Since I’m finding it impossible to keep up with blogging during this very demanding and needy stage that my son is currently in, I’m just going to have to do a few posts where I catch up on the meals I’ve wanted to share with you. Today, I’ll start by sharing some of the lovely vegetarian things we ate this weekend – my second Mother’s Day as a mom. Basically, these are just more examples of the delicious meals that my meat-eating husband cooks for me – I am truly feeling lucky and spoiled of late. (Please try to look past the quality of these photos. Right now this is the best I can do with my iPhone and the lighting in our house.)
Breakfast Egg Enchiladas
Yesterday morning Tim let me sleep in and got up with Sebastian. When I got up an hour later the coffee was made, and then Tim cooked scrambled egg enchiladas. He used a store bought, jarred sauce, and our opinion was that it was – meh. It needed more heat. We’ll have to tweak this meal, but didn’t it look pretty!
Easy Supper – Farro Salad, Veggie Chorizo, and Sauteed Greens
Last night was yet another example of Tim’s genius in the kitchen. He had bought a ton of greens at the local farmer’s market – mustard, turnip, kale, arugula…. While chatting with some of the people about greens, somebody mentioned that he loved to eat mustard greens with chorizo sausage, but that he couldn’t since his wife was vegetarian. Tim is not one to be deterred, so even though we’ve tried vegetarian chorizo in the past and it wasn’t that great, Tim remembered that there was still a brand we hadn’t tried. He picked up some up on the way home and sauteed them in olive oil. Chorizo and mustard greens is a great combo!
But the real genius of the meal was the farro salad. This was our first time trying this mostly whole grain (I guess it’s pearled, so part of it is removed or sanded down – I have to do more research into it) and Tim’s preparation was inspired. He tossed it with grated parmesan cheese, arugula, peas, olive oil, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice, which I couldn’t really taste. It was a very satisfying meal.
Mother’s Day Breakfast – Veggie Sausage Scramble
Mother's Day Breakfast!
The not-so-great picture above, is of the breakfast that Tim made for me this morning (again, he got up early with Sebastian and let me sleep in – squee!): Scrambled eggs with veggie sausage (a different one, apple and fennel flavor, I think) and greens leftover from dinner last night (mild mustard greens and turnip greens, sautéed), with a small cheese quesadilla, and a slice of honeydew melon.
Mother’s Day Lunch – Farro Salad and Sardines
Mother's Day Lunch!
As I said, last night Tim made farro for the first time and it was a huge success. We are thrilled that it makes a great leftover lunch and we are going to start making bigger batches for Tim to pack in his lunch throughout the week. As for the sardines, I prefer smaller sardines, but these have a mild flavor and taste good if I just try not to look at them. I pretty much chopped them up with my fork and mixed them into my farro salad. It was like a very grown up tuna-noodle casserole.
And by the way, Sebastian is quite fond of sardines too! I can’t find the photo I took of the first time he ate a sardine, but here is another cheeky pic of him instead.
As you can see, we’ve been eating a lot of eggs and veggie sausage lately. We’re actually trying to find some alternative proteins to that – but this is what you end up with when you have an open-minded meat-eater and a “pescotarian” that hates to cook.
This had been the year of fruit infused vodka for my husband – ever since he read a post about it early in the summer on a blog called Punk Domestics He has made strawberry, raspberry, and peach flavors so far. The process really brings out the essence of the fruit.
It has been so cool to use organic local fruit from nearby orchards for this process, and to change the fruits with the seasons.
The process is quite simple. Just stuff a bunch of fruit into a jar and cover it with vodka (lately we’ve been using Tito’s Handmade Vodka for the value, but we first made it with Prairie Organic Vodka, after out Minnesota relatives visited, and that honestly tasted smoother) then agitate it twice a day for two weeks. To agitate, you turn the bottles upside down and then upright ten times. Then strain it through a cheesecloth and funnel it back into a bottle.
I know that pineapple infused vodka has been popular lately. Let me know if anyone tries any other off-the-wall flavors – like peppers or cucumbers!
Sebastian is teething so I spent a lot of the day standing and swaying with him in the Babyhawk Mei Tai baby carrier, while watching session speakers on my laptop and interacting with conference participants via chat. This photo was taken with my laptop camera as I was watching a speaker.
Here is a brief update on my life this weekend:
(1) This weekend, I’m attending the Lady Blogger Social Online Conference, a friend is coming to visit, and my husband threw up last night (Food poisoning? Stomach bug?) so my plate is FULL!
Oh, and one of Sebastian’s top teeth poked through today to top it all off! So….incredibly moody baby.
(2) The conference has been really great so far! Among other things, I’m learning to network, which has always been difficult for this formerly shy gal.
(3) Just as I begin to feel good that I’m doing more laundry these days (and possibly catching up?), I realize that I still have clothes in the dryer from two days ago, and I’m going to have to leave the wet load in the basket till tomorrow, because I can’t run the dryer right now and risk waking the baby up. Wah-wah-wah(sad trombone sound effect).
(4) Because of the baby, the conference, my sick hubby, and a friend’s crisis, I haven’t had time to shower since before my workout yesterday morning.
Yeah.
Sorry for the TMI there, but it had to be said.
(5) I’ve got lots to catch up on – I’ve been exercising and have joined Weight Watchers, so we’ll be talking about how physical health affects mental health, and also cheap healthy lunch choices this coming week.
(6) Oh yeah, after avoiding them for a long time, I’ve started watching hoarding shows, there have been an abundance of them the past few days.
Where have I been? At the Telluride Bluegrass Festival! Here are some highlights from our weekend:
In these first photos we are watching Bela Fleck in Elks Park.
Mostly I spent the weekend tending to the baby while my friends drank and had a blast. A lot of time was spent by me and my husband, cupping our hands over Sebastian’s ears. We wish we had looked into ear-plug-muffs before we left.
The last night was in the 40s with freezing rain. We sat under our canopy chairs in the rain for Mumford & Sons.
Here is a 20 second clip of the rain:
And for the last Mumford & Sons song we were huddled in our chairs and I was cupping Sebby’s ears, but the energy of everyone in the crowd, ah, it still puts tears in my eyes. My husband and I were both kicking ourselves for not filming it, but this person did:
When the clouds broke, we looked behind us and there was new snow dumped on the mountains.
We stuck it out and were rewarded by an awesome performance by Robert Plant.
Led Zeppelin is possibly my all time favorite band.
We returned Monday afternoon, and now my husband’s parents are in town for the week. I know I missed the Keep or Purge :: Trash or Treasure last week. I hope to resume it this Thursday or Friday.
Last night was yet another example of Tim’s genius in the kitchen. He had bought a ton of greens at the local farmer’s market – mustard, turnip, kale, arugula…. While chatting with some of the people about greens, somebody mentioned that he loved to eat mustard greens with chorizo sausage, but that he couldn’t since his wife was vegetarian. Tim is not one to be deterred, so even though we’ve tried vegetarian chorizo in the past and it wasn’t that great, Tim remembered that there was still a brand we hadn’t tried. He picked up some up on the way home and sauteed them in olive oil. Chorizo and mustard greens is a great combo!
