Lots of Kitchen Fun

I love getting fresh fruits and veggies delivered to my door! It inspires me to try lots of new recipes.  Last delivery, I got zucchini, kale, corn, cucumbers, red onion, and blackberries among other things.  I tried zucchini pizza and corn salad - both of which turned out fantastic.  I adapted recipes I found on Pinterest.  For the zucchini pizza, I roasted the zucchini then topped it with sauce pepperoni and cheese and popped it back in the oven just long enough to melt.

For the corn salad I added the 4 ears of corn I had, half a red onion, a cucumber, cilantro I had in my fridge, parsley I had growing in a pot outside, salt, pepper, and some lemon juice and olive oil.  It turned out great! I took it home for the 4th of July.

This week, I had a delivery of lettuce, squash, nectarines, blueberries, a giant onion, peppers, green beans, and grape tomatoes. I found a pinterest recipe for squash casserole, one for a grape tomato focaccia, and I cooked up some green beans.  Mom had given me a cast iron skillet I was itching to try out and I had some fish in the freezer that when I tried to bake it came out tasting horribly fishy.  I didn't know if I could eat any more of it but I thought it was worth trying to fry it to mask the fishy taste.  It turned out very tasty. In fact, I would cook every one of these recipes again.

Exploring new recipes

In the past week I have been doing quite a bit of cooking.  Some of the produce I got from my Horse & Buggy Produce delivery included Swiss Chard and zucchini and I had to find a use for them.  Pinterest has become my go-to for finding new recipes. I just type the ingredient I want to use into the search and something good usually pops up.  That's how I found this recipe to use my Swiss chard.  At first, I thought it tasted too green, as if I should have put more cheese in it. But the flavor grew on me and it has made a great appetizer for my salads.

I then had to find something to bring to the PICU cookbook release party.  A friend suggested I make bread even though I didn't have any bread recipes in the cookbook.  A pinterest search for zucchini turned up this recipe. My only alterations were using regular flour and vegetable oil.  The cheesiness of this bread was fantastic and I would certainly make it again!

Last night, I pulled some taco meat out of the freezer and realized I only had 2 store bought tortillas left.  I decided to try another pinterest recipe.   These also turned out well, but I know they are NOT healthy because I know how much butter I put into them.

This morning has me trying to make sandwich bread from my sourdough starter.  It is very satisfying to watch it rise and know that my starter is alive and active and it amazes me how adding some salt, flour, and water can yield something edible.

Project in progress

This is the current project I'm working on. I started it around Memorial Day and I hope to have it finished soon. The next project will be a late grad present for my cousin's daughter who is going to UVA. I can't wait to get started!

Summer reading list

I am just now compiling a summer reading list. I should be able to get 2 books in per month for the next 3 months, so I will attempt the following:

1.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - I have heard so many good things about this book and I've seen everyone reading it so I figured I'd give it a try

2. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman - this book was recommended to me by the community reading group

3. Half The Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn - I watched a documentary about this book with a friend from work and then she loaned me her copy to read

4. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - I got this book at the library book sale years ago and I finally started it on my vacation

5. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - I got this one at this year's library book sale. The woman at the check out said it's a good one 

6. Radical by David Platt - this one has been in my reading stack for a while. After reading so much fiction this summer I'll need a book to bring me back to reality. 

Making bagels

I used a Pinterest recipe and my sourdough starter to try making bagels today. Lessons learned:
*maybe more flour so the dough isn't quite so sticky after it rises?
*Definitely oil the pans they rise on

We'll see what happens when I try again one of these days.

A March full of snow

I have done minimal crafting in the past couple weeks. The only project I really have been working on is a wedding gift for a May wedding. The crochet blanket is coming along slowly.

I have been trying to work lots of on call shifts to save some money for Bolivia and some other things I'd like to buy (ESV Study Bible, another book, an a waffle iron!).  Somehow, every week it seems to snow this month (and always on days I'm working).

March 6

March 24

March 25

(There was also snow on St Patrick's Day??)

Quilting, eating and reading

I finally finished the fishes top

and I started on another quilt top made from a jelly roll.

I'm not quite satisfied with the colors at the moment and might buy another roll to match the colors up differently.

I've also had some cooking successes. A friend said that an easy way to make BBQ chicken is just to put it in a crock pot with a container of BBQ sauce. SO easy! And pretty tasty.  I got 5ish meals out of it! I also found a pinterest recipe for cauliflower poppers which were actually very delicious!  I still crave more.

For some reason I decided to adventure into making sourdough.  I set out a starter (2 cups of flour, 2 cups of water and a packet of yeast) for 3 days and my first two loaves turned out great! I ate more than half a loaf the first day (with cream cheese and cheddar cheese and apple butter an plain and as a roast beef sandwich)!

And of course I'm reading. I'm reading for church and for life group and for an online hermeneutics class.  When I don't get called in for my on call shifts I just sit and read. :)

That's my life lately! Pretty solitary, but thoroughly enjoyable!