Pioneer Woman Envy

Do you read Pioneer Woman Cooks? Because if you don't, you should. She's funny, and fantastic, and uses butter and cream in everything. I want to be The Pioneer Woman, but sigh, here I sit, just another day as regular old Amy Lawson.

I tried to make some pioneer woman bread. And well, I'm still not her. Mine's not ugly, but it's not breathtakingly beautiful like Ree's either:

How'd she make her bread bloom like that? I WANT MY BREAD TO BLOOM, DAMN IT!

But either way, it was really good. It had to be, there was an entire stick of butter in that loaf. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I used her recipe, but added half a bag of wilted spinach (wrung out and chopped finely), and a small handful of cheddar cheese.

And this. Isn't this the ugliest picture I've ever posted on this site?

Sauteed beet greens with sesame seeds and cashews. Tasted better than it looks. Honestly.

Foods that Should Hump

July 22, 2010

We've already established that chocolate and zucchini should get together on a more regular basis. But you know what else should get to humping? Butter and soy sauce:

This is cabbage, sauteed in butter with almonds and sesame seeds, and sprinkled with soy sauce. The creamy butter and salty soy sauce? You could have bent me over and spanked me and I swear I wouldn't have noticed. It took me to another place.

And this? This was freaking good, too:

CSA green beans, rice, and pan fried scallops marinated in lime juice, olive oil, and CSA mint. The lime/mint combination never occurred to me until I did a little internet searching, but I've got to say, those two might think about getting a room tonight, too.

Blanching 101

In chatting with other CSAers from all corners of the country, I'm absolutely appalled by the sheer number of people who are tossing their beet greens into their compost piles. The same goes with kale--there's never any love for kale.

Listen up people, I don't care how many obscure leafy greens come in your CSA basket every week, they're not to be used in place of toilet paper--period. But let's not forget, I'm human, not part elephant, so I completely understand how challenging it can be to consume a wheelbarrow full of greens every seven days.

That's why I'm obsessed with blanching, and I swear up and down and side to side that it's really, really easy to do.

First, you find some greens. I found a bunch on top of my beets:

Next, you prep the greens for blanching. Wash them, cut off any stems you don't like, offer up many apologies before you douse them in boiling water--this step is very personal:

Stick your greens in a pot of boiling water. Leave them there until they're completely wilted:

Now you're supposed to put your greens in an ice bath, but the world knows I'm way too lazy for anything so intense, so I just run them under cold water:

Make sure your greens are completely cooled off (or else you'll get steam in the bag), and wring them out. You want them really dry, so wring 'em really hard. I like to pretend I'm wringing the neck of my student loan servicer, or the guy who sold me my car, or my husband--but that's just me:

And finally, stick the greens in a ziploc bag and hide them in the freezer until winter:

Look at that tiny little bag! Even if you don't have a chest freezer in your basement, you can certainly push aside the popsicles and make room for these little guys.

At this point, I have absolutely no advice on what do actually do with the greens when winter rolls around. I'll let you know in January.

Public Service Announcement

June 14, 2010

Generally speaking, on any given night I can be found lying on the couch, watching the home shopping network (judge away, it won't change me), and snacking on something fabulous like BBQ potato chips, or mini Three Musketeers bars, or BBQ chips crushed up and sprinkled on top of Three Musketeers bars.

Last night, when my husband slipped out of the house to watch the Celtics game with his brother, I had every intention of eating my regular snack. But let me tell you, the strangest thing happened. Behold:

That's right. I channeled my inner Dwight Schrute and I snacked on beets. Orange marinated beets with bleu cheese to be exact. I'm shocked to tell you that Dwight's really onto something, because oh my word, that crap was some good. But as tasty as they were, I feel like I can't encourage anyone else to eat beets until I leave you with the following Public Service Announcement:

Beets will turn your pee maroon. You will think that you are dying. Unless you have a pre-existing condition, you are probably not.

Now go eat your beets.

In keeping with the theme of beets and bleu cheese, today's lunch was left over pasta topped with sauteed beet greens and bleu cheese. Fantastical:

Beet greens aren't nearly as disgusting as I thought they'd be. When I cooked them I was expecting the flavor of grass clippings mixed with spinach mixed with those tear jerker candies from seventh grade. I was wrong, they tasted more like vegan angel wings.

And for dinner, I once again defiled the bok choy with cheap conenience food--but daaaammmmmnnnn, it was good. The recipe can be found by clicking here:

Let he who does not secretly enjoy uncooked Top Ramen cast the first noodle.