I have always avoided okra. The description just never sounded appealing--crunchy on the outside but slimy on the inside? No thanks. This summer, my opinion completely changed. We received 9 okras (okri?) from the CSA and I asked what the best way is to prepare them. I knew I could deep fry them, but was looking for a healthier way to cook them. Another CSA member told me he likes them sauted with tomatoes. I decided to take his advice.
Without pictures, here's what I did:
1) Slice the okra into thick coins.
2) Mince garlic (for 9 okra I used 2 cloves of garlic).
3) Heat some olive oil in a large pan.
4) Add the garlic and okra, saute for 5 minutes.
5) While the okra and garlic are cooking, chop up some tomatoes. I used one yellow and one orange from the CSA.
6) Add the tomatoes, stir and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
It was delicious! The tomatoes were perfect and the okra was crunchy. I didn't notice too much slime, maybe because I had mixed the tomatoes in. Either way, I am no longer afraid of okra and will look forward to next year when it's back in season (good thing I froze some this year!)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
BBQ Chicken
As I was grocery shopping last weekend, a craving struck for BBQ'd chicken. Ordinarily, I would just grab a bottle of sauce at the store, slather it on chicken and throw it on the BBQ. But of course, that's not my style anymore. I want to make everything from scratch. I'm probably just glutton for punishment.
I paired the chicken with a chopped caprese salad with fresh tomatoes and basil from the farm for a perfect summer evening dinner.
I visited my go-to recipe site for inspiration and found exactly what I was hoping for--Ina Garten's homemade barbecque sauce. My only problem was I did not have enough hoisin sauce on hand so the sauce was not as sweet as it should have been, but it was still delicious.
I paired the chicken with a chopped caprese salad with fresh tomatoes and basil from the farm for a perfect summer evening dinner.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Climbing Back on the Wagon
When I started this blog it was to chronicle my training experience for an Olympic triathlon. I had completely 2 sprint tris before that and went on to do one more after.
Iron Girl 2007
NJ State Tri 2008
Capital of Texas Olympic Tri 2009
NJ State Tri 2009
Just over a year ago, which was 3 weeks after the last tri, I went to Yellowstone National Park on a work trip and hurt my foot hiking. I laid off of running for about a month, thinking that some cross-training and resting would do the trick, but it didn't help. After many doctor visits, sessions of physical therapy and an MRI, my doctor figured out that I had a hidden fracture in my foot and I'd have to wear a walking boot for 6 weeks. 6 weeks became 8 weeks and I was finally rid of the boot at the beginning of March.
I know it's been almost 6 months, but I have had an incredibly hard time motivating to get back to the gym. Truthfully, I really miss running. I've done a few 3-4 mile runs here and there, but my foot still gets sore and I don't want to push it before our wedding. I feel lazy and that is just not me. I don't know where all of my motivation went, but I want it back! I am making a conscious effort to climb back on the wagon now. I am going to stop saying, I'll do it tomorrow. I am going to run, little by little, I am going to build back up until my foot is okay. I hate injury recovery, but I know it's necessary.
My goal is to run the Arlington Memorial 5K on September 11. In 2006, this would not have seemed like a big deal to me. A 5K was an easy recovery run but after being sidelined for the past year, a 5K sounds a bit daunting to me. I've missed racing so much, I can't wait to get out there. Hopefully this won't backfire and I'll start being able to race again and I can start writing more about the sport I love so much. Stay tuned....
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sage, rosemary and thyme. If only we had parsley....
With 74 days to go, I thought it'd be fun to share our DIY centerpieces. I absolutely love flowers, but hate the idea of killing so many for the sake of centerpieces. Of course, I looked around at blogs for inspiration and at what my friends have done at their weddings and decided that potted herbs would be perfect for us. Our deck is covered in potted herbs that we use when we cook so using them to decorate our reception venue fits.
I started looking around for the right size terra cotta pots, but could not find the right size at an affordable price. I came across the ones below at Lowe's. They are 10 inch plastic hanging pots but without the hangers they look great as centerpieces. The only other problem was the color--plastic terra cotta is really not my thing. With a can of spray paint, that was an easy fix!
Spray painting the pots.
Pretty pots all in a row!
We decided to go with sage, rosemary and thyme because they are hardy plants that have come back for us year after year. That way our guests that take the centerpieces home will be able to use the herbs for at least a few years, as long as they care for the plants.
Jeromy ready to plant!
Ode to Simon & Garfunkel.
That is a lot of plants!
Ready for watering.
The pots have all filled in considerably, hopefully they won't outgrow the pots before the wedding.
There are just a few finishing touches that the centerpieces will receive the week of the wedding, hopefully it'll be here before I know it!
I started looking around for the right size terra cotta pots, but could not find the right size at an affordable price. I came across the ones below at Lowe's. They are 10 inch plastic hanging pots but without the hangers they look great as centerpieces. The only other problem was the color--plastic terra cotta is really not my thing. With a can of spray paint, that was an easy fix!
Spray painting the pots.
Pretty pots all in a row!
We decided to go with sage, rosemary and thyme because they are hardy plants that have come back for us year after year. That way our guests that take the centerpieces home will be able to use the herbs for at least a few years, as long as they care for the plants.
Jeromy ready to plant!
Ode to Simon & Garfunkel.
That is a lot of plants!
Ready for watering.
The pots have all filled in considerably, hopefully they won't outgrow the pots before the wedding.
There are just a few finishing touches that the centerpieces will receive the week of the wedding, hopefully it'll be here before I know it!Sunday, August 8, 2010
Meatless Meals (while J is away)
I stopped eating red meat and pork for 6 years between the summer before junior year of high school and right before graduation from college. Even when I was living in Italy, I resisted what looked to be the most delicious prosciutto I could ever taste. To this day, I kick myself for not eating it while I was there.
I remember the day, practically the moment, that I decided to eat meat again. I was at a reception at the President's house for seniors at Trinity and I saw this appetizer that had a medium rare piece of beef on it. And I wanted to eat it. I looked at my friend Jen's brother Kevin and told him what I was thinking. His response was, but you don't eat meat. And I thought, yeah, I'm kind of done with that. So I ate the beef. The next day, I had bacon with my eggs. And I forgot why I stopped eating meat in the first place (it was because we had to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school).
As time has gone by and I've become more aware of where the food we eat comes from, (thank you, Michael Pollan) I've wanted to move a bit away from eating a lot of meat. At least once a week I try to make a meatless meal and I try to keep red meat, pork and poultry out of my diet during the day. It doesn't always work, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
The challenge is, my fiance thinks that every meal should involve meat. He begrudgingly eats the meatless meals that I make and always makes sure to let me know that he knows "what I'm doing and it's not going to work." No, honey, I am not trying to make you a vegetarian :-) I enjoy meat too, but I also enjoy meals that do not involve meat. Since J was out of town this weekend, I have not had any meat in any of my meals. Granted, I also didn't eat a proper breakfast or lunch yesterday, but that's neither here nor there. Friday night dinner was chana masala from the Smitten Kitchen:
I've never cooked Indian food before, though I LOVE to eat Indian food. I was really excited to try this dish and have had it bookmarked in my mind since I saw it in February, just waiting for the opportunity to make it. Here are my ingredients assembled:
I had to make a few substitutions. I completely left a green chile pepper off of my grocery list, so I substituted a green bell pepper from our CSA share this week. I also could not find ground cayenne pepper, so I subbed half ancho chile power and half chili powder. I used smoked sweet paprika instead of regular paprika because I prefer the smoky flavor. I did not include amphoor powder and increased the amount of lemon juice, as Deb suggests. My last adjustment was to increase the amount of ground cumin because I did not have cumin seeds. I was pretty nervous that with all of these changes the dish would not taste anything like what I've had at restaurants, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong!
Saute of onion, garlic and green pepper:
With the addition of all of the spices--the kitchen smelled delicious at this point:
The tomatoes and water added to the pan:
And the chickpeas:
Combine and let simmer for 10 minutes:
Chana masala:
I would have served this with naan, but I was too lazy to make any :-) So I ate it over rice. I was surprised at how delicious this was, it was as good as takeout to me, even with all of my substitutions. There was still a good level of spice, despite leaving out the green chile pepper.
Saturday night's dinner was zucchini and eggplant pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce. I found this recipe on The Front Burner. The only change I made was to add eggplant ribbons to the zucchini ribbons, since I had a nice long eggplant from this week's farm share.
This was remarkably good. I loved the zucchini and eggplant as pasta. I love pasta and I didn't even miss it in this dish. The flavors were amazing, I think because the majority of the ingredients came from the farmer's market or our CSA (with the exception of the mushrooms and the parmesan cheese).
J will be home tonight, which means that meat is back on the menu :-) I enjoyed the last couple of days of meals, but am very happy that J will be here and who doesn't love pulled pork?
I remember the day, practically the moment, that I decided to eat meat again. I was at a reception at the President's house for seniors at Trinity and I saw this appetizer that had a medium rare piece of beef on it. And I wanted to eat it. I looked at my friend Jen's brother Kevin and told him what I was thinking. His response was, but you don't eat meat. And I thought, yeah, I'm kind of done with that. So I ate the beef. The next day, I had bacon with my eggs. And I forgot why I stopped eating meat in the first place (it was because we had to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school).
As time has gone by and I've become more aware of where the food we eat comes from, (thank you, Michael Pollan) I've wanted to move a bit away from eating a lot of meat. At least once a week I try to make a meatless meal and I try to keep red meat, pork and poultry out of my diet during the day. It doesn't always work, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
The challenge is, my fiance thinks that every meal should involve meat. He begrudgingly eats the meatless meals that I make and always makes sure to let me know that he knows "what I'm doing and it's not going to work." No, honey, I am not trying to make you a vegetarian :-) I enjoy meat too, but I also enjoy meals that do not involve meat. Since J was out of town this weekend, I have not had any meat in any of my meals. Granted, I also didn't eat a proper breakfast or lunch yesterday, but that's neither here nor there. Friday night dinner was chana masala from the Smitten Kitchen:
I've never cooked Indian food before, though I LOVE to eat Indian food. I was really excited to try this dish and have had it bookmarked in my mind since I saw it in February, just waiting for the opportunity to make it. Here are my ingredients assembled:
I had to make a few substitutions. I completely left a green chile pepper off of my grocery list, so I substituted a green bell pepper from our CSA share this week. I also could not find ground cayenne pepper, so I subbed half ancho chile power and half chili powder. I used smoked sweet paprika instead of regular paprika because I prefer the smoky flavor. I did not include amphoor powder and increased the amount of lemon juice, as Deb suggests. My last adjustment was to increase the amount of ground cumin because I did not have cumin seeds. I was pretty nervous that with all of these changes the dish would not taste anything like what I've had at restaurants, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong!Oh, the spices!
Saute of onion, garlic and green pepper:
With the addition of all of the spices--the kitchen smelled delicious at this point:
The tomatoes and water added to the pan:
And the chickpeas:
Combine and let simmer for 10 minutes:
Chana masala:
I would have served this with naan, but I was too lazy to make any :-) So I ate it over rice. I was surprised at how delicious this was, it was as good as takeout to me, even with all of my substitutions. There was still a good level of spice, despite leaving out the green chile pepper.
Saturday night's dinner was zucchini and eggplant pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce. I found this recipe on The Front Burner. The only change I made was to add eggplant ribbons to the zucchini ribbons, since I had a nice long eggplant from this week's farm share.
This was remarkably good. I loved the zucchini and eggplant as pasta. I love pasta and I didn't even miss it in this dish. The flavors were amazing, I think because the majority of the ingredients came from the farmer's market or our CSA (with the exception of the mushrooms and the parmesan cheese).
J will be home tonight, which means that meat is back on the menu :-) I enjoyed the last couple of days of meals, but am very happy that J will be here and who doesn't love pulled pork? Versatility Cowl
I finished this scarf right after my tonsil surgery, way back in April. Despite the massive pain meds I was on, I managed to muddle through the very end of this scarf. Luckily, it was a very simple pattern, but the results are just beautiful. My mom loves it too!
I LOVE how this scarf is wearable in different ways because of the buttons at one end. Thanks to my mom for being a wonderful model--I hope this scarf keeps you very warm!
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