Finally, the temperatures have cooled off here in the pacific northwest. It was unbearable for the last 4 days. I am so happy not to be sweating and just sitting here! I thing the highest temp was about 104, which is hot even in a dry heat. I'm not going to lie, I couldn't get my lazy ass to work out in that kinda heat. As I sit in our home office, I feel a slight breeze and am actually considering a sweatshirt. Wow. It is so refreshing.
We had a nice weekend of sweating. On Friday, we were lazy and just chilled out here laying in the hammocks and drinking ice waters. It was so hot we had to set up a fan system in the bed room so we could just kinda sleep. On Saturday, we decided to brave the heat and head out to Multnomah Days. I got a cool new map of the trails in SW Portland and a nifty bike kit from Portland DOT. We pretty much decided the best option was to hunker down somewhere w/ air conditioning. Enter Renner's Grill. We stepped in a for a refreshing mojito and some decent company. It is my understanding that they don't have the best reputation in the area, but the people are as unpretentious as they come out here. Everyone was very friendly (or drunk) and the atmosphere was near perfect - good music, good drinks, and interesting crowd. The only drawback is Renner's is smoky. The smoking ban in Oregon takes place January 1, 2009 and I can't wait.
On to the food part of the weekend. Well, we didn't eat much really cause it was really too hot to eat anything more than salad. I went to the farmer's market yesterday and got a bunch of fresh zucchini, beets, blueberries, potatoes, spinach, locally roast coffee (zbeans - so good), tomatoes, a cantaloupe (!) and I bought a fresh basil plant for $2! I made some pesto, but froze it before I could take a photo (hence the tiny crystals). I love to make pesto, but Chad doesn't like really strong basil flavor so I use half fresh basil and half fresh spinach. It keeps the pesto nice and green, but mellows the flavor a bit. You can freeze it for up to 1 month. I think this recipe is about 2 entrees. I usually just freeze half. Here is my new baby!
Basil Spinach Pesto:
1 c fresh basil
1c fresh spinach
4 -8 cloves of garlic
drizzle of olive oil
splash o water
1/4 c pine nuts (sometimes i used walnuts or almonds for a change)
crushed red pepper flakes - a few
put ingredients in food processor and pulse till combined.
I love to use pesto as a sandwich spread w/ grilled veggies, but you can always do it w/ pasta.
If you've ever been to Tex Tubbs Taco Palace in Madison, WI, hopefully you've tried their uniquely wonderful daikon radish tacos. Well, I have been trying to emulate them. I think I just about got it down. They aren't exact, but they are pretty darn close.
Daikon Radish Tacos
1 daikon radish washed, peeled, and cut into match strip pieces
red onion
2 grated carrots
saute in pan for 5 minute.
spicy sauce
splash o water
about 5 splashes Tabasco sauce
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 t hot chili powder
1/2 a spicy pepper chopped
a dash to 1 T rice vinegar (depends on if you like vinegar - i do!!)
add sauce to saute and simmer 2-4 minutes.
serve in corn tortillas w/ spicy salsa!
here is a picture of the daikon radishes in spicy sauce.
OH, I almost forgot my latest love - indoor grilled veggies! Our movers destroyed our Weber grill (they wrote us a check for it) and we haven't made it out to get a one yet. I was just craving veggies so I whipped out my panini grill pan and fried up some veggies. Cooked on medium heat for quite a while, they had the same flavor as grilled veggies without all the hassle of charcoal. I need to remember this one for winter!
OK now on to my favorite snack! When I am hungry, but no quite ready for lunch or dinner, I like to have this light and healthy lentil salad. I first had something like this at Gotham Bagel's in Madison, WI and I fell in LOVE with how great it tasted and made me feel. It made me feel like a super hero. Here is my easy version.
Red Lentil Super Hero Salad
1 c water
1/2 cup rinsed red lentils
2 T rice vinegar
1/4 t dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
additions if you like: 1 grated carrot, chopped green onion, minced garlic, cilantro.
heat water in saucepan till boiling. Add lentils. Stir. Replace lid. Turn down heat and simmer no more than 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Let sit till water is absorbed. The tinier your lentils are the quicker they will cook. Bigger lentils need a bit more time. It took me a long time to learn not to over cook the lentils. It is still good over cooked, but much better when they are still in tack.
I have other stuff to do today so I should go work on that rather than sit here and go on and on about food. I leave you w/ pictures from my cookies I made this AM.
These are Dark Chocolate Chip cookies w/ dried cherries. I used earth balance faux butter, but I forgot to buy some flax so I just used regular eggs.
2 comments:
Beth I enjoyed reading this.
Ok Now the old guy finally got his posting up on the site. The other was a test. First I want to go back to the first posting which was about Blue Berry Pie.
I have an interesting yet tramatic experience with Blue Berry Pie. I was only probably 10 or 11 and my mom was a very good cook. My dad loved to garden so we were always having fresh things coming to the dinner table.
My dad was old school and like that we try things. So one night we had dinner and there was a piece of blue berry pie put out for desert. I quickly finished my meal and said well I full.
As part of this finishing dinner, I had also finished my big glass of milk. My Dad looked over and said "we are having desert tonight and you are going to eat the this wonderful blue berry pie.
Well I figured I could get out of it by saying hey thats ok leave this for you that like blue berry pie. That didn't work. Then I asked for another big glass of milk (figured I could wash it down)...you guessed it no milk.
Well I spent the longest time forcing and gaging on this pie until it was gone.
Now I will be honest I have never eaten a blue berry or had blue berry pie since that day, However, this Blue Berry Pie looked good enough to try again.
Could I have it with Ice Cream and a big Glass of Milk.
Post a Comment