This Is Only A Test

We are in the midst of "Exam Week."  I use quotations because it lasts more than a week, and it tests more than your academic knowledge.  Like your patience. Grading and proctoring is boring. Other days are stressful because everyone needs something from you-- the students have demands, administration has demands, you have a checklist in your head, and meanwhile you are keeping up with the "normal demands" of your everyday life, like seeing friends and family, or breaking through that mountain of laundry.  All you can do is piece by piece,  and try to take care of yourself along the way.  Remember, this is only a test.

In college, coffee and M&Ms helped me stay up all night to finish my papers, then a whole lot of Yuengling helped me to relax.


Me and V, circa 2005.  






Nowadays, I try to go to bed on time, and squeeze in a salad.


Oh, how things change.


Anyway, speaking of food, we are still dealing with last week's load of veggies from our CSA, and now it's time to pick up a fresh box.  Because of the busyness of the last week, we haven't made a whole lot of meals, so there's still produce to be dealt with.  On top of that, there's produce that we still haven't figured out what to DO with yet.  It's starting to pile up!!

We did have some yummy barbecued chicken with a side of fresh broccoli, plenty of omelets, salads, and hummus.

One experiment that I did enjoy was my salad dressing experiment.  The salad greens seemed too good for store dressing, and we still had all of those garlic scapes to deal with.  Eeesh.

After our garlic scape pesto disaster (I swear, our breath alone could have killed vampires.  It took a lot of mint ice cream to fix), I knew we needed to use this stuff sparingly.  But there's so much of it!!

I made two salad dressings last week in my little itty bitty food processor. They came out very good, and were easy enough to do again. It's all pantry ingredients that you through into a blender.  Easy Peasy.

Garlicky Dijon
No lemon juice because I didn't have any, so I added a little more vinegar.

2 garlic scapes, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 tsp honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
4 T red wine vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepa

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
I substituted the brown sugar for fresh honey from The Little Falls Co-Op, added in a chive, and reduced the olive oil to 1/2C.

My version:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• I T honey
• 1 chopped garlic scape
• 1 chopped chive
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Okay, salad dressings themselves aren't super photogenic, and neither is a lunch salad in a tupperware, which is why I didn't even bother to take that picture.  Use your imagination.

I usually tend towards balsamic dressings anyway, so I will definitely make this again.  Also, this recipe made a few more servings than the first, and the balsamic vinegar was strong enough to stand up against that garlic scape.  Blending the dressing in the food processor made it thick and emulsified, and it stayed that way in my lunch pail until I used it the next day! WIN.

I now have a way to spruce up the salad greens that I'll be picking up in a little while.  Having the CSA pick up is a great way to make myself eat more salad and vegetables, and plan more meals in general.  (I don't want to eat out as often because I know I have good food sitting at home.)

Even though I haven't quite mastered the garlic scapes' culinary test, I have a much more exciting task awaiting me for the coming week... this baby right here:

That's an ice cream maker... YEAH!

Hopefully this weeks garlic will be followed by some HOME MADE mint ice cream.

OH my God, I can't wait. Ice cream > Beer. (Margaritas on the other hand....)

See ya next week!
D