by Krista | Mar 25, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
I had a lovely evening with dear friends and my folks last night. We met for dinner at a new Mexican restaurant that was so cheery and colorful I couldn’t stop craning my neck to look at everything. The pico de gallo was fresh as can be, and everything was savory and piping hot.
Afterward we gather at my parent’s house and got cozy in the living room with steaming cups of tea and quilts to chuckle our way through a witty episode of Nero Wolfe. 🙂 It was a grand way to spend a winter’s eve. 🙂
I’ve been experimenting with beans and grains a lot lately, wanting to make hearty yet nutritious things that taste good and stick to my ribs. I also wanted to use this marvy blue pot I found at a thrift store a while back. 🙂
I found such a dish by combining earthy navy beans with springy pesto, perky tomatoes and ricotta cheese. It is nothing to look at, I’ll admit, but the flavor is quite splendid, reminiscent of a rich lasagna.
Navy Bean Gratin with Pesto and Tomatoes
Ingredients:
1 bag dried navy beans, soaked (quick method or overnight)
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
6+ cups vegetable or chicken broth
salt and pepper
1/2-1 cup pesto
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup ricotta cheese
Directions:
- Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in soup pot over medium-high heat, then add onion, bay leaves and thyme. Cook 3-5 minutes until onions are soft and beginning to brown.
- Add beans and 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth and simmer about 30 minutes until beans are nearly tender. Season with 1 tsp salt and cook for 15 minutes more. Let cool in broth.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil a 2 quart baking dish.
- Combine remaining ingredients, stirring gently until well incorporated.
- Pour into baking dish and bake about 35 minutes.
by Krista | Mar 24, 2010 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Yesterday was a rather rough day health wise, and I was feeling decidedly weepy and out of sorts, so I thought the best thing to do was go for a walk in the evening sunshine. Mums joined me and we had a good ol’ visit as we strolled, waving jauntily at neighbors and total strangers driving by in their trucks. It’s amazing the good a walk does for body AND soul. 🙂
When I got home, I decided the next best thing to do was crack open a mini-tub of blood orange sorbet I’d been saving, and treat myself to a few spoonfuls. Just a few, mind you, then back in the freezer it went. 🙂
It was the best medicine. 🙂 I learned from Amuse-Bouche for Two the beauty of having a little bit of dessert every day. Not a bowlful, just a spoonful. Not a fistful of cookies, but a single one, enjoyed thoroughly. I love that. 🙂
In other news, I’ve been trying to incorporate more buckwheat into my diet, and this weekend I made buckwheat pancakes with my Mum’s wonderful Honey Almond Sauce. As kids, my three brothers and I LOVED pancakes and waffles, but my health-conscious Mum worried about all the sugary syrup we used. So she nosed around her cookbooks and found this beauty of a recipe that has delighted us every since. It’s definitely not low-fat, but somehow using honey and ground almonds made us feel healthier. 🙂
So, I made the buckwheat pancakes (from a mix – I confess! But it was organic – does that make it OK?).
Slathered them with natural peanut butter.
Then topped them with the gorgeous Honey Almond sauce.
I smiled contentedly as I tasted that first bite. A rush of happy memories: brothers teasing and laughing around the table, fighting for the biggest pancake, Dad sipping coffee, Mum grilling pancakes as fast as we could eat them, sunshine streaming in the windows on a Saturday morning. Bliss.
Mum’s Honey Almond Sauce
(From The New Natural Foods Cookbook)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup ground almonds
Directions:
- Combine honey, butter and cream in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Stir in ground almonds.
- If using on pancakes or waffles, serve warm. Otherwise, let cool until it is spreadable.
by Krista | Mar 23, 2010 | Spring
We had spent a happy hour exploring Bled Castle in Slovenia, luxuriating in the cool breezes gusting across the terrace, utterly entranced by the exhilarating views of snow covered mountains, forested hills, and the turquoise waters of Lake Bled.
The mountains surrounding Lake Bled, Slovenia
My friend Ben perched far above Lake Bled.
Although we could’ve stayed up there for hours, we reminded ourselves that we still had much to see before driving to Ljubljana that night. So we took one last look at the amazing vista then headed out through the castle doors and hiked down the winding cobbled path to the lake.
The lake was even more beautiful up close, the water clear and cool, the banks bordered with trees and wonderful old homes.
Research beforehand warned us that the only way to the island in the middle of the lake was by rowboat, so we secured ourselves a sturdy craft and a burly oarsman, and began our peaceful journey across Lake Bled.
Our strapping oarsman.
In an age when everything seems to be motorized and streamlined for optimum speed, there was something surreal about bobbing slowly across the lake, the only sounds the splash of the oars and our occasional bursts of amazed laughter at this grand adventure we were having.
Next time I will take you to explore the island and inside an ancient church.:-)
by Krista | Mar 22, 2010 | Spring
I sometimes wish I lived in the Old Days. You know the ones where when you were sick (and rich) they would prescribe 6 months rest at the seaside, or 1 year in a sanatorium where all your meals were cooked, room cleaned and you had nothing to do all day but willingly submit to mud baths and “taking the waters” and sitting on manicured lawns watching the world go by.
As I watch old movies, I find it amusing that I can readily suspend disbelief and believe that the chap the fair maiden just spilled soup on is in fact the Prince of Whatsit who immediately swoons at her “cornflower blue eyes” and proposes undying love and affection. But when I see those scenes where everyone packs up their life for a restful escape to more appropriate climes I think, “Yeah, right!!”
I wonder if those things really happened, or if they were like us, refusing or unable to rest because there are bills to be paid and families to be cared for and functions to make an appearance at. This weekend, as I once again realized that I had optimistically over-committed my recovering self, I thought, “There’s got to be a better way.”
I can’t pull up stakes and head off to the Mediterranean for half a year to get better, but can I not play Sanatorium Director for my own self? Providing moments of respite and healing in the midst of the hustle and bustle? So that’s what I’m trying to do. 🙂
I don’t have the manicured lawns of a beautiful, white sanatorium to enjoy, but I DO have my Mum’s garden to wander through, and we did that Sunday afternoon as a gentle rain fell.
I can’t spend 6 months at the seaside, but I am within an hour of coast, river or lake. So on the next sunny free evening, I’m driving to one of them after work, past the beautiful mountains that surround us, to watch the sunset.
And, last but not least, I don’t have kitchen staff at my beck and call making me the vegetarian meals I must have for a while, but I have fabulous cookbooks with a wealth of nutritious options. This weekend I leafed through my favorite vegetarian cookbook and found Catalan Spinach with Toasted Pine Nuts and Raisins. It was too odd to resist. 🙂
So I washed and dried spinach, toasted garlic, pine nuts and raisins in olive oil, then tossed everything together with the steamed spinach. Mmmm. 🙂 The toasted nuts and warm fruit play beautifully off each other and provide earthy highlights for the spinach. Delish!
Catalan Spinach and Toasted Pine Nuts and Raisins
(From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)
Ingredients:
2 bunches spinach, stems removed, leaves steamed then chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, sliced
1/3 cup dark or golden raisins
1/3 cup pine nuts
Salt and freshly milled pepper
Directions:
- Warm the oil with the garlic in a wide skillet over medium heat. When garlic is golden, remove to plate.
- Add raisins and pine nuts to pan and cook until raisins are plumped and pine nuts golden.
- Add spinach and garlic and cook until heated through.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
by Krista | Mar 19, 2010 | Fabulous Friday
Life sure is funny sometimes. I don’t know about you, but it seems to hit me in waves of either catastrophe or loveliness and not much in between. 🙂 But lately, it’s been both, lovely bits of sunshine mingled with the ghastliness. 🙂
Ghastly: docs tell me my immune system is kaput.
Lovely: they’ve got me on excellent supplements that are already rebuilding this ol’ body of mine and I’m feeling better each day. 🙂
Ghastly: I need to fix my car from the accident, put four new tires on my car, and buy meds.
Lovely: I get my tax return AND my damage deposit back from my apartment in time to cover most of it. 🙂
Ghastly: I have eight meals worth of tacos made up and almost nothing else.
Lovely: I really like tacos. 🙂
Ghastly: under strict instructions to rest, rest, rest.
Lovely: free audio books and movies from the library, and friends who drive waaaay out here to visit me. 🙂
Conclusion: I’m a pretty fortunate lassie. 🙂
It’s been a good week. 🙂 Mums and I got to take a stroll on a particularly sunny lunch break and saw the most gorgeous countryside.
My friend Kat came to visit me and brought her marvy homemade tabouli to go with my
Spanakopita.
I got to hear Leahy in concert!! I didn’t think I could make it, but pain pills worked beautifully and I’m so glad I went. 🙂 They’re such a jolly lot and it is quite impossible to not emerge cheery and chipper from one of their performances. 🙂 Mums, Kat and my Office Manager Sharon went with me and it was a splendid Girl’s Night Out. 🙂 Yeah, this was a self-portrait. 🙂
And, last but not least, after much badgering, here’s a shot of the new do. For some reason I can capture food and countryside quite handily, but I can’t take a decent photo of myself to save my life! So, out of my collection of blurry, badly colored, poorly lit photos, here you go. 🙂 Oh, and I DO have two eyes, one just umm, hid. 🙂
Happiest of weekends to you, dear ones. May your lovelies outnumber your ghastlies. 🙂
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