Parsley Pesto Pasta

We had (still have) an abundance of parsley in the garden out back.  It was getting to the point where I was concerned for the well-being of my young radishes, beets and lettuce.  So, my parsley got a haircut. A big ol' chop chop. And then I had this.

 A lovely, fragrent bouquet.

Which took up space in my fridge. 

So I thought I would try something new, and make some parsley pesto.  

I chopped up some garlic cloves and a chunk of parmesan in the food processor, then added a little pool of olive oil to the mix.  I threw in some pecans too, though I suppose I could have tried almonds.  

Pulse, pulse.

Add the parsley.

Chop until it looks good and ta-da!

It took longer to cook the spaghetti.

But boy, was it good!

I will be tinkering with carving wax soon.

I have to clean off my bench first. Ug.

Raspberry Gelato Trial

Hiding in the depths of my freezer, below the frozen pizza dough and rings of red "Sweet Heat" peppers, I found a treasure.
Raspberries.
Frozen in pristine condition.
Perfect for some springtime raspberry gelato, made with my new ice cream maker.
I got all of the fixings at the store and they sat in my fridge as one day blended into the next.  Mother's Day, the day I really wanted to make a nice dessert, was just too busy.  Plus, I hadn't read the recipe fully before.  It was supposed to sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours...  We went out for ice cream.

Today, amid the chaos of my life, I decided to make the gelato.  As my daughter ate her lunch, I pureed and strained the raspberries, then beat the eggs and heated the cream and sugar mixture.  I just didn't heat it enough.  I wasn't thinking.  So a little cream mixed into the egg just fine, and that mixture went into the rest of the cream fine too.  But it wasn't hot enough, and slowly, I noticed that I had broken the sacred rule of custard making.  *Don't scramble the eggs.

Google, Help!
Some nice lady named Sarah with  Baking911 had the answer.
Immersion blender.  Ohthankgoodness, I have one of those.
So after a bit of a fright, I ended up with a fine custard.
 Seven or so hours later, after the raspberries were mixed in and the ice cream maker worked its magic, we had some pretty great homemade raspberry gelato.




Additionally, I have some jewelry projects in the works, which I am very excited about.
One of which is fixing a pair of my earrings that my daughter was enjoying playing with.  She got them from my bedside table and sat in the hall playing with them.  As she saw me walking up the stairs, she happily said "Diam-boonds." (They're really only silver.)

I do like repairing jewelry.

That's what was for dinner.

Green salad topped with 

   Cucumbers

   Tomatoes

   Quinoa

   Cranberries

   Lemon-Cranberry chicken

   Cheddar and

   25 Star Balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.  (Of course that was from our beloved shop, Olio.)

I cooked the strips of chicken in my handy cast iron pan, and squeezed in the jiuce of 1/2 lemon.  While that cooked, cranberries boiled in a saucepan with a bit of water.  When the chicken was just about done, and the lemon juice sizzled in the pan, I added the cranberry water, turned up the heat and let that reduce.

The combination of the tart lemon and cranberry with the sweet balsamic and the sharp cheddar made this meal *Pop*.

What's for dinner?

As a professional tinkerer, I suppose you can say that I tinker in the art of good food.
And thriftiness.
Full-time mom.  Part-time jeweler.  Part-time lenscrafter.  Part-time good-deal-shopper.
Since having this cute little kid, I noticed it just isn't as easy to throw together a meal as it used to be. It's also not as simple to hop in the car to go get something to make for dinner.
So I started planning.
I am a list maker.
I've been a list maker for a good long time now, but it's gotten more serious lately.
Sunday morning rolls around and we have our breakfast, then I go through the paper, my husband actually reads the news, I look at the fliers for sales and coupons, and the wee one gets a marker and the discarded parts of the paper to draw on.  It's all good fun.  Especially when there are scones involved.  Or my mother-in-law's coffee cake.  (Hopefully it lasts until then!)
Then I try to plan the meals for the week.
For a while I would run them past my husband and ask if he had any requests.  I guess I don't really do that much anymore, but he doesn't complain, so I guess I'm doing alright!
At one point, though, I had planned out meals for nearly an entire month.
TRUST ME.  I know how crazy that probably sounds.  I Know.
But, when it came time to make dinner and buy groceries, it was so fast and easy.  Sitting down and racking my brain for probably close to an hour that one day saved me so much time and energy later.
Now that I really look at the fliers, since we just started to get the paper, it is a little different, because I try to plan dinners based on what is in sale for the week.
Anyway, I thought that I would try to get ahead of this meal planning thing, and even though I don't know what will be on sale coming up, I could get some ideas together.
Obviously, I googled meal plans.
I got some good websites like Cooking Light, and Whole Foods.  The thing that I had noticed was that sooooo many websites that boast their meal ideas use meat in their main dish.
Don't get me wrong.  I would be a GREAT vegetarian, except that I Love eating meat. Kinda wrecks that.  But, I don't want to have meat for every dinner.  Also, it is pretty easy for me to come up with a meal that includes meat- basically, I just add sides.  
It is coming up with the rest of the ideas.
A non meat based dinner that will still be filling, since everyone in this home eats a lot.

Two of my favorites to add to a weekly meal plan are
Fish with quinoa and asparagus
Followed a few days later with
A Huge salad topped with avocado, leftover quinoa that is then pan-fried to make it crispy,  and sautéed onions and peppers.

So, I'm not certain what will be for dinner coming up, but I did find this Sweet Potato Chickpea Cakes recipe.  I do believe that will make it in the mix!

Cheers.

The Sweet Scent of April Showers

We returned from a sunny yet crisp, extra long Easter weekend in Vermont
To find greener grass and bigger blooms.
While we were gone, our daffodils, shaded on the north side of the house, grew tall and flowered.
A playful morning at the park
Making new friends
Lunch on the porch
Now followed by some April showers.
 I sit to continue the job hunt with fingers crossed and high hopes.

Ice Cream, Part 2

I almost forgot!

Caught in a nick of time, before I washed the dishes is an empty bowl from the Simple Chocolate Ice Cream recipe.

In case youre wondering, it was delicious!

My super cool husband's cousin and his wife came to visit us this evening.  After a grand time in the park, with our wee one climbing up the big kid spiral slide and bumpy slide, we came home and had to hurry to make the ice cream.  We didn't want to take the extra time to make a custard base.  

I am not disappointed, just even more excited to try more recipes!

Sorbets.

Gelatos.

I think I may have seen some frozen adult refreshment recipes, too!

Ice Cream

My grocery list yesterday included heavy cream, whole milk and eggs.
Why?
Because this weekend we want to try out our new ice cream maker!
There are so many different recipes for ice cream, I just don't know what to choose.  I am kinda hoping for chocolate, but I don't know, a really good, custard based vanilla for the very first batch might be the way to go.
Decisions, decisions!
Homemade ice cream also requires some thought about which bowl to use.
Don't laugh, it's a serious matter!
It will have to be one that I made, it just wouldn't seem right otherwise.
Hopefully I will remember to take some photos of our delicious adventure and the finished product.

We also need to find a new ice cream scoop.
Maybe one of these Zeroll scoops.

Did you know you can get them customized?!
(Neither did I.  I just found that out.)

Also slated for this weekend, I will be at work making some glasses, and I need to sit down and get some jewelry designs out of my head and onto paper.
This little ring really got me thinking!