By Popular Demand...

The Yummus recipe!!

Take one can of Garbanzo beans, (I know it's not very real or whatever, but it's what I had on hand), throw them in the blender.

Add:

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice
1 garlic clove
a dash of cinnamon.

Blend well until mushy. If you have a food processor use that instead. I kept having to take a spatula and scrape the sides down to make sure it all got chopped, but it still turned out pretty chunky.

Also, I made mine too garlicky and I ended up feeling gross all day after eating it. I will probably experiment with roasting the garlic next time to try to get a milder flavor. Incidentally, I did pick up the garlic at the fabbo little veggie stand on Southland Drive. I think I have mentioned them before...

One can also add Tahini, but we don't have any and I don't really know what it is either. That's why I am not Paula Deen but the Gothgirl. =)

Fresh Zucchini Fettuccine

Fun to say. Fun to eat.

Plus it helps to chip into that never ending stash of squash and zucchini that happens this time of year. Hehe.

Just fix one pound of whole wheat fettuccine according to package directions.
Lightly spray a medium sized frying pan and let it warm up on low heat.
Meanwhile, thinly slice one zucchini.
Heat over low to medium heat until crisp and tender. Try not to overcook.
Fix tomato pasta sauce to your liking.
To serve, top fettuccine with sauce and then with veggies. Keeping them separate keeps them from getting soggy.

Eat and enjoy!

Summer Squash and Pesto Dip

In case anyone hadn't noticed, it's that time of year again. When you can't turn around and someone is handing you a plastic grocery bag full of zucchini and yellow squash. You sneak park the car down the street, turn off all the lights, refuse to answer the door, but low and behold the bag o squash turns up hanging on the handle of your front door just the same. Not that I am opposed to them, they're just, you know, everywhere.

Well, here's a little ditty to help you use up some of that pesky squash, and it's actually quite delicious.

Mix together about a cup of flour.
Add seasoning salt, onion salt, and pepper to your taste.

Slice on summer squash into medium slices.
Dip in egg wash (an egg tossed with a dollup of milk, or fake milk).
Dredge in flour mixture.

Fry lightly in heated oil until golden brown.

For pesto dip, I sort of cheated and just mixed mayo and store bought pesto together. A few spoonfuls of each. However my two year old really liked the pesto dip with her number-shaped chicken nuggets. Hehe.

But there you go. The fried squash even came in handy reheated the next day to substitute for potato chips with a sandwich at lunch. I feel healthier already!

Mt. Rushmore

For the past little while we have been teaching our daughter about the states. We have a gigantic floor puzzle that we put together with her which depicts the USA and each state is a puzzle piece. (Except for the teeny ones up by Maine and they are all glumped together into one big piece.) Each state has a tiny picture on it with something to do with that state, so of course South Dakota has a picture of Mt. Rushmore. We also have a Curious George story that involves Mt. Rushmore. M gets a kick out of matching that sort of stuff up together. For example if we are putting the puzzle together, she will find the South Dakota piece and point out her book on the shelf and knowingly nod at us and say "Mhmh!" It's really quite cute.

I don't know all that much about Mt. Rushmore, but it has occurred to me that at some point in time somebody somewhere had to have said, "Hey! Let's carve some giant faces into the side of a mountain!"

And the best part is that more than one someone had to have replied, "That's a really good idea!"

I feel like we are loosing the ability to have ideas like this. We live in such an age where everything has to be bigger, faster, better, more, go, go, go!!! But we don't actually take the time to enact quality or even to think about what we are doing. Change takes time and commitment, dedication and planning. I am sure that the face carvers didn't get halfway across George Washington's forehead and say, "Well this is too hard. Let's do something else." Even just small choices made regularly can have a big impact.

Funny thing. Since our "mishap" last summer we haven't bought beef at the grocery store. We have received some homegrown, grass fed beef from a family member who raises cows, which is in a whole different category. And I have been slowly integrating more natural ingredients into our diet, trying to reduce our chemical intake (MSG and whatnot), and electing to shop locally whenever possible. But it takes time. Time and commitment and dedication. Like the people chipping away at the mountainside hoping that what they are doing will eventually start to resemble a face. But one thing I am pretty sure about. I know it took more than one person to carve Mt. Rushmore, and I am curious how our collective landscape would change if we all lived what we believe regardless of how difficult or impossible that task might seem.

My Own Thoughts

So that's really what started it all (See previous post.), this obsession of mine with natural foods and ingredients and what not.

Dinnertime should not be a game of Russian Roulette. Our food supply has become way too massively toxic and our health care system is not much better, in fact what happened to us is, in my opinion criminal.

Since that time a year ago, I can recall (no pun intended) at least three national food recalls that I have seen on the news. Not to mention the ones we did not hear about. Just within the last month there have been two in the local news.

That being said, food and cooking has always been rather a mystery to me. I understand how to follow a recipe in the sense that if I follow the directions, stuff turns into food. But what I don't understand is how to make substitutions or what to add if I want this to do that or whatever. So the cooking blog seemed like just the right medium for me to explore the cooking phenom and to see what I can do. I figured why not? Everyone who wants to can go on this little journey with me and we can all explore cooking together. Of course I would like to take a moment to encourage everyone to shop locally, take advantage of farmer's markets and co-ops, and buy fresh raw ingredients.

Beef Broth and Local Veggies.

So I've been thinking about trying to be more stretchery with our food supply and my sister's blog gave me a bit of an inspiration. We recently enjoyed some ribs (homegrown at that) that my MIL brought us and I thought about saving the bones to make some stock. Seeing as we constantly have, like eight tupperware thingys of leftover vegetables in our fridge at any given time, I thought it might be cool to make some stock to throw together some soupage for lunches and what not. Stock, veggies and a handful of elbows just to round it out. Or maybe drop biscuits depending on my mood. I haven't made the stock yet but I will post on how it goes. First I have to go buy some onions.

That being said there is a fabbo little veggie stand on Southland Drive. She has said that she tries to sell at prices that rival the grocery store. She also stays out on days different than Sunday. I want to say Tuesday and some other day, but I can't find her website. I'll have to keep an eye out and find out.