by Krista | Oct 21, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
So today I’m thinking about things that have made me happy in the last week. 🙂 Like driving home from visiting my folks and catching a glimpse of their neighbors garden. I had to stop right there in the middle of the road and take a picture. Isn’t it a lovely tangle of beauty?
Having my god daughters, Jayda and Koda over for a sleepover was so much fun! Koda did my make-up, Jayda draped my collection of scarves everywhere to create her very own restaurant and I made them a blanket tent to sleep in. And of course we took lots of crazy pictures. 🙂
I was also happy with these delicious mini-turkey burgers. Ground turkey had seemed like a healthy option at the grocery store but I didn’t really know what to do with once I got it home. I thought a while and finally decided on turkey burgers. I added a whole grated onion, lots of sage and ground pepper, a bit of salt and fried them up in olive oil. They are scrumptious little numbers, especially topped with a nice hot mustard and served with mashed potatoes.
What are some things that have made you happy this week?
Turkey Sage Burgers
Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, grated
1 Tbsp powdered sage
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
olive oil
mustard for dipping
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients except olive oil. Form into round, flat patties.
- Heat olive oil in sauce pan over medium-high heat. Cook until browned on both sides and cooked through.
- Serve warm with good mustard.
by Krista | Oct 14, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
Last week I was out running errands on a particularly grey and overcast day. I’d been at the office all morning and as I drove home for my lunch break I just had to pull into the park near my house and go for a stroll.
It was beautifully quiet and still and I was the only person there. I breathed deeply of the cool air, smiling at the scents of cedar, wet leaves and damp earth. Much to my delight I found a new trail that I simply had to go down. As animals twittered in the branches above me and twigs snapped, I held a tight rein on my all-too-vivid imagination and laughed at my so easily scared self. 🙂
The trail entered the woods and it felt like I was in Sherwood Forest, a canopy of trees above me, spongy, leaf and needle covered ground at my feet. It was dark and peaceful in there and I thought how much my brothers and I would’ve loved this place for fort-building and pretend battles when we were little.
Eventually I left the woods and as I came around a bend I smiled in surprise at this sight.
The stream gurgled along contentedly, wending its way through trailing blackberry vines and gnarled tree roots. On its banks fallen logs made a perfect home for bright green ferns and these beautiful, I don’t know what – mushrooms? fungus? But aren’t they delicate and pretty like seashells?
It was a wonderful walk, good for body and spirit. I felt thoroughly refreshed and ravenously hungry. So home I went and whipped up a green onion omelette stuffed with canned asparagus, juicy tomatoes and grated feta cheese. I don’t like canned asparagus on its own, but somehow it works splendidly in an omelette.
Do you like going for walks? What is your favorite spot to wander in?
Asparagus Feta Omelette
(serves 1)
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1 scallion, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
4-5 spears asparagus, canned or roasted
1/2 tomato, diced
seasoning salt
1/4 cup grated Feta cheese
Green Tabasco Sauce
Directions:
- Beat eggs with scallion.
- Heat olive oil in sauce pan, add beaten egg and cook until edges are firm. Carefully flip over.
- Top one half of egg with vegetables and grated cheese.
- Fold in half and place on plate. Sprinkle with Green Tabasco Sauce.
by Krista | Oct 7, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
Good morning, dear ones. 🙂 I’m writing to you sitting close to the heater, a cup of Moroccan Mint tea at hand to soothe my sore throat. I’m still fighting this flu/cold/thingamajig but have high hopes that I’m almost on the mend now. 🙂
I had such fun revisiting my trip to Amsterdam with you yesterday, that I decided to share the rest of our lovely meal with you today. 🙂
When I thought of European food growing up, especially in the colder northern countries like Holland, Germany, etc, I mostly thought of potatoes, wild game, thick stews, hearty noodle dishes, and lots of seafood. I did not, however, think of salads, organic produce, healthy whole grain sandwiches. How wrong I was!
It is in Paris, Amsterdam and Denmark that I have had the most scrumptious salads piled high with luscious ingredients, divine sandwiches layered atop the best bread I’ve ever tasted, and vibrant produce straight from the garden. Our Amsterdam lunch was no exception.
I was so inspired and have been tracking down the best breads, cheeses and fresh veggies I can find to replicate these amazing yet simple lunches.
It was the perfect start to our exploration of a new city: Haarlem.
Have you been surprised by foods you’ve encountered on your travels?
by Krista | Sep 30, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
(Good morning, dear ones! 🙂 The sun is shining brilliantly in Cancun and I’m finally relaxing. 🙂 Yesterday I got to swim down an UNDERGROUND river!!! Can’t wait to tell you all about my adventures. 🙂 Miss you muchly!)
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When I was a little girl I wanted desperately to live in the “olden days.” I didn’t much care which era, just as long as it involved adventure of some sort, and the opportunity to live off the land. I wanted to chop wood and milk cows and sleep under a bear skin. It all sounded very romantic and swashbuckling to my inexperienced self.
Nowadays I know better. I know the difficulties they experienced living far from civilization and all the protection, medical care, and social interaction it provided. But I confess I still get a hankering now and then to weave my own cloth on a loom, make butter in a churn, and get maple syrup right out of the tree.
This weekend I got to visit Fort Nisqually on Point Defiance. My friend Stacey knows I’m a crazy, history fanatic, so she let me drag her away from stunning ocean views to enter the walled enclosure and take a visual tour of a time when soldiers, adventurers and a few families left their comfortable worlds to create a new one in the wilderness at the height of the fur trade.
Fort Nisqually was a Hudson’s Bay Company outpost built in 1833, and was the first European settlement on Puget Sound. It employed laborers from America, England, French Canada, Hawaii, Ireland, Native American tribes, and Scotland, and became a thriving center of trade and agriculture.
It is now a living history museum where volunteers and staff, in period clothing, demonstrate the crafts of the 19th century and engage visitors in historic dialogue. Admission is $6 and allows you to wander through a general store, blacksmith shop, laundry and numerous other interesting buildings.
I enjoyed it immensely, picturing myself puttering away in the gardens, airing out the Hudson Bay blankets, or perhaps spending a cozy evening in the parlor of the main house playing cards by the light of an oil lamp.
Did you ever wish you could live in a different time in history? Which one?
by Krista | Sep 23, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
Yesterday evening the sun was shining so gloriously that I simply had to be out and about, soaking it in.
My friend Jon has been raving about a little Italian place in town called the Torre Cafe. Run by a lovely Italian couple so sweet you want to adopt them on the spot, it was just the place to dine on a sunny Autumn evening. I sipped Sparkling Orange San Pellegrino (my favorite!!) while we chatted.
Then we dug into salads topped with walnuts and shaves of hard cheese, and big plates of Chicken Parmesan. Delicious!! The homemade salad dressing and marinara sauce were divine – simple, unfussy and absolutely scrumptious.
After that great meal, good visit and a stroll through town, I bid farewell to Jon and decided to enjoy the last rays of sun with a drive along the coast. Window down I couldn’t help but smile at the shrieking gulls, sun glistening on the water, and salty ocean breezes.
I drove down Chuckanut Drive, a beautiful stretch of road that winds and dips along the rocky coastline. The setting sun glimmered through the trees setting the dark forest aglow. It was magical. For a while I just drove, pulling off when I felt like it, before finally finding a bend in the road with some perfect sitting rocks where I could perch and watch the sunlight dance over the waves.
It was a wonderful end to an exhausting day.
Do you have a favorite place to drive when you just need to get away for a while?
by Krista | Sep 16, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
Today after work I went over to Mum’s place to pick her up for our Official Winter Clothes Shopping Trip, but before we took off I simply HAD to take some photos of her scrumptious garden. 🙂
Isn’t it pure loveliness? That Mums of mine can grow anything anywhere.
Our shopping trip was a rousing success for two reasons: 1 – I stayed within my budget and 2 – I don’t have ANY purchases I regret. Every last one of them makes me smile. It was one of those years where nearly my entire winter wardrobe was on its last legs and very near death, so it feels wonderful to have a few things restocked so I don’t shiver to bits when things get frosty. I can’t decide what I like best: purple tights, cheery red scarf, or my oh-so-comfy boots. What is your favorite must-have winter attire?
As the weather gets colder I am drawn to comforting, homey dishes that are healthy yet robust enough to keep me warm and satisfied. I found just such a recipe in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It is one of my favorite recipe books and I’m not a vegetarian. I just love her creative and highly inventive ideas for making humble veggies shine.
This time I made my own version of her Butternut Squash Gratin with Onions and Sage. Ohhh, my apartment smelled SO good from the sauteed thyme, sage and caramelized onions. Madison used Gruyere or Fontina, but I prefer the tangy sharpness of feta, so I used it instead. She also used milk with flour to bind the gratin, but I chose coconut milk for added richness. Delicious!!
I’m very excited to be a guest blogger at Lazaro Cooks today!! Lazaro is a fantastic cook in his own right, but also collects and features a fabulous array of cooks, recipes, and bloggers from across the country. If you have a moment, please click here to visit his blog and read about my Rainier Cherry Tart with Maple Cream and a Gluten-Free Maple Crust.
I hope you have a beautiful day, dear friends!
Butternut Squash Gratin with Sage, Onions and Feta
(Inspired by Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced onions
4-6 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed
2-3 Tbsp fresh chopped sage
salt and ground pepper
1 butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten-free all purpose)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Feta
1/4 cup heated warm coconut milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 2 quart baking dish.
- Heat 1/4 cup oil in skillet and saute onion, thyme and sage until onion is lightly caramelized, about 15 mins. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread mixture in gratin dish and set aside.
- Return skillet to burn and heat remaining olive oil.
- Toss squash in flour to coat, discard extra flour. Add squash to hot oil and cook, stirring regularly, until browned on all sides, about 7 minutes.
- Add parsley, salt and pepper and cook for 1 more minute.
- Layer squash over onion mixture.
- Sprinkle with feta and add milk. Cover and bake for 25 minutes.
- Uncover, add bread crumbs and bake uncovered until top is browned and liquid absorbed, about 25 minutes.
