Happy Fall everyone!
The days are finally cooling down here in Texas and I'm tickled pink by the fact that I have a sweater and slippers on. I don't necessarily need both of those things....but I'm kind of a wimp and I'm enjoying them! The chickens are very happy with the sub-70 temperatures, with not having to huddle around the ice bath all day and all, though little Nana unfortunately is stuck with the Cone of Shame until the sore on her head gets better, and since one of the lead suspects here are mosquitoes she has to stay inside for at least two more weeks. She's most definitely missing the back deck!
My beautiful babies! :)
So I've decided to do a little something different here, since different creative avenues and priorities are shuffling around and I'm noticing that not much of my energy is being directed here, despite the fact that I've always got new ideas rolling around and newly discovered delights to share. I'm going to try doing a monthly post, around the third week of the month, highlighting whatever the recent recipes and endeavors have been. Since Shit in a Pot is more a way of life than just a way of cooking I often have non-food related things that I find myself wanting to share, so I've been taking some time to get clear and organized on how best to do that. Sometimes it's a cool house project I've been working on, or a creative upcycle, or just something awesome I found for dirt cheap at a thrift store or garage sale.
All that, in short, is to say that I've missed you and think of you often.
Let's catch up! :)
RECIPES:
The days are finally cooling down here in Texas and I'm tickled pink by the fact that I have a sweater and slippers on. I don't necessarily need both of those things....but I'm kind of a wimp and I'm enjoying them! The chickens are very happy with the sub-70 temperatures, with not having to huddle around the ice bath all day and all, though little Nana unfortunately is stuck with the Cone of Shame until the sore on her head gets better, and since one of the lead suspects here are mosquitoes she has to stay inside for at least two more weeks. She's most definitely missing the back deck!
My beautiful babies! :)So I've decided to do a little something different here, since different creative avenues and priorities are shuffling around and I'm noticing that not much of my energy is being directed here, despite the fact that I've always got new ideas rolling around and newly discovered delights to share. I'm going to try doing a monthly post, around the third week of the month, highlighting whatever the recent recipes and endeavors have been. Since Shit in a Pot is more a way of life than just a way of cooking I often have non-food related things that I find myself wanting to share, so I've been taking some time to get clear and organized on how best to do that. Sometimes it's a cool house project I've been working on, or a creative upcycle, or just something awesome I found for dirt cheap at a thrift store or garage sale.
All that, in short, is to say that I've missed you and think of you often.
Let's catch up! :)
RECIPES:
KALE AND ORZO SALAD!
I'm glad this one came together by the end.....my confidence was a little shaken by the realization that I had mixed green and orange--my personally infamous color combination!
Main ingredients:
*grated sauteed sweet potato
*shredded carrots (raw)
*fresh kale (I left it raw because I was lazy--you could certainly cook it for a few minutes first!)
Seasoning:
*Garlic (always!)
*Flaxseed
*Honey mustard dressing
*Dijon mustard
*Bragg's
*Mama's Miracle Dressing
Super easy, and much like writing a novel, I had no idea what was happening 'til I got to the end ;) When it comes to pasta just keep adding sauce of some kind until it tastes good. (And be sure to make it taste good, 'cause a pound of pasta + stuff will feed you (and a loved one ;) several times over!
Approximate price: $5
SHREDDED EGGPLANT AND GARLIC PIZZA!
Ok, so I've made a lot of pizza in my day and we both agree this was possibly my best ever....
Main ingredients:
*Shredded (with a cheese grater) eggplant (from our local Farmhouse delivery!)
*Yellow onion
*Shredded tofu
*Tomato paste
*Cheese
Seasoning:
*Garlic
*Flaxseed (sprinkled on top, for a tasty rustic look)
*Cracked salt
Generally for pizzas I saute everything before putting it on the crust. The ones we get only cook for 10 minutes, which is not much time to soften anything up.
We had this on a Friday night while watching episodes of Blue Planet.....we're old and happy ;)
Approximate price: $7
BLACK BEAN AND TOMATO BASIL SALAD!
This has become one of my staples over the last few months (since fresh basil has been readily available in a small rogue forest in my chard garden!) I sometimes have to go super creative or super simple for lunch because I’m never really in the mood to put much effort in during the day; this was a bit of both!
This salad is exactly what it sounds like. A can of black beans, as many diced tomatoes as you desire, and as much fresh basil as you desire. I use Mama’s Miracle Dressing mixed in to the batch, but you can also just use olive oil and some cracked salt for seasoning.
It’s filling! I promise! And surprisingly delicious :)
Approximate price: $5
EGG AND AVOCADO SANDWICH!
Eggs from the backyard are always a good breakfast option. That morning I went for a medium fried egg between Whole Foods’ Seeduction bread with lettuce and a chunky layer of avocado. Yummmmmmmmm! :)
Approximate price: $3
AVOCADO TOAST!
I had this for lunch with a salad and was really, really happy about it.
Approximate price: $2
HOUSE PROJECTS!
I am ALL about getting organized lately (and am accepting that I will be spending the rest of my life getting there)! This is ok, because it's all about the small victories and improvements. I'm pretty forgetful and I'm pretty visual, so I found myself really needing a calendar that I could see all of, all the time (though a small planner will be a good thing to procure as well ;)
The part that looks like a real calendar is a wet erase template for the current month, and the rest is made from gridded scratch paper paperclipped to overhead transparencies. (I recently discovered this as a way to make a daily chore list that I could check off each day, then erase to start over.)
Below the current month continues the rest of the the year and begins the next one, jumping up top come April. When the month changes I'll just replace the new month's grid with last month's.
Ok, now I have NO MORE EXCUSES for forgetting things! (Trust me, I will find some :P )
Read about what you're eating while you're eating it! (Or beforehand, if you need to be polite company! ;)
When Will was gone for an undetermined amount of time this summer I had a great time being creative and doing projects around the house (only one of them was vetoed upon his arrival home--that's not bad!).
One of the things I started doing was reading about how awesome the food was that I was eating, either in The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters or magazines that had some sort of Super Food articles in them (I was inevitably eating something off the list--or at least had it in my fridge!) What a boost, of morale and of vigor and overall feeling of health and well being! And it just made me want to eat more good food :)
One of the things I started doing was reading about how awesome the food was that I was eating, either in The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters or magazines that had some sort of Super Food articles in them (I was inevitably eating something off the list--or at least had it in my fridge!) What a boost, of morale and of vigor and overall feeling of health and well being! And it just made me want to eat more good food :)
Here's to another month of happy eating!!!
