apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm planning a big spring panzanella salad - with asparagus, yellow tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers cubes of garlic-rubbed grilled bread. budgetfoodie.typepad.com

I got blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries at half-off at the grocery! If I can keep from eating them fresh, I'll bake mini-galettes.

Tonight we are making quinoa risotto with some arugula--our vegetables have petered out, but the CSA box is coming tomorrow!

Three berry (blueberry, strawberry, raspberry) tart with either lemon curd or almond cream - can't decide yet

It's a long weekend up here (yay Queen Victoria!), so there's some barbeque in the offing!

It's supposed to be in the upper 90s this weekend so gazpacho is definitely on the menu, plus maybe a salt & vinegar potato salad to use up the potatoes before they go bad.

To S and the r: I'd like some of that three berry tart if you'd be willing to send some! ;-) It sounds good, with either the lemon curd or the almond cream.

I've got coconut ice cream in the machine right now. And I've been hankering grilled corn on the cob. So that's on the menu for this weekend.

I'm jealous of everyone getting lovely local produce already! I will definitely be picking up some rhubarb tomorrow at the farmer's market. Maybe asparagus? The ramps looked a little rangy last week--I wonder if they'll be available/decent. I'm cooking for someone whose stomach has been iffy, so it will be plain and simple around here. Probably a Spanish tortilla.

We made the Kitchn's Thin Crust pizza recipe tonight for dinner and it was great! It is a chilly night so turning the oven to 500 degrees wasn't a problem.

I'm also going to be cooking quinoa for the first time and making a sort of Tabouleh salad to go with a roast leg of lamb at a dinner party tomorrow. I hope it will be good. I've never had quinoa, but I've heard so many great things. Looking forward to it!

Same with me! Only the fresh comes on the table!

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I'm jealous of all of you. I'm working this weekend and won't have a chance to spend some quality time in the kitchen.

Amaretto bread pudding with some leftover homemade bread I had made last week, and a quiche with my new tart pan!

Just pickled 10 lbs of fiddleheads (a gift)! We've got half in a regular dill cucumber-type brine and half in a spicy brine. Yummm.

It's been rainy and cool all week so I made oven beef stew one last time, and tonight we'll have the leftovers with homemade whole wheat bread.

My rhubarb plants look sick. Time for a trip to the plant clinic.

Here in Seattle we are getting fresh Alaskan salmon, including the ruinous but tasty Copper River chinook. I will be smoking some Taku River chinook -- a tad cheaper and close enough. The filet is nearly 1.7 inches thick. Just takes some time and patience...plus I use a "Smokenator" insert on the Weber 22-inch kettle, and you need to check it every 30 minutes or so to make sure the temperature is holding.

I made loads of food today - it was a rainy day in Ottawa, so I made orange shortbread with chocolate; the Salt-Kissed Strawberry Cake from 101 Cookbooks; homemade Greek burger patties to stock the freezer; and homemade pizza for dinner.

@ Hellcat13, you'll have to share what you put in your Greek burgers!

Farmers market is loaded right now; it's hard to choose just enough for two people! Got some fennel, artichokes, cabbage, carrots, asparagus, baby zucchini, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Tonight we're doing chicken skewers with a spicy slaw. Tomorrow I'll cook a chuck roast in the morning (supposed to be 87F--had I known on Tuesday I wouldn't have taken the roast out of the freezer!) and we'll have roast beef sandwiches with potato salad.

today i get to enjoy the fabulous leftovers from last night's dinner party: strawberry rhubarb crisp for breakfast, grilled pizza with caramelized onions, roasted garlic and tomatoes for lunch. so, so good.

sfumato: If you would like to donate those fiddleheads to a willing recipients, just say the word! ;) Hehe.

Im not making much as I am working all weekend, but coconut pancakes sound delish. I also got some nice beef for some kebabs. Im thinking gyros.

Meanwhile I tend my little seedlings so they can deliver veg later, and hey... the CSA starts in a couple weeks here! Yay!

I had a great weekend in the Kitchen. Not only did I attend a hands-on cooking class (which I'll get to in a bit) but for some odd reason it ended up being "muffin" making weekend at my house. I made raspberry muffins; blueberry streusel muffins and raisin bran muffins (the two former being adaptations of Ina Garten's recipes and the latter from a very old issue of Everyday Food). My daughter likes muffins and they are easy for her to eat with her little 14 month old hands, they are a healthy breakfast for my husband to take to take to work every day and they freeze well-a bonus as we'll be having house guests in a couple of weekends time. For meals I made a delicious orechiette with ricotta, sugar snap peas and lemon zest in addition to a spinach, pine nut and currant salad for dinner last night and tonight was grilled artichokes and halibut glazed with a lime, coriander and pepita butter-both recipes courtesy of the latest Bon Appetit (this will be the 4th of 5th recipe I've prepared out of their latest June issue and they've all been delicious).
Oh, and lest I forget, my wonderful hubby made strawberry pancakes for breakfast this morning.
My cooking class was fantastic. My mom and I attended and the menu was baked pork chops al forno (breaded pork chops that were soaked in heavy cream for one hour prior to searing and then baking); baked ziti with a sausage, veal and lamb pomodoro; spring salad w/a blackberry dressing with spiced pecans and blue goat cheese; and a refreshing sauteed three-pea salad with mint, red onions and almonds. Our task was the baked ziti and let me tell you I have a newfound respect for cooks in a restaurant kitchen. I wasn't prepared for cooking under the heat that a restaurant stove/oven puts out and I definitely worked up a sweat.
All in-a wonderful weekend spent doing the things I love with the people I love the most: my family and friends.

I also had an inspired weekend of cooking and stocking the kitchen this weekend. Took a trip to the local 99 Ranch Market to buy ingrediants for Pho. Made beef broth with Oxtail, cinamon, cloves, onion, ginger, star anise, pepper corns and salt, chicken broth with gr. onions, ginger, fish sauce, pepper corns and salt. Both came out super tasty! Also mixed up some veitnamese pork meat balls with potato starch - can't wait to try them tomorrow. Made Indian food yesterday, browned cauliflower with garlic, ginger and cumin, chicpeas with black tea and rice with peas. Also all come out well.