Monday Menu

Monday: Tomato, avocado & queso salad and Greek style veggies w/cannellini beans & orzo

Tuesday: Chilled avocado orange soup and red Thai curry

Wednesday: Fresh salad and pizzas on the grill

Thursday: Chickpea spinach curry

Friday: Arugula salad, Grilled potatoes w/tons of garlic & paprika, fresh MI corn on the cob, jerk tofu, Carolina Kale

Saturday: Cucumber & yogurt salad, baba ghannouj, tabbouleh, kale sauteed w/onions & bulghur and mujudra

Sunday: Greg's night for dinner

When the garden gives you an abundence of carrots...

YOU MAKE CARROT CAKE!!!!!

* These are the carrots that my gurl grew in her own 2ft. by 2 ft. garden bed...I still have to pull the 8 rows that I planted!!!

Garlic Scape Pesto

I LOVE garlic scape pesto and I usually have it made by this time of the year, but pine nuts have been difficult to find and I have been lazy. So today I spent the day in the kitchen and the pesto was 1st thing on the list to get accomplished.

Garlic Scapes:

Washed & chopped & ready to go:

Ready to throw it all in the processor:

The Finished Product:

If you love garlic and would like to make your own garlic scape pesto here is how I make it. You can substitute the pine nuts for walnuts or pecans if you prefer.

Garlic Scape Pesto:

8-9 scapes

1 C. of Parmesan

1/2- 3/4 C. of toasted pine nuts

1/2 C. chopped parsley leaves (no stems, too course)

Salt to taste

Put the scapes in the processor and chop then add the parsley and process it a little more. Then add in the nuts and process it until the nuts are chopped. Then add in the cheese and process it some more until it is all blended well, but still has texture. Turn the processor on and slowly add in the oil while it is running. At this point I always taste test it and continue adding nuts, cheese or salt until I get the consistency & flavor that I want. Now enjoy on sauteed veggies, fresh bread or pasta!

Monday Menus

Menus are so hard for me in the summer because so much depends on what is ripe in the garden and what is in season at the market. So I am going to try to get back on track since school starts next week and we need to start getting back into a routine.

Monday: Veggie Nachos & a tomato, green bean & corn salad w/fresh basil & a Dijon vinaigrette

Tuesday: (having friends over for dinner) Cucumber & onion salad w/fresh dill, Arugula w/goat cheese & pecans, kale sauteed w/ caramelized onions, roasted fingerling potatoes w/tons of fresh garlic, Greek stuffed summer squash, & MI peach cobbler

Wednesday: left-overs & Greek salad

Thursday: Salad, Roasted onions & sweet potatoes, sauteed kale w/white beans & stuffed squash blossoms

Friday: Tomato, avocado & Queso Blanco salad, pizzas on the grill

Saturday: Egg noodles & steamed veggies for the kids (mom & dad's night out!)

Sunday: Arugula salad w/pine nuts, red onion, pears & chevre & pasta primavera

MMMM.....

The Mighty, Mighty Pumpkins

Fun for mom & the kids!

As anyone with young children knows, long car rides can be pretty painful at times. This year when we started planing our annual trip to Northern Michigan I started thinking of ways to keep the kids entertained in the car. I decided to make the kids some activities bags for vacation and fill them with plenty of books and art supplies for the trip. So here was one of my favorite sewing projects of this year; I am very happy with the way they turned out. You can find this AMAZING free pattern for messenger bags here:

Sorry it has been awhile

I haven't been into posted much lately as you all can see it has been pretty boring and nothing really interesting in terms of food, feminism or my sewing & material addiction. We took a nice long holiday and went to Northern Michigan and then my sister was in from Wyoming so life has been busy. This last week however was a week full of tragic news and drama from every angle and so instead of being social in any way, shape or form I decided to bury my head in a book and a sewing project.

Today is the beginning of a new week and I am trying to be hopeful of what will unfold this week...although I am still not feeling too social and I have moved on to a new book and a new sewing project. Pictures to come soon!!

LOVIN' IT!