I love to cook!

Tonight for dinner, we had:

• Lemon Pepper Chicken

• Crash Hot Potatoes from here

• side salad that I learned to make from this awesome book

and for dessert:

• Pear Apple Cranberry Crisp from here

Yum!

ALSO... This is my new favorite blog person, Color me Katie. So fun and sweet!

What is your "Julie & Julia"?

Good movies, like good books, are the ones that inspire you.  When the movie is over and the lights come up, they leave you full of energy and hope and motivation -- whether you are inspired to go and do something new, or to go and be someone new.

I just finished watching a movie called Julie & Julia.  It's based on a book of the same name that I haven't read, so I don't know if it is formatted the same way that the movie is.  I could write a bad synopsis for you, but it is late and I don't have the mind for it just now.  If you haven't heard of it, go Google it and I'm sure you will be enthralled.  I certainly was.

I left the movie theater with a huge smile on my face.  I wanted to go watch reruns of Julia Child's cooking show, buy her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, wear skirts and heels and pearls the next time I make dinner, buy Julie Powell's memoir Julie & Julia, make myself an apron, wear it to cook a fabulous 3-course meal, and blog about it.  Just because someone's done it already doesn't mean I shouldn't do it, too, for my own gratification!

Whether or not I will do all, or just a few of those things, I would really like to know what my "thing" is.  Maybe it's cooking, maybe it's not -- either way is fine with me, as long as I have something.  What is that "thing" that I love to do, that pulls me out of dark times, gives me passion and direction, that I am determined to master, no matter how many times I fail before I get it right?  For Julie Powell, it was cooking.  But what is it for me?  What is it for you?

Yummy Dinner

Got a lot of fresh vegetables? Have I got a recipe for you! I love it because it's quick and flexible. Basically, you just take whatever veggies (and meat if you want it) and simmer them together.

Begin warming some broth over medium-high heat. (I used one can of chicken broth, and one can of vegetable broth because that's what I had on hand.)
If you're using meat, you should probably pre-cook it before adding it to the broth. (I used pre-cooked chicken sausage, so I just added it here while it was cold.)
Add the harder veggies early so they have time to soften. (e.g. carrots, celery, green beans if you like 'em soft. My roommate and I disagreed on this point.)
Cook those for a while before adding other veggies. (I used zucchini, onion, and corn.)
If you're adding potatoes, those should go in early with the meat and carrots. However, if you forget to put them in early (like I did), you can always microwave them for a few minutes to soften them and add them with the rest of the veggies.
Add salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you would like.
Toss in some chopped parsley before serving!

Time for a little SALSA!

(I mean the eating kind, not the dancing kind!)

As you know, I and the roommate recently moved. We are now long-term housesitting (8 months or more) for a family in my church. Along with their lovely, globally decorated house, we also got a big yard with lots of space for my potted plants (and an actual HOSE to water them with instead of carting jugs of water from the kitchen!), a garage (only one car so we take turns), and a dog and a cat. Polly the dog is a whole story all by herself, but the cat Eanie Moe (who I usually just call "cat") has a delightful attraction to all kinds of bags and boxes, and he climbs in them and hangs out whenever he has the opportunity.

(You can't tell in this picture, but he's also quite cross-eyed! I don't know how the poor thing sees to walk.)



Anyway! On to the salsa. (And hopefully, an end to my over-use of parentheses in the above paragraph.)

ANOTHER great thing that we inherited by moving into this house was a CSA co-op membership! The family purchased a membership for the whole summer, so that even though they're gone now, we still get to go pick up a load of fresh produce once a week!!! Yum. Since there were four of them, and now there are only two of us, though, it means that we have LOTS of extra stuff. This week I decided to make some fresh salsa. Here's the recipe: (out of a Rachael Ray magazine, tweaked by me!)
Salsa Fresca
1 c packed cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1 jalapeno chile
2 1/2 lbs. ripe tomatoes
juice of 1 lime
salt

Basically, you just pulse together the first 5 ingredients in a food processor and then season with the lime juice and salt. I ended up using extra garlic (I like garlic!) and because I didn't have a jalapeno, I used 2 banana and 1 poblano peppers. I think making fresh salsa is all about tasting as you go, and making it work for you! Mine turned out quite yummy, AND I have enough tomatoes and peppers left to make another batch since I'll probably eat all this one in about a day!
















Next week's produce pick-up day, I'm going to make PICKLES!!! Mmmmm...