You can definitely take this city girl out of the city... for this!

During my week hiatus here at Tyson's parents house in Grand Junction, Colorado, I've gotten the opportunity to prepare food in a way that just trumps my bidaily Trader Joe's runs. There is this gorgeous vegetable garden here, with tons of lettuces, swiss chard, kohlrabi, carrots, kale, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, oregano, basil, mint... quite the orgasm of healthy eating, if you ask me.

It's tough to get internet time here, but I had to do a quick blog post with photos, since it's just marvelous!

Here's me in the garden with my awesome straw fedora and breezy summer dress, harvesting lettuces for a big 4th of July dinner in Beaver Creek with Tyson's extended family.

(Quick city girl story: first time I did this, Tyson's mom told me to pick some lettuce, I asked how, she gave me some scissors and a bag, I stared at her blankly, then she grabbed a bunch and snipped at the base, and I asked "oh, so you just cut it off?")

Here are the veggies of my labor (get it?? ha!).

The harvested lettuce being thoroughly rinsed in a sink of cold water. Makes you appreciate that lovely triple-washed bagged stuff that only costs $1.99. Though there is a sense of accomplishment here (and the freshness of just-picked, of course).

And a final whirl in the salad spinner.

Just had to show off my new engagement ring in this photo. There it is!

What to do with those little packets they give you when you get Pho takeout.

I'm somewhat of a pho purist. I don't like to taint my perfectly seasoned broth with more than the requisite thai basil, sprouts, and hearty dose of lime juice. You'll never see me grab for the squeezy bottles of hoisin and chili sauce. So, when I get pho takeout, those individual ketchup-sized packets of hoisin and chili sauces just get thrown into the "take-out junk drawer" alongside flimsy plastic knives that can cut through stuff as well as elementary school scissors.

As I've been really into the joys of Chinese cooking (and my new 12" omelette pan), I had an epiphany to saucing up a recent stir-fry experience: use the damn take-out sauces! That's right, I took one hoisin packet and one chili sauce packet (that they give you with Le Saigon pho takeout), snipped off the tops, and squeezed those suckers right into my stir-fry. A couple of quick pan flips et voila! Tastes just like kung pao! (click on photo for an up close and personal look)



"Take out drawer" Kung Pao
1 lb chicken breast tenders, chopped, lightly floured and doused in soy sauce
sliced red bell peppers
1/2 sliced onion
chopped snow peas
1 sliced red chili (for extra heat if needed... I felt like going extra spicy here)
roasted peanuts
1 packet each: hoisin sauce, chili sauce

It's stir-fry, so I did this all over high-high heat with some grapeseed oil. Chicken went in first to get a quick glaze, quickly followed by the peppers and onions. Snow peas need a bit less time to cook, so they went in about a minute later. Last 20 seconds of cooking, I threw in the peanuts and sauces, gave the whole thing a couple of quick pan flips, and moved to the serving dish (after snapping a quick photo). Serve over rice, of course.

Helloooooo June Gloom.

I really don't get why people are so confused at LA weather. We get some clouds and a sprinkling of rain in early June, and people are facebooking like there's no tomorrow. Where the hell is summer?, they ask. Well... summer in LA starts in July, runs through September, maybe 3 weeks in October, then hits a week in November, two weeks spanning January and February, part of April, and most of May. See? Perfectly not confusing.

Alas, good ol' June gloom hits like clockwork. Definitely need that sweater in the morning, especially if you're in classrooms in Santa Monica.

Here's my June gloom soup. Also known as my Get Well Soon soup.


chicken broth
dehydrated shiitake mushrooms
sliced ginger
shredded chicken breast
a dash of soy sauce, salt, and chili oil

Toss it all together in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 min.

On a breakfast kick, apparently.

I used to love going to Lazy Daisy for breakfast/brunch (two locations in West LA, one on Pico, one on Wilshire). Then I decided it was ridiculous to spend more than $3 on breakfast + coffee, especially in recession time. I did start to really miss their rosemary toast, though, which gave me the inspiration for this breakfast.



Over-medium fried egg, topped with a saute of onions, sundried tomatoes, chopped rosemary, and mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste. Served atop some whole wheat toast.

Time to Experiment: Squash Blossoms

I saw these gorgeous squash blossoms at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. Tyson mentioned that he had liked them, so I brought a good half pound. I asked his sister for some recommendations on what to do (since the only recipes I really found online involved deep frying, which doesn't really fit my cooking style right now). She recommended stuffing them with cheese and rice, drizzling some oil over them, some salt and pepper, and then bake. Sounded easy enough...

The results were, well, just so-so. I think I cooked them well (baked in a 350 oven for about 20 min). I pulled the stamens out as directed, stuffed them, twisted the delicate leaves, drizzled extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with salt and cracked pepper... And it looked pretty darn cool.



Where I went wrong was the stuffing... I was trying to be all healthy and crap, which is fine when I know what I'm doing, but here I was in uncharted (for me) territory trying to be all clever and waist-friendly. The stuffing mixture consisted of: pearl barley (because I was out of brown rice), lowfat cottage cheese (because I didn't want to go to the store to get ricotta), a small handful of leftover cheese blend (parmesan, asiago, provolone, and fontina), and some egg white. And salt and pepper of course.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this little failed experiment since that's what learning is all about. Moral of this story: sometimes you gotta put good tasting food in your food to make it taste good. This just didn't work for me. Next time I think I'd try basmati rice, manchego cheese, some ricotta, and a whole egg. Now doesn't THAT sound tasty?

Breakfast of Champions

I've blogged about the protein pancake before, but it's such a huge part of my life, I thought I'd revisit this awesome breakfast.


See recipe

Tyson and I are going to hike up to Parker Mesa every weekend before Colorado. He's doing this so he's in somewhat decent shape to keep up with his 62 year old father on whichever 14er they wish to conquer this summer. I'm doing this so I can look like a skinny bitch this summer. You know, one of those girls who are fit and in shape but eat to their heart's desire? Yeah, them. I want to look like that. haha.

Our usual Sunday morning routine is roll out of bed and hit the Farmer's Market for for brunch. But this past Sunday, we woke up early, had some protein pancakes, schooled that hike, THEN made our way to the Farmer's Market. Early morning exertion like that just makes you crave healthier food. AND I actually took a photo of our breakfast. woohoo.

I haven't lost my ability to type.

I'm still here.
In fact, cooking up a storm.
I have photos on my camera.
They just haven't made it to the MacBook yet.
I promise to post at least 3x this week.
Please don't abandon me.
:)