Weekend Cooking

I made this Kenyan dish from a Whole Foods recipe this week with a couple variations bc it seemed a bit boring. I cooked it in veggie stock, and added fresh basil (peak season! so yummy) while it simmered, along with white beans. Nice and lite for summer. Also, I discovered spelt as a rice substitute, love! The texture and cook time is very similar to wheatberries.

Lake Forever

Went to visit my parents in the Berkshires last weekend with some friends, and seriously, how can lakes be so good? Grills, docks, dogs, boats, it's like impossible not to have an amazing time.

Clafoutis

I used this Kitchn post as inspiration to make clafoutis over the weekend, mine was kind of a healthy amalgam of the recipes they have listed and we decided strawberries looked better than plums. I guess this is originally a French dessert, it came out like a light custard, and you can easily make it fairly healthy, I want to try this breakfast version with oatmeal next. Even Mark Bittman posted a version with clementines, which could be fun in the winter.

Jerky!

Per Food and Wine, I made beef jerky from scratch for my dad for Papa's Day this year. It came out great! We couldn't stop eating it, and aside from the long prep and cook time, it's relatively little handling time. I definitely recommend trying this one.

Make it!

 I love learning how to make things at home that I'm accustomed to buying from the store. This video from Michael Ruhlman's blog is a great example, 50 lbs of sausage is craazy! But I bet it tasted amazing. I recently purchased the ingredients to make my own grainy mustard, and next on my list are these bread & butter pickles from Smitten Kitchen. Also, I made something from scratch this week that I can't reveal just yet, but it came out grreat, and was never something I considered whipping up at home. You can make everything! And it's often cheaper, greener, healthier, and more delicious. Learning the process is half the fun (for some!), I think a day of making 50 lbs of sausage with friends in my big beautiful kitchen sounds like a day well spent.

Happy Father's Day! (to all, but mostly to my dad)

I love this post that asks you to describe your dad in two words or less. Mine is driven and good-natured - he can pretty much build anything and talk to anyone. And look at those drum skills!!!

Love you Dad.

Time passing

Through present day here.