Mac&Cheese&Peas

Thursday, June 7, 2012

First CSA Pick-up: What the heck do I do with this Rhubarb?

Hello! Hope your Thursday is going as well as mine! I just picked up my first share from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

I got lots of great stuff this week, and I can't wait to eat it all. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this CSA was to force myself to learn how to cook/prepare different kinds of vegetables. Utilizing all the fresh produce will definitely be a challenge. I don't want any of it to go to waste.

Here's what I got:

A bunch of radishes
1 head green leaf lettuce
1/2 lb spinach
1 crown of broccoli
1 lb rhubarb
1 quart strawberries

My biggest challenge this week will be figuring out what to do with the rhubarb. I don't think I've ever had it in my life, and the only thing that comes to mind is rhubarb pie. My mom told me she used to dip it in sugar and eat it raw. Anyone else have any ideas?

I know I won't have any trouble finishing the strawberries. They are one of my favorite fruits. Also, I predict lots of salads in my near future with radishes, spinach, and lettuce. :)

If you want to read my post on CSA's, how I decided to sign up, and why they are so amazing, click here.
For more info on CSAs: Local Harvest
For Info on my CSA: Farm Direct Co-op

P.S. If you know any rhubarb recipes, please leave a comment!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Tory Row 5k w/ Team Mac&Cheese&Peas!

Shaina, Jackie, & Me

I had an awesome experience at the Tory Row 5k on Sunday!

Official results:
Time: 27:33
Pace: 8:53

Our Team came in 7th!

MAC & CHEESE & PEAS

Total Time: 1:58:26

Things that made it awesome:

My bestest running buddies were there! Representing Team Mac&Cheese&Peas!

Team photo: Shaina, Jackie, Tracy, me

Drizzley weather= great running conditions

source

Guzzling a Harpoon beer at 9:45 am

source

Chasing that beer with a piece of Perfect Fuel Chocolate

from Wickedpotatoes

Chatting to some crazy barefoot running men who tried to convince us they invented barefoot running. uh yeah right buddy, obviously cavemen invented it!

source

Chatting to Race Menu guy, J Alain Ferry, and then signing up for Team RaceMenu (!!!)

website

Grabbing Brunch (& mimosas!) at Russel House Tavern

Things that made it not so awesome:

Losing a contact lens before the race even started!

and...that's it actually.

P.s. Please watch this video! Dr. Katz invented the ONQI system that scores food for NuVal, the company I work for. These are his adorable children.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Spelt Flour Banana Oat Muffins

Inspired by this recipe.

Since our bananas were rotting I decided to bake something with them. I wanted my recipe to include oats, brown sugar, and spelt flour. I found a recipe online and just tweaked it a little bit to include those ingredients.
What's better than baking on a rainy day?

Ingredients:
1 cup mashed bananas
1.5 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda
Mash bananas
Whisk together egg, milk, olive oil and vanilla.
Pour liquids into flour mixture, then add in bananas and stir til just mixed.
Pour into muffin tin, fill each cup about 3/4 way
Bake for 20 minutes!

Muffiny Goodness!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

How to: Windowsill Gutter Garden

This is a really fun project to do. It's also fairly inexpensive and pretty easy.

Having fresh herbs growing in your kitchen window is perfect for cooking healthy meals.

Materials to make one Gutter Garden:
Tape Measure
Gutter (vinyl or aluminum, the choice is yours)
Gutter end caps (right and left side)
Potting Soil
Plants/seeds
Saw (If you don't have access to a saw, most Home Depots have a cutting station were you can use a saw, or have someone there cut it for you.)

Step 1: Measure your window sill, this is where the gutter will sit.
Step 2: Purchase your gutter, we chose to get a white plastic/vinyl one because our windowsills and frames are white.
Step 3: Purchase the end caps, make sure you have a right one and a left one. Make sure they fit the gutter.
Step 4: Cut the gutter to your desired length. This is where the saw comes in.
Step 5: Pick out plants and or seeds, and potting soil. We chose some herbs because we want to use them for cooking, but you can get flowers, or any other small plants that do well in containers.

Step 6: Plant your plants! And fill the gutter with potting soil.

Step 7: Place it in the window and marvel at how crafty you are!

I recently used the parsley and basil to season my salmon. It was delicious! I love having fresh herbs at my fingertips!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

My 102nd Post!

I had big plans to write something special for my 100th post, but I lost track of the numbers, ( I had a lot to write about with my Brother's Graduation, and the Scott Procopio 10k all in one weekend) and now I'm up to 102. oops.

102 is not as special as 100, but I still want to take the opportunity to recognize this accomplishment for my blog. I've heard from many of my friends and readers (which are mostly one and the same) that my blog has improved in it's quality, and that it has "come a long way". Yay!!

I want to say a giant THANK YOU to everyone who continues to read it and support it. It really means a lot to me! :)

To celebrate (and reminisce) I'm going to list my favorites from the past 101 posts:

My First Loaf
Accidental Fudge
The Black Cat Road Race
Banana Oat Walnut Bread
Spelt Pancakes with Carmelized bananas
How I learned to Food Shop
A Baking Story in Photos
Pretzel Bites
May Kelly's Irish Cottage and the first breakfast at Red Elephant
Flatbread, The Muddy Moose, and The Stairway Cafe
Halloween Cupcakes and Jack-owl-Lanterns
My Hero

I hope you enjoy getting a second look at these posts!

Here's to 1000 more!

Cheers, and thanks everyone!!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Scott Procopio Gold Star Run for Honor 10k

Hi Guys!
Yesterday I woke up at 5 to run a 10k in my hometown of Saugus! Yes, that's right, 5am on a Saturday, what was I thinking??

I decided to try a different pre-race breakfast than what I've been having. This was my 7th race, and I've had a bagel with cream cheese, coffee and orange juice before each one. This time I had 3.25 English muffins halves with peanut butter, honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a mug of coffee.

I think this breakfast worked a lot better. Bagels get digested pretty fast, so by the time I'm at the starting line, I'm usually feeling shaky (could be from nerves, though) and a little hungry, and depending on the length of the race, I feel like I need more energy. This time I didn't feel hungry/shaky before the race, and I never felt like I was running out of energy on the course.

The humidity was at 87% and it was around 75 degrees. Not ideal running conditions!

I ended up running into 2 friends from high school, Ryan and Josh, and they were both running the 5k. It was really nice to see some familiar faces, and chatting with them really helped calm my pre-run jitters. So, thanks guys!

The starting line

The course was not very scenic. It went down some main roads in Saugus, and at mile 4, it lead us up a giant hill. That was not fun, but I didn't stop to walk once, so I was pretty proud of myself for that. I enjoyed the challenge!

I crossed the finish line in 58 minutes 19 seconds with a pace of 9:23. For the women's division, I came in 19th out of 29, and in my age division 11th out of 16. Not my best, but I had an awesome time running this race, and I loved the challenge of the big hill near the end.

This race was run in honor of Scott Procopio who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2006. The proceeds go to a scholarship in his name to help children of members in the armed forces go to college.

For more information:
www.procopioscholarship.com

Mike's Law School Graduation

Friday was a special day, my big brothers graduation from Law School!
I went to the commencement ceremony with my Mom, Dad, Grandma, and my brother's girlfriend, Yulia. The ceremony was held at the Wang Theatre, which is gorgeous. It was a really nice location, and even though it wasn't super hot, I was secretly glad it was held inside!

The ceremony was nice, and it wasn't too long or boring. I found out an interesting fact about New England Law, they were the first and only law school to allow women to attend! They were founded in 1908, so they were teaching women law before women even had the right to vote. I thought that was pretty awesome.

After the ceremony, we met up with my brother, snapped some pics, and went to lunch. Our original plan was to go to Texas Roadhouse. but when we got there, we saw it was under construction, and wasn't going to open until 3:30! At this point it was only 2pm, so we decided to go to Chili's instead.

I wish my brother's eyes were open...

At Chili's, I got a blue moon to drink, and the shrimp tacos for my meal. They were so good! I think I ordered them because they have a giant strip of avocado in each taco and I had been craving some.

mmmm, avocado.

But anyway, I'm really proud of my brother! He is now the highest educated person in our immediate family (he's a doctor of law!), and I wish him all the luck in taking the bar, and finding employment. I know he will make a terrific lawyer, so I wish him all the luck in the world.