To Thine Own Self, Be Food

Tomorrow is the beginning of August.  August 1st.  For me, it's hard to think of August in any other way besides The Month In Which I Start Working Again. This year, however, August will be a little different.  As far as this blog goes, August is No-Breakfast Cereal Month here at Chez Nelson.  We've been without the ubiquitous grain product for about a week and a half now...so it's not like we're going cold turkey.  This morning's grocery cart did not look much different than any other week: another dozen eggs, an extra muskmelon, a few more cartons of yogurt... I did not do any make-ahead dishes in preparation for this month...so, for this first week, it looks like toast, scrambled/poached eggs, pancakes, yogurt, and fruit will headline the morning meal. Have a great week!

So. It's been awhile. How have you all been? Is it sad that I am looking forward, in a small way, to the beginning of the school year?  That always seems to mark the start of routine, of focus. For example, this week.  Last weekend, my two sons (12 and 6) picked the recipes for the family dinners for the week.  I did the shopping.  So far, so good.  We had delicious meatball subs on Monday and amazing chicken pot pie on Tuesday.  I did the prep work, and Brent finished up with the cooking. Then, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we dined out.  Even though we had a menu.   Neither my husband or I felt like cooking.  Neither of us had willpower, either.  Bad, bad, bad, bad. Oh well.  Right?  I am already looking ahead to August.  This family seems to eat best when it's faced with some kind of challenge.  It is probably time for the No-Restaurant Challenge.  I wouldn't mind trying the Homemade-Bread-For-An-Extended-Period-of-Time Challenge someday.  Here's one I

Let's play a word association game.  I'll give you a word, and you give me the first thing that comes into your mind. Lentil.  Barbra Streisand.  Exotic.  Split pea soup.  Legume.  New York. If any of these are familiar to you, then we share the same thought process.  Again, a lentil is a foodstuff I did not eat, ever, as I was growing up (I know, I know, story of my life).  Lentils were weird, little, pea-like things that people from New York ate.  And Barbra Streisand?  Oh, I know, "Yentl".  A movie she was in; rhymes with lentil. Lentils, I've discovered are a super-duper nutritional powerhouse.  In fact, check it out here . So, last night's dinner: Lentil Soup.  The recipe indicated that it would require two hours of cooking time, and because I would be out running errands around the time it would need to be started, I left this task in the hands of my trusty, but nervous husband-chef. As with most recipes, prepwork makes the actual cooking proc

2011 has been a year of new vegetable experimentation: turnips, asparagus, avocados, etc.  But artichokes, they're nothing new.   I've had them before.  In Spinach-Artichoke Dip.  At TGIFridays.  Which I've decided - DOES NOT COUNT. So, here's this week's vegetable project: the artichoke.  As you know, they look like this when you buy them in the produce section of the grocery store: Here are the two major things I learned: if you cut up the artichoke and don't dip it in lemon juice, it will turn brown quickly.  Kind of like my children in the summertime.  And, these guys are a pain to cut up, and I think next time, I'll go with frozen (if I can find it). So, I began my project by hacking (and I mean hacking) the stems off.  Then, I lopped off the top inch or so.  Then, I plucked off all the tough outer leaves.  Finally, I was ready to hack the bereft fruit in half... And that, right there, gives this vegetable its name: that hairy, fuzzy little bi