at home with ann

Pretty much every time I've talked about Tangerini's Farm since last April, I've mentioned that I'm looking forward to the time when Colin can eat ice cream when we go to our CSA pickup.  Jon thinks I'm crazy for this, and many other reasons.  Colin is not quite there yet (although we are discussing giving bananas a try), so instead I longingly look at the ice cream stand as we pass by at the farm.  I don't want to be that girl attempting to eat ice cream while my baby uses all his strength and energy lunging himself at said ice cream.  At least when I go with Jon he'll take care of the important things, like paying, so I can take care of keeping ice cream out of Colin's reach.  We picked up our second batch of CSA vegetables this week, but no ice cream.  There are, however, a ton of delicious looking vegetables I'm looking forward to cooking and eating.  We have here the largest head of lettuce I've ever seen (and we got two!), chinese cabbag...

For many years I thought I didn't like corn off the cob.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it had something to do with canned corn at some point.  Last summer during the great CSA corn influx, when we were given 8 ears every two weeks for over a month, I gave it a try just to escape from under the sheer weight of corn piling up.  It's good!  And you don't need to follow it up with floss. Corn and Black Bean Salad is nothing new, in fact I've made a version of it before .  The variation this time was to grill the corn, though.  We had a grilled pork tenderloin this past weekend, and whenever Jon gets the grill fired up, I always have him toss on some sort of vegetable as well.   I love grilled vegetables, but I am scared of the grill because I think it's going to blow up in my face, and it seems silly to get the charcoal going just for a couple ears of corn.  All about the multi-tasking.  And not having things blow up in my face. To gr...

I've made Mediterranean Couscous salad many times before.  It's one of my favorite cold summer salads, perfect for a side or main dish.  Excellent to take to parties, and excellent eaten straight out of the fridge.  Perhaps I should stop sharing that I eat food straight from the fridge, fork in hand, lest you think I have no manners.  Last year, I shared a version of it here .  The Lemon Tahini Dressing on that one is amazing, and I highly recommend you make it.  This is essentially the same salad, just with an easy, light vinaigrette dressing instead.  My in-laws came over yesterday to visit Colin, and we had this with lunch.  Colin had been shorted on his morning nap and wasn't his usual cheerful self the whole time, but at least everyone seemed to like the couscous.  Mediterranean Couscous Salad 1 cup whole wheat pearl couscous (also called Israeli couscous) 1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered 1 english cucumber, chopped 1 red bell...

It was a million degrees here on Wednesday.  I used to relish the hot summer days, but it's different when you are carrying a little sweaty inferno with you everywhere.  We usually take a walk in the later afternoon, but there was no way that was happening, so we headed out to do some errands.  We took advantage of the air conditioning and samples while wandering around Whole Foods.  After several laps and one near disaster getting wheat germ in the bulk foods aisle, we came upon the sushi bar.  I should have listened to my cravings and picked us up sushi for dinner, but I stuck with my planned menu of red lentil curry.  I love curry, but it wasn't exactly light and refreshing.  This is my long-winded way of saying that last night I knew I wanted to keep dinner light.  I loved this dish, it fit the bill perfectly.  Plus, it only took about 20 minutes to prepare, and can be served warm, cold or at room temperature.  Salmon, Asparagus ...

I am a firm believer in the philosophy that food eaten while standing in your kitchen does not count towards your daily allowance.  This especially applies to anything eaten straight out of the refrigerator.  This can be problematic when you find yourself doing nearly all your eating standing up the kitchen, or when you are supposed to be sharing with your husband and brother-in-law.  I swear I only taste-tested one of these muffins fresh from the oven, but my batch only made 11, so now it looks like I ate two.  But I didn't!  Not yet, at least.  I should have just said the batch only made six.  A few notes, as this recipe is somewhat a work in progress.  I think one egg would be sufficient, the banana works as a binder.  I like chunks of fruit in my muffins, but it doesn't work well for mini muffins.  You end up with no fruit or only fruit.  To make mini muffins, I would try pureeing the strawberries and bananas together before...

Sometimes I spend hours thinking about what to cook.  Usually these hours occur in the middle of the night while I'm up with Colin.  Then I get hungry.  Then I start counting down to breakfast.  And that's how I end up eating an entire batch of vegan banana pancakes .  This post isn't about pancakes, though, it's about a dinner that did not have much planning at all.  Chicken sausage was on sale at the market.  As were baby portobello mushrooms.  Broccoli rabe came from the CSA, we had leftover garlic scapes, and I always have some whole wheat pasta on hand. And thus, this dinner was born.  It didn't hurt that the whole thing came together in the time it took to boil the pasta.  Chicken Sausage, Mushroom and Broccoli Rabe Pasta Serves 6 Ingredients: 12 oz. package pre-cooked chicken sausage, sliced (I used spicy jalapeno) 16 oz. mushrooms, sliced 2 garlic scapes, sliced (or 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped) Olive oil 1/4 teaspoon cr...

The U-Pick item at our CSA this week was sugar snap peas.  I have fond memories of picking these in our garden growing up and eating one for every one I put in the basket.  They are like vegetable candy, you know, if candy tasted like vegetables.  I was excited to take Colin out into the fields at the farm and fill up our little basket.  As it turns out, Colin was excited to be out in the fields as well because as I was trying to balance while crouching down, he was leaning as far back as possible in the Ergo to look around.  This made the whole balancing thing a bit of a challenge, but totally worth it.  And I snuck a few snap peas straight from the vine into my mouth. I am a big dork and always get extra happy about cooking vegetables I picked myself, and go on and on to my taste testers about how they couldn't be any fresher and are totally perfect.  This very simple salad met with good reviews, although the consensus was that they were extra garl...

I am so excited we are participating in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) with Tangerini's Farm again this year! Last year I loved getting all the vegetables every other week, picking the u-pick crops in the fields, trying new things, and enjoying locally grown, organic food at the peak of freshness.  I think we'll enjoy it even more this year now that I know what to expect in terms of variety and quantity.  Colin will be starting on solid foods before too long, especially since he spends mealtimes staring at me, smacking his gums,  and trying to grab everything.  I'm happy that we will be able to give him super healthy, organic vegetables.  In our first pickup we have: green leaf lettuce, broccoli rabe, bok choy, garlic scapes, scallions, sugar snap peas and radishes.  Aside from a lot of big salads, I'm planning a stir fry and made the white bean garlic scape dip below. White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip recipe from Tangerini's Farm 1/3...

Summer calls for burgers.  Beef, turkey, fish, veggie, any kind will do.  I've been making some type of burger about once a week lately, and these Thai veggies were a perfect way to mix things up from the traditional flavors.  The original recipe is from the Peas and Thank You cookbook, but I've altered it a bit to make it my own, so I can share it here.  I was busy complimenting myself on my stellar parenting and cooking skills as I began to serve this dinner at the exact minute before Jon pulled into the driveway.  This, of course, resulted in a well-timed freak-out by my sidekick, who just minutes before had been sleeping peacefully, and separate (cold) dinners for us.  Ah well, they were still good! Thai Chickpea Burgers recipe modified from Peas and Thank You 1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/3 cup oats 1 medium carrot, shredded (about 1/3 cup) 2 broccoli crown stalks, shredded (about 1/2 cup) 2 teaspoons soy sauce 2 teaspoons ses...

 I love homemade pizza.  We used to have pizza night often on the weekends, but it fell by the wayside about when a little person with an unpredictable sleeping schedule came into our lives.  After a particularly rough sleepless week, I am happy to report the pollen has abated and sleeping is much better.  So much better, in fact, that we felt like we had the time to make pizza and eat it while hanging out on the porch. The whole wheat pizza dough recipe is here .  It works every time.  If for some crazy reason you don't want to make two pizzas, it also freezes well.  Let's take a step back in time to last Saturday night.  It was pouring rain, the kind of unrelenting pouring rain that splashes up from the ground and drenches your pants, making them uncomfortable and difficult to take off.  It was also the night before a small party we were having to celebrate Colin's baptism.  Part of the menu for that party was a platter of grille...

And just like that, we have a five month old baby.  Here are some highlights on what is new, what is awesome, and what is slightly less than awesome. Colin wants to eat everything.  His hands, my hands, my hair, his blankets, toys, books, the signs I make for his weekly photo shoots, photos on the fridge, my camera, and anything I'm eating, for starters.  Along with wanting to eat things, he wants to hold them.  This means that I haven't worn my hair down in months (he pulls hard!), and have had help with such important tasks as spilling water while I'm trying to drink and pulling my camera off the desk.  Fortunately I have very fast hands, but I've learned to be a little more careful about where I leave things. After last month's monumental back-to-front roll, he has shown less interest in flipping over and more interest in scooting.  If I put him on his tummy and leave him to his own devices, he will scoot and pivot around in his spot, all 360 degre...

This was my first time cooking with napa cabbage.  At my market apparently the smallest napa cabbage you can buy weighs over 4 pounds, so I was a little nervous.  After conferring with my sister on alternative cabbage recipes, I'm planning to use the leftovers in some miso soup for lunch, but that has nothing to do with this. This salad is a mixture of textures, and the fresh crunch of the vegetables is complimented nicely by the saucy chicken.  You can substitute any meat, fish, or tofu you like here, or leave it out altogether because the edamame has protein.  It does call for a good amount of chopping, which might take you a while (or the entire afternoon, in my case), if you are being helped by someone whose new party trick is putting a blanket over their face and flailing around until you come take it off.  Over and over again.  Teriyaki Chicken Salad Serves 6-7 1 small head of romaine lettuce, cut into thin strips 1/2 head (equal to amount of ...