Summatime

Mom and a margarita. (I love tequila and alliteration.) Her first Bomber's visit. Let the celebrating begin!

The end of the school year is always bitter sweet.  The beginning of vacation is exciting.  But still, I always feel a little bit sad on the drive home.  There's a lot of good byes and see ya laters, loose ends left untied, new friendships cut short, reflections that feel like they're left hanging.


Okay, so I know you're not feeling sorry for me at all.  And you shouldn't.  It's obviously still awesome to be on an 8-week "vacation."  It's one of the few perks to teaching... you know, besides sculpting America's future. (Actually, that just kind of depressed me again...)  And my summer has barely started and I've already gotten to do a ton of fun things.

Beautiful sidewalk art in Troy.

I love the 90s. You know you do, too.

Local hiking with friends.

The view from Thacher. Gorgeous, right?  

Food wise, I ate really well and really terrible (I'm hoping that it just evened out).  I fall apart without my routine :-/

Some of the good:

I tossed that (blanched) broccoli rabe with some spicy sausage, penne, and a light alfredo (melt butter, half and half, cheese, go).

We had a few fresh and fruity salads.

My boyfriend can make a mean salad.

Grilled up some homemade garlic scape and chive chicken patties.  (He's also a Grill Masta.)

And ate a light cucumber salad at a pool party (two of us counts as a party, right?)

Erin's Cucumber Salad for Two

Mix together:

a cucumber, chopped

plain yogurt

1 T white vinegar

the juice of 1/2 lemon

a garlic scape, diced

fresh dill

In honor of this week's heat wave, I'll leave you with this poem that was one of my students' faves this year (I may be on break, but I'm still an English teacher). Remember, we waited a long time to be this hot!  

Summer

I like hot days, hot days

Sweat is what you got days

Bugs buzzin from cousin to cousin

Juices dripping

Running and ripping

Catch the one you love days

Birds peeping

Old men sleeping

Lazy days, daisies lay

Beaming and dreaming

Of hot days, hot days,

Sweat is what you got days.

                                - Walter Dean Myers

                 

Later,

D                                                                        

Busy Busy/ Zucchini Pasta

This summer has been ridiculous in more than a few ways.  The last few weeks have been filled with lots apartment hunting and then moving, sprinkled with interview after interview, a pinch or two of fun, and a whole lot of soul searching.

Exhausted kitties.

It's been tiring.  And there's been no time for cooking. :(

Until this week, I finally paused for a moment to make dinner with my friends (I also paused for another moment to make muffins, but more on that later).  Not only was it pretty tasty (our veggie-disliker even had seconds!), but it felt pretty darn good, too.  Mind-clearing.  Like kitchen-yoga.

I made this recipe last summer, but it came out way better this time, with a few minor changes.  It used up a whole zucchini (you know how those zucchinis pile up!) and was rather healthy... except for the "covered in cheese" part.  But you know how I roll.

Summer Zucchini Pasta, Take 2

1 med. to large zucchini
1 box fettucini -- I found a veggie one at Hannaford (Garden Delight) that was perfect
1 block of cream cheese (go low fat only if you must)
1/2 lemon, juice and zest
a few tablespoons aka "don't be afraid of the" olive oil
a few leaves of basil, fresh from the porch
salt and pepper to taste

1. First, julienne the zucchini as thin as possible.  This was made much easier with the use of a mandolin, though we feared our lives (or at least, our finger tips).

2. Put on the pasta water.  Begin melting the cream cheese with salt and pepa, the juice of half the lemon, and 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.  Use the olive oil to thin it out so it spreads over the pasta.

3. Boil the pasta.  When it's almost done, throw in your zucchini to soften it up.

4. Mix your pseudo-alfredo into the drained pasta and zucchini mix.  Sprinkle on the torn basil and the zest of half the lemon.  Pretty!

So easy for summer.  And chock full of veggies!!  I really think the garden pasta makes the dish.  And a little cream cheese never hurt anybody... right?

Summer Harvest

Summer time is a season of plenty here in Upstate NY.  There seem to be plenty of greens...

Swiss chard cleaned and ready to go.

...and other colors, too.

Zucchini flowers anyone?

A visit to a good friend resulted in bagfuls of fresh goodies from her garden.  We feasted like kings for days.

A hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried zucchini strips, sauteed swiss chard, and battered zucchini flowers. (OK, I know there's a lot of fried in there, but they're VEGETABLES.  Come on.)

Summer salad #1 with garden fresh lettuce, chunks of pear, and chicken grilled with a homemade plum sauce (gift of a friend).

Summer salad #2 with same lettuce and plum chicken, plus fresh raspberries and snap peas.

I dream of having a garden that could feed me for the summer.  It appeals to so many aspects of my character:  love of fresh food, anything earthy, and... I'm cheap.


Everything is so fresh in the summer!  Enjoy the good eats of the season :)

Love My Chips

I am a potato chip fiend.  I really will eat them whenever the opportunity arises.  I just love the salt and the crunch!  But then the guilt sets in, and I head out to an extra yoga class.



What's a girl to do?

My buddy Erin made me some kale chips for my birthday, and I've been meaning to try it myself ever since.  I'll warn you, they're not for everybody.  You really do have to like green things.


But to me, they have everything I want: crunch, salt, and 0 grams of guilt.

Kale is all over the farmers market right now.  I bought a bunch this weekend for $2.  It was more than enough for the recipe.

I followed this one from the Food Network.  After washing and drying the kale, I ripped the leaves off the stems, tossed them in olive oil, and laid them flat on a cookie sheet.  They baked at 300 for about 10 minutes.  They have to be in a single layer, so it took several batches. Don't try to do two batches at once!! Lesson learned.

They're fun to munch!  Strangely addicting.  Give it a try :)

Also check out the kale chips on Healthy Eating For Ordinary People for another take on the kale chips, and other yummy summer recipes.