Autumn Noshing

1) A picked purple pepper from the farmers market
2) One of my four variations of Challah made at my Zing! Bake class
3) Sweet potato soup with sriracha, crispy black lentils, yogurt and cilantro

I've found myself naturally flowing into autumn's produce with unexpected ease.  I say unexpected because I usually have a needy clingy attachment to summer's beautiful produce.  I can relate this to the bigger picture by noting that my transition back into work/the school year has been easier than I anticipated.  Something about the actual change of the season: leaf colors turning from green to yellow, cooler evenings with candles lit, trips to the cider mill, etc help you along. 

Also, wanted to include a picture of my well stocked fridge.  I was busy the first few weeks stocking up my larder for the nights that I didn't feel like cooking:

+ Frozen burritos made out of farmers market veggies, Spanish rice, chicken and beans.  I often grab for a healthy lunch at work.
+ Vegan chili and Roasted Tomato + White Bean Beef chili
+ Sweet potato soup
+ 5 ends of Challah
+ Bananas for banana bread and breakfast cookies
+ homemade cookie dough

Summer Emily

We are now in the month of August, which is a "oh shit!" moment for me.  You see, I sometimes feel like I live my life as two people: Summer Emily and Rest of the Year Emily.  Summer Emily is really not ready to be Rest of the Year Emily.  Why?  Here are two examples from this past week.
This Saturday, I was at the farmers market chatting with my farmer friend Seth, buying all the colors of summer to eat.  Then, my Aunt Joni calls and invites me down to their cottage on the lake for the night.  Which I accept and enjoy pulled pork that had been smoked on the grill for 9 hours and topped with a homemade BBQ sauce with a homemade raspberry shrub to drink.  Sigh.  Secondly, today Summer Emily went to a spontaneous concert in the park with Michigan's own troubadour and spent 4 hours making naan.  Beautiful good food, friendships truly enjoyed and experienced, lake waters, and spontaneity. 

So simply, I am feeling the pressures to enjoy summer knowing that end is coming fairly soon.  (PS I know this is a beyond first world problem to have).

1. Farmer's market veggie frittata with peppered feta and bacon crumbles
2. Heirlooms: the summer tomato
3. Summer blooms

4. Homemade tabbouleh from Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem
5. Echinacea admired during concern in Burns Park
6. Uncle Joe's raspberry shurb

7. Homemade naan with smears of ghee
8. Coldwater Lake
9. Pasta made on a solitary alone Friday night with a book

It ain't summer without...

one Sassy Pasta appearance:

An appetite for color

One thing I wrote down on my rest of the summer "to-do" list while out west was to bake with fruit- to cook and eat all the colors of summer.  So when I got back to Dewitt, I hit up the East Lansing farmers market, bought some peaches, black raspberries, greens, cherry tomatoes, kale, basil, etc.  Here are some of the fruits of my efforts (pun intended always):

1. Black raspberries
2. Summer quinoa salad with kale, sweet corn & cherry tomatoes
3. Homemade pesto
4. Black raspberry tea cake with dark chocolate
5. Peach pie with homemade lattice crust
6. Chocolate chip cookies with cold coffee and peanut butter
7. Farro with cherry tomatoes and pesto

Bowl Foods

The biggest rewards of living outdoors for a month plus is by far the simplicity.  Food is no exception, as all meals were served and eaten in one vessel: the bowl.  We each had our bowls, which quickly became dirty with remnants of crusty oatmeal or the oil from the following night's pasta sauce.  Cooking for the first time became instinctual and unlabored, not hindered by a quest to find the "perfect" recipe for chili.  Here is a series of photos to give homage to the beloved bowl food.

First summerish meal of the year?

Homemade arepas con friojles, cotija, cilantro y lima.

Snowday, Bakeday

We are officially midway through the third month of winter.  12 days until "Emily" first day of spring.  About another month until the official first day of spring.  Probably like two more months until actual spring- like conditions. 
I am starting to feel stir-crazy, 100% cabin fever maxed out.  I've baked the past two snow days I've had to fill the time. 

1//Walnut banana whole wheat muffins
2// Honey oat whole wheatish bread

Seedy

Last week I attempted to make another Indian slow cooker dish.  T'was a fail.  But at least I got this beautiful picture of my cumin and mustard seeds, mid-toasting.

A random Tuesday in Janurary 2015

The soup of the week.  I've found a good rhythm on my days off, a little bit of rest, a little bit of productivity.  A touch of creativity is the cherry on top.  In the morning I spend a few hours reading, finding new blogs, perhaps blogging myself.  In the afternoons, I wash my laundry, cook dinner, bake, run to the library, go for a walk, do my (kidney) yoga, and tidy up my room.  As I've gotten older I've learned a little bit everyday is the rhythm that I work best at.

With winter, comes my desire to jump back into projects.  Last year I bought the book "Shooting with Soul" which is filled with simple photography exercises to capture the ordinary existence with a new eye.  One of the exercises is "Good mail" which is simply to photography mail that makes your heart leap with excitement.  Pictured above, is a postcard from a good friend and Taproot magazine (bread edition!!). 

P.S. This is the first soup that I successfully used a Parmesan rind to help develop the flavor!

Eating over break

I see a startling trend here: I'm eating vegetable soups only to chase it with sugar-chocolate laden baked doughy things.

I was put in charge of family Christmas dinner this year with only one order: lots of vegetables.  So I did some cookbook reading and came up with:

1) Yellow split pea soup with sprouts (from the ever so reliable Sprouted Kitchen)
2) Roasted acorn squash with a thai curry glaze, filled with an arugula/quinoa/feta salad (not pictured)
3) Chocolate chip scones

Surprisingly the scones were both easy and fun to make.  They key was to use pastry flour which has a low protein content, along with being mindful to not overwork the dough.  The crumb content was beautiful once baked. 

The last two pictures are of a (3)Red Indian Carrot Soup I made from the cookbook I managed to smuggle among in my carry on suitcase (yes, I read cookbooks as novels).  It was surprisingly not too carroty.  The last, just happens to be the best (4) chocolate chip cookie ever to exist.  I used the best bittersweet chocolate I could get my hands on and let the dough refrigerate for 24 hours which gave me it a more complex toffee flavor.  I will never try another chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

The Baking continues

Things I continue to learn:

1) Pies aren't as hard as I thought- when you use store bought crust ;)

2) I prefer banana bread to all the vegetable/fruit breads especially when chocolate chips are thrown in

Growing up & Baking

As I march firmly in adulthood, I aim to be more of an "everyday" person instead of all at once.  Meaning, cleaning 15 minutes a day instead of saving it for entire day. 

One of Amber's friends had mentioned she cooks all of their meals on Sunday for the ENTIRE WEEK.  I was quite amazed by that.  While I think it may be a bit too much for me, I do intend to start a habit of baking a loaf of bread every Sunday/Monday for the rest of the week.  We shall see how that goes....

P.S. Challah is still my favorite

Boule!

I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you: Boule! I say Boule with the zest of an Italian.
Baking.  Just one of the ways I feel connected to a more primal/earthy/cyclical life that in turn makes me feel more wholehearted and ME. 

...and this is the salad I made for lunch (on a tree stump).  This is the salad version of the best meal ever ate on top of the mountain in Killington (from previous post).

One must always have a pair of bright hiking socks

Riding the gondola up the mountain.  You know life is pretty good when you've been in two different gondolas in one year.

Me, Dad and Alicia atop of the mountain.

squinty squinty

We explored views, watched mountain bikers, took naps on lumber piles in the sun (Dad) while waiting for mom to join us.  Once we did, I had one of the best sandwiches ever (ceci bean- quinoa patties on warm toasted pita, chevre, arugula/romaine, red pepper relish, and a cucumber and basil vinaigrette.  HEAVEN for thee tastebuds.

Nom nom.

And last but not least, we missed our Do Do back studying away in Chicago.