Vegetarian Summer Series #6: Spiced Cucumbers with Coco-nutty Sweetness

Not as much prep space as I used to have (an island) but there is still more on either side of the stove. I like being able to see into the living room.

I broke in the kitchen this past week making tons of salads and spicy noodle soup to combat my summer cold. I even tried baking some pumpkin-oatmeal muffins (they were ok, maybe the type of oats I used). Happily, I hung up some pictures over the weekend, got the shoes out of the garbage bag and into the rack and placed a few boxes into the laundry closet. Decided I would finally try organizing my bookshelves by color. I see it in the decorating magazines so much. Hopefully I remember what color the books are when I look for them!

Taste that rainbow :) 

Our front porch has its welcome mat and plants wave howdy. We'll see how they do with less sun. The tomato plant gave me just enough to make dinner Sunday night. What else inspired my dinner? Over the previous weekend we went to celebrate with Dave's nieces for their birthdays-they twirled and frolicked in the white "princess" dresses. So cute, creative with their playing and always energetic. But as soon as we got there, no time to kick it with the kids, we got put to work making mashed potatoes while his sister went to the store for the cake. The man of the house was out of sight, prepping one of the 5 dishes he was going to be making that day. He eventually emerged briefly with handing one of the girls and I supplies to cover the tables in pink. And then I was also told I could pick some extra tomatoes, cucumber and peppers from their family's garden as they weren't going to be able to eat them all. With cucumber from the party and wee guy from my box I thought I had better get crackin'. Pickles alone aren't going to cut it.

The CSA list provided a Spiced Cucumbers with Coconut Milk recipe from Bon Appetit. How perfect! And it's a cooked cuke recipe...I really liked the sauteed cucumber with black bean sauce and fish that my co-worker (Mr. Tony!) turned me onto so this recipe made me very hopeful.

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups 1/4 inch thick of cucumber peeled (although I left the peel on mine no issues)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped (left seeds in and had no problems)
4 scallions, thinly sliced (I used about 1/2 cup of spring bunching onion tops instead)
2 red Thai chiles (with seeds), thinly sliced (or other hot peppers)*
1 garlic clove, smashed*
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk ( I used vanilla coconut milk and just omitted honey below)
1.5 tsp honey
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves*

*I substituted my leftover 2tbsp of Cilantro Chutney from earlier in the week.

STEPS

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cucumber. Saute until beginning to soften, about 1 minute. Season with the kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

2. Add tomatoes, scallions, chiles and garlic. Saute until vegetables are soft, 2-3 minutes.

3. Add coconut milk and honey; simmer until vegetables are cooked through 2-3 minutes. Stir in cilantro leaves and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired

4. Suggestion to serve with rice or something to soak up the delicious sauce!

It filled the kitchen with the slightly sweet coco-nutty scent. Mmmmm. It tasted so nice and clean too. I'd love to throw in some chickpeas to give it some protein next time and make it a vegetarian main. For Sunday, I ate it as a side with my leftover taco-seasoned chicken. Monday at lunch it was with half cup of quinoa and 2 hard boiled egg whites.

Have you re-organized something lately? 

ROUND UP OF CUCUMBER RECIPES:
Cucumber-rice flour pancakes 
Mystery Ginormica Squash Gratin 
In the Savory Salad of Spunky Grapefruit Dressing 
Cantalope-Cucumber-Carrot Juice
Cucumber-Melon Salad
Add into the Seaweed Salad

Vegetarian Summer Series #5: Indian Potluck Inspired Jalepeno Dal (Red Lentils) and Cilantro Chutney

The move happened! We spent 2 hours Thursday night with the help of a friend and 6 hours Saturday moving all our things over.  I'm climbing around mountains of boxes and digging in various backpacks and suitcases for what to wear to yoga practice and to work, but what's the first room I get in order? The kitchen of course!  I can only indulge in Dominoes gluten-free vegetarian pizza and Chipotle so long.

TOP 5 NEW THINGS THIS MONTH:
1) Going out to eat Vietnamese food unexpectedly-got to try Banh Xeo! a rice flour based crepe. The restaurant only had seafood/meat based but I am eager to try out mushrooms instead at home. Vietca says they even sell pre-measured flour with the tumeric portioned out at the markets. I got lots of lettuce in my box right now so this would be great! Want to grow herbs or pick up some mint and shiso (aka perilla, tia to, beefstake leaf, or Gee So according to the seed catalogue for evergreen seeds)

2) Bought sea snail from Marukai .................to eat (not a pet!) Gonna say I'm not a fan of the cartilege like texture.

3) Not food related, but I have had three people offer to pay me for helping to care, cook or make a product in the last week! Really weird...but it times well with the furlough...if I can make the time to do it.

4) Bought a hybrid nectarine plum from one of my favorite farms (I think it's Maciel Farms) at La Jolla. They don't have a name for it yet...any ideas? Fellow yogi Sara-squared says "nums" -which is my favorite so far. Dave says "nectum" which I thought was kind of gross since it sounds very similar to another word.

5) Got a vacation planned for the Denver, CO area for next month-I have never been! Anyone have recommendations for things to do or places to eat? Also hoping to visit the Rocky Mountains park for a day trip.

I broke the streak of raw food, to bring you spicy jalepeno red lentils. I was supposed to have a potluck with a few co-workers last week but they wiggled out of it on me the day before.  I still made the dish since I needed vegetarian Tuesday food anyhow. The recipe comes from Food Network (actually Wolfgang Puck) with very minor modifications.

Dal on the left and variation on Aloo Gobi on the right

 DAL WITH JALEPENOS
Makes 4-6 Servings
~40-50 minutes for making spice, prepping and cooking.

• 1/4 cup ghee or clarified butter  substitute red palm oil or coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups diced onions
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 jalapeno peppers, cored, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted and crushed
• 2 cups orange lentils
• 2 tablespoons finely minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons Garam Masala, (food network provides one if you visit their website or see what I used below)
• 1/2 tablespoon salt  (or to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 8 cups chicken stock veggie stock (I used 4 cups stock and 4 cups water and it came out ok)

1. In a large pot, heat the oil and stir-fry the onions just until wilted, do not brown.

2. Add the garlic, jalapeno, cumin, lentils, ginger, garam masala, salt, pepper, sugar and bay leaf. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes, until the herbs and spices bloom (aromatic).

2. Add the tomatoes and deglaze with the vinegar.

3. Add the stock, bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer and cook until lentils are tender (about 30 minutes), stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning with cumin, salt, pepper and sugar.

 My sister provided me a garam masala recipe and you don't need to do any toasting or grating (not sure how much a difference it makes, but I'm short on time these days).

GARAM MASALA (I think it was the first one that I used for the dal recipe, but it was a bottle of spice she made for me):

Garam Masala #1
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tsp ground cardomom
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 ground nutmeg

We have just ground cumin and coriander so I don't do the following steps. I
also used a pepper grinder or just used black ground pepper. but if you have
the whole seeds here's what to do:
On medium heat, shake cumin and coriander seed for 3-5 till they pop and brown.
remove from heat and let cool. place all ingridients in a coffee grinder or
food processor and grind till smooth. store in an airtight container.

Kitchen Cupboard Garam Masala
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cardomom
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice

Also, because my CSA "boxmate" said she doesn't make a lot of spicy things, thought I would share this recipe that uses one spicy pepper and just makes enough for a few servings (not overwhelming for someone cooking just for one).

CILANTRO-CHUTNEY-inspired by my brief few months working at a Persian inspired restaurant after college. Just grab your blender/food processor and let's make this 4 ingredient peppy sauce. Top it on your breakfast tacos like me, have a go with it on salad or maybe as a dipper for your grilled veggies (or chicken or beef).

Ingredients
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and stems
2 cloves of garlic 
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 jalepeno, de-stemmed and cut

Put all ingredients in the blender/processor. Blend until uniform sauce forms. All done!

I think I asked enough questions above, so nothing here this week!

Spunky Grapefruit Dressing for a Savory Salad (Veganizable, No Dairy, No soy)

As much as I had wanted a support group to do detoxing with, the yoga studio has the juicing cleanse right in the midst of my National Parks Trip. No practical way to do juicing staying in hotels and out hiking all day. So I'm going to try out a shorter, different detox from past years (Master cleanse, master cleanse + 2 juicing meals) starting tomorrow.  But first, I had to start by eating my way through items that won't keep for 8 days.

I had some defrosted shrimp to use up (checked country/method of harvesting for sustainability at store using the Monterey Bay Aquarium App-finally there are some "good alternative" options beside Oregon Pink shrimp!) and swapped that for the smoked tofu called for in Post-punk Kitchen's Vietnamese inspired Rice Noodle Salad with Grapefruit Vinegrette. It may seem an odd combination garlic, grapefruit, Sriracha (that bright red sauce at Vietnamese joints, usually with a rooster on the bottle), but give it a taste before dismissing it. Wakes me up at lunch time with it's bright, bold taste. The color chirps cheerily as well, like a sherbert! Tip for those not big on ginger: Personally felt the flavors of the dressing were 10x better the next day (ginger had time to mellow out). If you liked konnyaku from my chicken soup post, I used it again as part of the salad ingredients to give me more textures since I was omitting noodles. The Post Punk Kitchen gives even more substitution ideas for the salad ingredients.

Dressing Ingredients (for about 4-5 servings; I used about 3 tbsp each time)-barely any tweaks from me here

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
3/4 cup fresh red yellow grapefruit juice (this was about 1.5 fruits for me)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil  olive oil
2 tablespoons Sriracha
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon agave nectar  honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth. Best served chilled.

 Salad Ingredients (one serving)-endless possibilities to use what veggies or protein forms you have on hand...if you want more of the Vietnamese influence, add some chopped mint or the purple basil, cucumbers (not in season here in SD yet), thinly sliced carrots strips, the mung bean spouts.

(this is the serving portion, but save time by cooking all your shrimp and panfried stuff at once)

-9  cooked shrimp 41/50 count (about 3-4 oz cooked weight)
-1/3 block sliced  konnyaku and 1/2 cup sliced squash strips (pan fried with coconut aminos, sesame oil and coconut sugar)
-1/4 cup or small handful sundried tomato strips
-1/2 grapefruit-cut into segments
-1.5 cups rinsed/chopped lettuce
-2 tbsp chopped fresh herb (basil was delish)
-1 tbsp "sawdust" (bonito flakes)



1. If using shrimp, you need to peel and deveine your shrimp do so first.

2. Get a pot of water boiling for the shrimp. The 41/50 count size I left in for about 3 minutes once the water boiled so it cooked but not to the point of becoming tough.  Shrimp will turn pink almost immediately, watch for it go from translucent to opaque.

3. Heat a frying pan with 1 tsp sesame oil. Rinse off and slice your konnyaku block into strips (see picture) and slice up your squash. Add strips to the pan. Add a few shakes of coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you wheat and soy) and sprinkle 1-2 tsp coconut sugar. Cook until squash is tender.

4. Mix your cooked ingredients with the grapefruit, lettuce and tomato. Top with the dressing and serve warm.


What perks you up at a mid-day slump at work? Is it food related?

Rosemary Returns: Dry your own herbs, lemon-coconut cookies & Jamba "pizza" bread

I looked at great little potted herb, lettuce and pepper arrangements online at Better Homes and Gardens a month or two back. However, the airplant from my sister, a poinsettia from my work's Christmas party and a shrimp plant at my desk is all that's going on. I could use some outdoor time but what's holding me back? I don't know.

I did see a commercial for Home Depots Black Friday sale, 5 plants for $10...tempting! Maybe if I try starting my seedlings at work they will do better than last year. My other plants are thriving in the window there.


Even without herbs readily available on my patio, my box has started supplying again.  I set out the rosemary to dry on a cookie sheet since I can't get through all of it in two weeks. Here's a nice article on drying your own herbs and you don't need any fancy tools!

 With a cookie contest coming up at work and the lemons beaming at me from the window, it was inspiration for a twist on the super easy macaroon recipe I found during the holidays (hmm, this post will also feature a recipe with tomato paste like my one in December).

LEMON-ROSEMARY MACAROONS adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (Try stores that carry items sold in bulk bins or, Fresh & Easy near me carries Bob's Red Mill)
• 1 tbsp flour of choice (I went with white rice flour)
• 1/2 cup lite canned coconut milk (or full-fat)--if you use full fat can save the rest for coconut milk whipped cream or dump 1/4 cup in with a frozen banana, some water and protein powder.
• 2-3 tbsp honey or other liquid sweetener (2 tbsp if you really want the rosemary to shine)
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• tiny bit over 1/16 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 tbsp lemon juice.

1. If using the regular oven pre-heat to 350. I use my toaster oven since this makes a small batch of about 16-1 tbsp sized cookies.

2. Chop rosemary leaves finely or pulse in your food processor.

3. Place all ingredients into a medium microwavable bowl and mix until evenly combined. Microwave for 3 minutes

4. Use a tablespoon (can press the batter into the scoop with your fingers to give the cookie better shape). and scoop out onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes (check earlier to see browning, seems like with lemon juice added it browns fast, you can see from the picture!)

 It reminds me of lemon bars without so much sugar-just that amount of tartness.

PIZZA BREAD adapted from Gluten Free Goddess

The next recipe is not perfect with the substitutions I tried (I think it may I may be using flax seeds instead of eggs and chickpea flour being quite dense. I also accidentally forgot to add the oil) but for some reason I still like this bread's flavor with the rosemary and tomato paste. I was happy that it did rise. It also kept me feeling full for a long time. From my hazy memories of high school hang outs, I thought of the pizza protein sticks from Jamba Juice. I was really happy doing the lemon-jam muffins earlier this year with ratio baking, so next need to gluten-free ratio for bread making which does the ingredients by weight. Or get a weight on the original ingredients (the oat flour) Though the portion may or may not work with my size bread machine.

Again, I used the bread machine recipe from Gluten Free Goddess, with a few changes:
.
DRY INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups rice flour
1 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 cup chickpea flour (maybe since it's so dense...the loaf baked weird)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/ 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 packet rapid dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup finely chopped rosemary

WET INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups warm water (at 110 to 115ºF) 
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey- or raw agave nectar to keep it vegan 
1/2 teaspoon mild rice vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp ground flax seed with 8 TBSP hot water-mix and cover to let sit separately (or 2 eggs)

Add the ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine (mine is dry, make a hole, add yeast, then add wet ingredients on top. Use the quick bread setting was a great tip from Gluten Free Goddess. And don't let the bread sit in the machine too long after it finishes baking (keep the crust from getting soggy).

My machine beeps when you can add in nuts or cheese, chocolate chips, etc. So I take that time to use a spatula to help things mix if they are looking a bit uneven.

Do you have an award winning recipe you're willing to share? If you haven't competed, what kind of contest would you want to enter?

20 Minute Orange-mirin Chicken

Up until today, the weather had been perking up to the point of me asking "why haven't I started planning for a garden this season?" (and the compost worm bin for that matter). The poor mint shrivelled up in the fall and is home to spiders now and basil is a lone bare twig after its leaves went yellow.

 I like the convenience of buying plants pre-grown but then I feel a little bad having no good re-use for the containers they come in. Any ideas?

WISH LIST -next time I am feeling like I have nothing to do, these little projects should fill my time. Right after that t-shirt yarn I want to make.

• tomatoes
• yellow beans (still have seeds from last year)
• things that can grow together in containers (not lettuce/leafy greens). I like the visually tasty ideas on Better Homes and Garden and Real Simple...combining veggies with edible flowers. Peppers sound lovely with "grasses" (chives and onions).  Smelling the sage on our weekly hikes has me craving that taste as well. Wondering if sweet potatoes can be grown in containers (apparently potatoes can). I found out from Valentine's dinner leftovers that I adore the fragrant combo of thyme and oregano. 

Speaking of my leftovers, that's what I'm sharing with you today. We spend a fair amount when buying herbs at the grocery store, so we better get our money's worth!

20 Minute Orange-Mirin Chicken

1/2 cup fresh squeezed OJ
1/3 cup mirin (Japanese cooking wine, pictured below)
1/4 cup fresh thyme and oregano mixed  (remove leaves from stocky stems, keep stems for soups stock..or compost, or may haps making organic looking toothpicks for your next appetizer party.)
1-1.5 lbs of chicken breast cut into 1 inch chunks

1. Squeeze the OJ and put it into a medium frying pan. Add the mirin. Bring to boil.

2. Add the uncooked chicken. Turn down the heat to medium-high. Let the chicken simmer for 5 minutes on each side.

3. While chicken is cooking, prep your herbs if you haven't already. Add the herbs after the chicken is done, mix in and keep on low heat for 1 minute more.

4. Serve the chicken with your choice of grain and veggie or go for an all veggie bowl.

 I did cauliflower leaf stems chopped and sauteed once and another with 1/2 cup cooked pearl barley + 1 cup of fennel bulb and 1 cup fronds cooked in leftover orange-mirin sauce. Sorry, again vegetarian friends, my next post will be sharing a leafy-green concoction from my very own sis-star! If you do soy, savory tempeh would probably taste great in today's sauce (based on a rosemary-orange maple syrup recipe favorite).


 In case you need help finding mirin, this is what it looks like. Usually near vinegars and oils at the Japanese markets or the ethnic section of regular grocery chains. Not sure if the alcohol content requires a driver's license check, I haven't bought it in awhile.

 A sigh of relief for a simple 4 ingredient sauce. Not the sauce for you if you are shy of carbs.

  Adding the herbs last minute seems to help                  I like the crunchy veggies to contrast
keep the flavor stronger.                                                 texturally.

Other thyme & oregano use for the week: adding these herbs to the 101 cookbooks lemon chutney. So yummy with salmon or just add to freshly steamed cauliflower. Our Valentine's dinner was a red-wine and onion stock with these herbs, simmering the flank steak in it.


Do you plan to plant anything this spring? (if so tell me about it as inspiration)

Simple light eats: Leafy greens dill-salad and curried greens

Deep in the Leafy Green Jungle, it's been weeks that I've been lost here. I have been hacking through spinach, kale, cabbage, chard, beet tops, turnip tops doing my tried and true concoctions (1)  Quick and flavorful steamed with fresh lemon juice and sesame seeds, inspired by Reegan's post-yoga workshop dinner last year (2) the garlic/greens tamales. I have not yet resorted to juicing. I am beginning to feel inspired again this week and made a couple easy weekday-friendly dishes (sorry vegetarian friends...I didn't get to test a veg version of these. Would love to know if you do!)

Simple Spinach & Dill Recharge Salad-mine own combo; refreshing after a work out and clean-tasting

Pre-Mixing: Tonight I added roasted turnips, spanish olives & radish sprouts ( last two not pictured)

For a single serving: 2 cups raw, rinsed Spinach or try steaming it if you prefer + (mixed cooked chicken this was 3.5 oz dry weight + 2 tbsp pine nut herb dressing*) + if you crave carbs or just need a bit more substance, I found 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice or roasted red potatoes tossed in is satisfying. The turnips tonight were ok. I think they are not my favorite veggie. Thinking a white bean or chickpea would be a nice non-meat substitute that lets the dill shine, but alas, I have none in the pantry and lots of kidney beans instead.

*Pine nut dressing: 1/3 to 1/2 cup pinenuts, two squeezes fresh lemon and 2-3 sprigs fresh dill in a blender or food processor. Enough water to blend into a mayo-like spread (start with a tablespoon). Pine nuts blend easily enough without soaking in liquid. Some other nuts suggest soaking for at least an hour or two. This made enough for 6 TBSP of dressing.

Danny Boome's Spiced Potatoes & Spinach-from Food Network; slightly modified (sans potatoes and dairy)

The ever-versatile taco.

1/2 tablespoon butter canola oil (since curry has enough flavor and doing this on high heat, don't need to "waste" expensive olive oil)

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon curry powder
4 cups baby spinach Leafy green of choice, I used beet leaves and stems. (helpful note: rinse leafies submerged and multiple times, I was lazy and got some grit.)
1 large tomato, diced 1 overflowing- tablespoon of tomato paste

Heat the oil in a wok over med-high heat a few minutes

1. Add the onion and stems to cook a few minutes first. Add curry powder for last minute.

2. Add tomato paste and about 1/4 cup water, stirring to incorporate.

3. Stir in the leaves and cook until the leaves wilt and the water evaporates. 

I left out the potatoes and ate mine with sauteed scallops (rinse scallops in water, then pat dry before cooking. The large ones just about 3 minutes on each side over medium heat should do it, don't want them to be tough and chewy) and corn tortillas.

It looks like the weekend will be "cold", so me thinks I will fire up the oven. I'm feeling an Indian food vibe. My sister just sent me a recipe this week too that uses chard. Am sure I can make it through the wilderness with these beautiful ideas leading me.

Have you entered any cooking or baking competitions before? What happened?

Here fishy, fishy! (45 minute-baked whole trout with herbs with 3 sides ideas)

I tend to purchase my fish so that it does not resemble the animal. But the seasonal Idaho trout (fresh, not frozen), already gutted and cleaned from the farmer's market said "take me home" through its bitty pointed teeth. If you can get past the eyeballs and all, this makes a nice low maintenance weekday meal. The vendor suggested that some lemon slices and fresh herbs tucked into the fish would be an easy, healthy meal. Just place in a baking pan, wrapped up in parchment paper at 350 F for 30-35 minutes until the fish flakes easily.

Fresh dill and lime slices flavored my fish. After it was done baking, it got seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Be careful of the bones...especially trout, such delicate little things.

So, I am not aware of how to serve a whole fish elegantly. (too lazy and hungry to find an instructional video) Some day soon I should make myself an artful dish.

First serving I ate with green beans with a bragg's amino, honey, garlic and olive oil marinade leftover from my london broil earlier in the week.

Second and third serving were eaten with some diced tomatoes that were cooked about 10 minutes with onions, fresh herbs, a bit of salt and sugar to taste and some pan steamed lemon-juice sesame seed chopped frisee.


The last serving, I ate with shredded butternut squash pancakes from Food Wishes' blog  and carrot top pesto (a dairy free concoction in a blender: carrot greens saving stems for another recipe as they are too woody to blend, 1/2 cup toasted pinenuts done at low 300F for 3 minutes in the toaster oven-easy to burn so watch them nuts!, 1/2 cup nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup olive oil and enough water to make pesto to desired thickness, add salt if desired to taste)

s

With the bones, head and tail, I threw in a pot with some onion, carrot and kale stems and herbs to simmer for an hour in a small pot and made 3 cups worth of stock. I should have bundled it all in cheesecloth (which can be really hard to find if it's not near Thanksgiving. I better go stock up now since the only store very convenient to me that I could find it in closed down [Ralph's]) but I just used a mesh strainer for now. Later in the week, I made a corn-beet greens chowder with the trout broth with nutritional yeast and topped with cut up scallops. Added 1 tsp of cumin and 1/2 tsp of tumeric for flavor and cheery color.

The joys/challenges of cooking for 1...trying to keep something interesting when it makes 4 or more servings. Different sauces and the freezer are allies in these efforts.

Speaking of things that swim, my co-worker R recalled the days when Sea World had trainers in the shows in the water, being tossed up by the animals. He said but now the "big ol' fish" can't do anything like that. To which R squared replied, that is a  "lactating fish, brotha!" Gotta love biologists. What live entertainment show has changed/gone away that you miss?