at home with ann

We're rolling right along with our CSA share at Tangerini's Farm  and I'm happy to report nothing has gone to waste so far.  I usually misplace some bag of pickling cucumbers in the back of the refrigerator and find them again when they look really scary.  I confess that when faced with a bunch of vegetables, I often throw them in a stir fry with a peanut soy sauce and call it a day.  Today, I branched out a bit, and the result was a filling dinner salad that was refreshing in the midst of this hot and sticky weather. The dressing flavors were a bit strong for my tiny taste testers, so I simply portioned out the vegetables and some chicken before topping with sauce to make them mini plates. Thai Cabbage Salad with Chicken and Peanut Sauce recipe modified from My Kitchen Escapades Ingredients: About 4 chicken breasts, cooked (I used boneless skinless, but you could easily pick off a roaster or rotisserie chicken, or use shredded chicken cooked in the crock pot)...

Today marks one year since my sister's bone marrow transplant.  For those of you in the know about that sort of thing, it's a pretty big milestone.  This weekend she is celebrating with a big group of friends, but sadly I can't be there. If I were, I'd stand up and make this toast: It was late August 2010 when Sarah called to tell me she had cancer.  Acute Myeloid Leukemia, to be precise.  She told me what that meant and what her treatment plan was, but I heard it in a blur. One thing she said stuck with me, she assured me that everything would be ok because she had no intention of leaving her children. She went into chemo and things got worse, but then they got better.  She was in remission and went back to her life.  Then in January 2014 things got much worse.  Cancer was back and she needed more chemo and a bone marrow transplant.  She endured those treatments and the side effects so horrendous I wouldn't wish them on anyone.  She did i...

Kohlrabi look a bit like UFOs.  They taste a bit like turnips.  They perplex us all.  In my mission not to let any vegetable go to waste, I scoured the internet and came across ideas for kohlrabi pickle. When I was pregnant with James, I, like a completely stereotypical pregnant lady, ate ridiculous amounts of pickled jalapenos and sauerkraut. On the subject of my nearly one year old, Baby James has adopted a particularly charming habit of waking up between 5 and 6am.  He will go back to sleep in our bed so long as these very specific conditions are met.  First, he crawls around the entire bed and tumbles over us like a jungle gym, providing extensive commentary.  Eventually, when he gets tired, he will consent to lie down, but manages to take up 3/4 of a king sized bed.  He also needs to share my pillow and be touching my face.  If I move, he will wake up and the process starts again.  Sweet dreams.  That has nothing to do with kohlra...

You knew that I, queen of the muffins with muffin monsters to feed, could not let zucchini season pass by without making muffins one or twelve times.  Some questionable looking bananas on the counter were begging to be added in, and Zucchini Banana Muffins were born. We made these to snack on at a play date this morning. The batter comes together quickly, and thanks to their mini size, they bake in about 15 minutes.  I had just taken them out to cool when it was time to put James down for his nap.  While I was upstairs I heard what I could only guess to be many, many small items being hurled across the floor.  After leaving the baby's room I knew there was some frantic picking up to be done, but also delicious warm muffins as my reward.  By the time I got downstairs Colin had sampled a few, of course, and confirmed they are great. Zucchini Banana Muffins Ingredients: 1 cup banana, mashed (I used two bananas) 1 cup zucchini, shredded, squeezed to remove...