bowl anytime I make these damn scotcharoos. Seriously. They ARE that good.  The layer of chocolate and butterscotch chips on top are not mandatory, but are quite a lovely addition. 

Adapted from one of my favorite bloggers and cooks, David Lebovitz

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/03/triple-chocolate-scotcheroos/

Scotcharoos

Ingredients

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown rice syrup

1/2 c. each Nutella and peanut butter

6-7 c. rice krispies

1 c. each choc chips and butterscotch chips 

opt. good sea salt for those of you that like sweet and salty...like I do!

Cook sugar, syrup over med heat. Let boil for 1 second, remove from heat and add nut butters. Stir. Add krispies. When all mixed together, place in oiled 9x13 dish. To pat it flat, get your hands wet and push it down. That makes the mixture not stick to your hands!

Melt chips over bowl of boiling water. Spread on top of krispy treats. Sprinkle with optional sea salt.

Banana Pudding. Yep. You heard me.

Adapted from Martha Stewart

http://www.marthastewart.com/314291/banana-pudding-parfaits?backto=true

Ingredients

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 c. nonfat milk

1/2 c. heavy cream

4 egg yolks

2 tbls unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

as many bananas as you want!

vanilla wafers (I've been informed there is NO substitute for these...why can't they make them without corn syrup and hydrogenated oil?!?)

Crack egg yolks into large bowl. In saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Very gradually (a few tablespoons at a time), whisk in milk and cream, taking care to dissolve cornstarch. Cook mixture over med. heat. 

When milk mixture is warm, add (a little bit at a time) SLOWLY to egg yolks. Careful not to scramble the egg yolks. When all of the pudding mixture has been added to yolks, place pan back onto heat.

Cook over medium heat, whisk with vigor! When first large bubble forms and sputters reduce heat to low...keep whisking and cook 1 minute more. 

Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla into hot pudding. Refrigerate. Slice bananas. Whip some cream. 

When pudding is cool, layer vanilla wafers...pudding...bananas...whip cream and REPEAT…and eat J