Thanks.

My life has been really weird lately. Certain things have just not been right, and it's been throwing me off. I would tell you the details, but I can think of a couple of people who would be rather put off to discover that I had posted these things out on the internet... so sorry for my vagueness. Let it suffice to say that I've learned that I need friends here in my new city--and coming from a college environment where making friends happens almost effortlessly, I've had a hard time adjusting to the fact that most of the people I care about are now far away from me and that I have to take the initiative if I want to establish relationships here. As always, I do really appreciate all of your comments and thoughts and prayers...

I spent last week out of town on business, but I have some pictures to share with you from before then. Let me start out with a couple quick weeknight meals.


Baked potato with steamed broccoli, a quick cheesy sauce, and fresh black pepper. Quite comforting and easy... and if you cheat by cooking the potato in the microwave it's even easier. (Yes, I cheated this time.)


One of my favorite easy meals is cooked legumes tossed into a pan with kale that's been sautéed with garlic and red pepper flakes. These black-eyed peas were waiting in my freezer for a night like this. Bob made The Grit's Super Seven-Spice Potatoes to go on the side... he really likes that recipe.


Here's another attempt at the perfect hummus. It was quite good... but still not quite perfect. I tried to be heavy-handed with the olive oil, but it goes against years of being a health-conscious cook. Next time I'll ask Bob to add the olive oil--he's not shy.


It had been months since Bob and I made a homemade pizza. Finally I got up the energy to make a pizza dough, and I used Kris's recipe from DTV. Oh my goodness, there's no going back to any other pizza dough recipe, for this one achieved perfection. It was so soft and delicious and the edges puffed up nicely--and I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour. I topped this pie with homemade pizza sauce and pesto, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, red onions, and green bell peppers.


Here's a close-up of the crust. Yum.


Nava Atlas's African-Inspired Quinoa-Peanut Stew--thick and creamy and filling, yet at the same time kind of gentle on the tummy. I really liked it. Bob said it was just "all right." Looks like I get the leftovers!


Another quinoa-centered meal--Quinoa-Spring Salad from Vive! I can't remember the last time I actually followed the recipe for this, or even looked at the recipe... because it's so adaptable. This time I added chickpeas, green sweet peas, roasted red peppers, chopped cucumbers, artichoke hearts, green onions, cilantro, toasted pine nuts, and a simple vinaigrette.

One of my go-to lunches is a wrap sandwich. It's more portable than a traditional sandwich, and I prefer the wrap style anyway because the flavors of the fillings are not forced to hide behind the bread.



These are Balsamic-Glazed Portobella Mushrooms from VWaV. They made a delicious wrap with steamed Swiss chard and roasted red peppers, though I had forgotten how much mushrooms cook down. Next time I'll have to make about twice as much. They have a lovely, sweet-smoky flavor.


A recipe I've been meaning to test for Melody for quite some time--her Seitan Turkey Breast. I finally got to make it this weekend. It's very good, very savory. As she suggested, I pan-cooked the slices to give them a crisp crust.


The seitan turkey made an excellent wrap with steamed raab greens, roasted red peppers, and a dab of dijon mustard. Quoth Bob, "This seitan is almost too convincing." But that's a good thing--he really liked it!

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Now that all the food blogging is done, I have some exciting news to share. Meet our new fur baby!


This is Marzie. She was born to a stray mother--a couple Bob knows found momma cat hanging out around their porch one day with her new babies. They took the cats in and set about finding homes for the kittens. Marzie is sweet and playful, and every day she gets more accustomed to her new home.




Okay, okay, enough with the pictures!

That's all. I'll be around again soon!