And of course, the longer I go without writing here the harder it is to come back to it.
So I thought I'd get myself over the hump by just sharing a few snaps of meals we've eaten lately. I love cooking at this time of year -- well, when it's not too hot to cook at all that is. Lots of fresh ingredients close at hand and I enjoy the creative challenge of trying to make something delicious out of bits and pieces from the garden and the produce drawer.
For example: pasta with sautéed greens from our garden (the results of thinning the beets and kale), cherry tomatoes from the grocery store, oil-cured olives, and crumbled feta cheese:
Of course, when offering this sort of thing to a kiddo one has to take extra care with presentation:
Here's a Nicoise salad. This is what my man and I eat when it actually is too hot to cook (boil the potatoes and eggs and blanch the beans early in the day, and refrigerate). Again greens from our garden (volunteer arugula, plus kale and beet thinnings), beans from the garden, and more of those tomatoes and oil-cured olives:
Buttermilk cornbread, black beans and rice, and sautéed zucchini (the first harvest from our plants so far this year) with shredded cheese. I was pretty pleased with myself for coming up with this combination -- my man can't really tolerate beans, and I knew my girl wouldn't be too into the zucchini, but between all the options everyone was satisfied and got a little protein to boot. And I enjoyed all of it!
A slightly less recent meal at this point but still one that I enjoyed immensely: vegetarian English breakfast at Bumpkin, a farm-to-table restaurant in London, where we vacationed as a family last month. I hope to write more about our trip soon -- I've got a colorful travel capsule wardrobe (of course) to share, and also some thoughts on making travel kid-friendly without being entirely kid-centered (hopefully that makes sense and doesn't make me sound like a total monster).
What are you cooking (or eating) lately?
I find myself nodding along in complete understanding with your first two paragraphs; I'm very glad to see you back with this post, and hope it does get you over the hump :)
ReplyDeleteYour meals look great - you're very creative in the kitchen, Sarah, something I'm still just aspiring to! What are we eating lately ... ? It's not all that pretty... Between kids' activities (planned and otherwise), too many things-to-take-care-of, illness, lack of sleep, and a grocery store strike, our meals haven't been stellar. I've been managing to cook, but there's no imagination involved, and on days where leftovers don't quite stretch far enough, I've been making do with toast and gouda! (Oh, and our vegetable garden ... I'm actually scared to go out there and see what my neglect has wrought!)
I would love to hear about your trip to London! And your thoughts on kid-friendly vs kid-centred travel, which doesn't sound at all monster-ish to me!
Toast and gouda is what my daughter generally eats when my husband and I have a Nicoise salad -- no shame in a good Dutch cheese!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words about the creative cooking. What I do in the kitchen does often feel creative, but it doesn't seem that complicated. You've given me something to think about in terms of trying to figure out what skill it is that I might have, and how to demystify that for others.
Glad you are interested in the London trip! I'll start organizing my ideas about that...