condiment compliments

I know I haven't posted in a while and - well - this post isn't really going to make up for it, but I wanted to share. I have a new food obsession: pesto. I've always liked pesto, but things are at a new extreme right now. I only want to eat things that will pair well with pesto. In fact - don't judge - when preparing other things with pesto, I eat a little straight out of the container. Yum.

mardi gras

A bunch of stuff happened last week. Stuff I should report here - and probably will at some point - but there's just too much going on at the moment to detail the events. So you're instead going to hear about how I celebrated Mardi Gras. In style.

Honestly, I wasn't even aware yesterday was Mardi Gras until, well, yesterday. Meaning that until yesterday I didn't even know that today was the beginning of Lent. 

[Even I'm confusing myself with all of the time warping in those last 2sentences.]

I've never really been one for giving something up for Lent. Probably because I know I'll crack within a week or two. So why set myself up for failure? 

Anyway, yesterday while grocery shopping I decided that I would give up refined sugar (and HFCS, which I try to avoid anyway) for 40 days. Well, try to at least. I'm not super committed to the this-has-to-be-for-the-entirety-of-Lent thing, but figured this was as good as time as any to start. If I can make it 40 days, excellent. Longer? Even better. Less? Eh, oh well.

Really this means all of my snacking will now be with salty foods (not sure if that's any "better"). Though hopefully, what this really means is that when I crave sweet (and I will) that I will reliably turn to fruit.

But Mardi Gras... When I got home from the store I realized that my candy dish (who am I kidding, it's a flower vase) had about 20 Andes Mints in it. I definitely couldn't have that around the house. So after dinner I set to the task of eating. them. all. If Mardi Gras is all about feasting and excess prior to fasting, well dammit, I was going to go crazy on these things. 

And I did... through 8 of them. Then it just got to be too much. 

So, anyone want some chocolate?

And that's how I celebrated Mardi Gras. I'm wild, right?

[Crap! I just remembered that I have Thin Mints coming to me soon. And now I have to wait to eat them. A%3$k#!]

[[Obviously I have a thing for the combination of chocolate and mint. LOVE.]]

nosh

For whatever reason I decided to cook 2nights in a row. Now, when I say cook I mean follow a recipe that has more than 3steps. And requires the use of concentration. And more than 10minutes. And tons of dishes. And a special shopping trip to get the required ingredients.

So overall, big deal for me... I'm usually pretty lazy when it comes to food.

Last night I made bacon spinach risotto and tonight it was veal piccata.

I know from watching multiple seasons of Top Chef that risotto is a notoriously difficult dish. And I agree. It was a lot of work. But given that it was my first time I was pretty impressed. If I make it in the future I will use more liquid and about twice the amount of bacon. Bacon!

I wasn't totally unfamiliar with making piccata; I've seen someone making chicken piccata before. Unfortunately, the veal selection at the local grocer wasn't great (read: they only had one option), so I had to use a tougher grade of meat, but overall, I still think it was pretty successful. Maybe a bit too lemony. But something I want to try again.

Now I just have a bunch of leftovers to eat through. 

Oh, and there's those dishes...

smooth operator

I've been making smoothies recently. Throw some frozen (mostly organic!) mixed fruit into a blender. Add a tiny bit of juice, maybe some sparkling water. Done. 

I love fruit, but when I buy fresh fruit I usually go overboard and buy too much. And then it sits. And goes bad. And is such a waste. I decided that smoothies would be a great way to get my 2-4 recommended servings of fruit, without wasting so much. But, really, fruit has not been the problem.

It's been the vegetables. As most of you know, vegetables aren't really my friend. I actually like a lot of them; just not the popular ones. Is it usually offered as a pizza topping? Then I hate it. In some otherwise delicious sounding offering at a restaurant? Then get rid of it. I try to get some vegetable in me every day, but it's usually a fail. I'm no where near getting my 3-5 recommended servings a day. Must find a solution.

The other week I was reading (one of the) blogs of (one of my) favorite writers: amalah. On one of the blogs, a reader asked her what to do with leftover baby food. Amalah provided a whole host of ideas, one of which involved adding the frozen veggies to fruit smoothies. I have no baby, therefore I have no left over baby food, but why couldn't this work for me? Why couldn't I "trick" myself into eating more vegetables? 

Add them to the smoothies! 

This morning I did just that. I didn't have any frozen vegetables on hand, but surely fresh spinach would work, right? It sure did. It turned my smoothie an ugly ugly color, but there's very little change in taste. Now to experiment with more fruit-veggie combinations.

I'm proud of myself, though simultaneously amused that I have to treat myself like a toddler to get vegetables in me.