leftover turkey & sweet potato hash

It's two days past Thanksgiving now.  The oven is bare and chilly in its state of dormancy, the table is folded and stowed in the closet (yes, I said closet. we break out our thrift store card table along with our finest crystal for special occasions like these), and the fridge is full to bursting with remnants of our Thursday feast.

In typical post-Thanksgiving fashion, we've been reliving that special meal with plates full of the leftover dishes we prepared that day.  And we're relishing in the fact that dinner is basically already prepared, should we feel inclined to laze around a bit more than a usual night allows us.

raw date nut bars: my answer to 5 a.m.

There was finally a total and complete lack of sunshine in the sky today, friends.  A few drizzly drops of rain even fell from the greyness up above, scaring all the recent California transplants that have started at work since summer began.  People actually fear the weather here, especially those that haven't lived it yet.  What if eight months of damp pant legs and overcast skies is too much?

It can get tedious around these parts come February, but I've found after nearly a decade of living that I actually crave the gloomier months.  My knitting needles make their way into my hands more often, I bake more, eat more pho, read more books, and cuddle more with my sweetheart under warm, fluffy blankets.

We'll soon be adding another layer to our bedding and cranking up the radiator.  Perfect timing, I suppose, what with today being the first official day of fall.  My favorite season.

Despite my love for colored leaves and pumpkin patches, I do find that the shorter days add another layer of difficulty to my daily grind.  Waking up to an alarm at 4 am (no that wasn't a typo), trudging through the wet streets of the sleeping city, and doing what I must to pay the bills and put food on the table does become more arduous.  Add to that the horrors joys of the holiday retail environment and the constant threats of cold and flu, and the challenges continue to pile up.

I take a lot of vitamin-C, and wash my hands (poor things) like a madwoman at my workplace.  Ample sleep and water drinking help, as well.  One of my major weaknesses, though, in the Keep Myself Healthy for Winter Campaign, is consistently eating a decent breakfast.

a farm fresh breakfast

That picture, right up there, is what we had for breakfast at my house this morning.  It was a pile of sauteed spinach, crispy bacon, yolk-spewing egg, and finely grated cheddar, all perched on top of a simple slice of toasted bread. 

I can't really take too much credit for its creation.  I mean, I did conceive of the combination, prepare the ingredients, and construct the finished product, but the real work was done by the farmers who fattened the hogs, tilled the fields, milked the cows, and cared for the chickens.  It's not that I came up with the most incredible combination of flavors here, friends.  The magic of this dish lies with the quality and care that was put into the production of its parts.

huevos rancheros

9:01 am

I'm working on enhancing my creativity level for weekend breakfasts.  Eggs are always a given, usually fried, and, lately, our plates haven't been dressed with much more than a piece of toasted bread.  Not that eggs and toast isn't a fine breakfast every now and again.  The combo is a definite winner when speed is of the essence.  But let's face it.  It's boooriiiing.

So today those eggs are getting a bit of a makeover.  A tortilla or two.  Some tomato sauce spiced with onions and chilis.  A touch of sharp cheddar.  And some cilantro from my windowsill herb garden.  I've decided that today would be an excellent day for huevos rancheros.

Chard Potato Cakes with Poached Eggs & Spicy Italian Sausage: A Holiday Breakfast

Home for the holidays for me translates into "home with time to make slammin' breakfasts".  The latter has so much more significance, so much more meaning.  Wouldn't you agree?  

Breakfast is like this much coveted yet incredibly neglected art form for me.  I'm aware of  its status as a marker of health, and I even make sure to include some oatmeal or yogurt or fruit in my morning routine most of the time, but I would hardly say that I give my comrade, Breakfast, the attention and regard that it truly deserves. 

That is why holidays and vacation time are so so sweet.  I spent a couple of hours making that meal you see pictured.  Ain't gonna happen on a school day, friends.

Applesauce Muffins

Whooooooohhhhh.....

That was my big 'ol, 3 months of school stress, tension-releasing sigh of relief.  I'll be letting out an even longer, more serenity-inducing one once Thursday rolls around, and I finish my last final.  Eight quarters down, one to go.  I don't pretend to think that an associates degree is worth a rat's ass, especially in an uber-educated city like Seattle, but I must admit that I do feel a little bit accomplished.  The girl who shunned the college experience, who bounced from this to that for nearly a decade, sampling but never staying, has committed and nearly completed a two-whole-year endeavor.  Those who know me well may indeed be astonished.

Strawberry Picking

This past Friday we finally had a break in the clouds here in Western Washington, so some friends and I decided to take advantage of the sun and the season to go and pick strawberries. I'm not a total stranger to farm life. I spent several months living and working on organic farms in Hawaii a few years ago, so I have eaten all sorts of tropical fruits straight from the tree or vine. Fruits that I had never heard of before spending time on the islands. Egg fruit? Durian? Sapote? They became common place. But strawberries. I don't know if I've ever picked more than one or two at a time from a small garden plot.

Picking strawberries is like a treasure hunt. Searching for rubies in a sea of leafy green, hunched over on your hands and knees. They shade themselves from view, so you must be diligent until you spot that blazing red nestled underneath the emerald foliage. They hide themselves, but once found, these fruits just beg to be plucked from the vine. And popped into your mouth. The four of us filled our baskets with sixteen pounds of strawberries that afternoon.

We visited a farm called "Garden Treasures" for our little picking party (goes well with my previous analogy). The green houses and fields were set against a backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks. It was incredibly peaceful and a much needed break from the urban chaos that is my day-to-day. Not only did this farm/nursery have berries for our eager, little hands to pick, but they also had rows and rows of green things to harvest. Cabbages, broccoli, romaine and butterhead lettuces, chard, kale and a dense thicket of pea vines. Two of my ambitious friends must have picked ten pounds of sugar snaps.

Now that my berry loot is washed and waiting in the fridge to be eaten, there are decisions to be made. I'm busy thinking up ways to best savor them. Jam? A crisp or cobbler, perhaps? Both are on my mind, although, this morning I decided to keep it simple and just toss a few whole berries on my yogurt with some walnuts and a drizzle of honey.

Breakfast was a resounding success. Hopefully strawberry season will hold on long enough for another trip to the fields. I could use fresh berries in my yogurt everyday.

Berry Stash

A couple of weeks ago, when Seattle's landscape was under a constant barrage of spring-time rainfall, I got a craving for berries. Plump, juicy jewels of summer... The idea seemed so far fetched. Yeah, I know that it's possible to hit up the grocery store for berries all year long, but it's just not the same. Those supermarket fruits are like impostors; gritty, tasteless lumps donning the costume of freshness and flavor so naturally employed by the authentic berries of summer. I wanted that purity. I wanted to eat berries that would shout out their prefixes as they hit my hungry palate... Ras! Blue! Straw!... amongst my own squeals of delight.

I did a very smart thing last year. I froze berries. Somehow I knew that winter would stretch on and on and I would yearn for the sweetness. Luckily a couple of weeks ago I still had a pint or two stashed way in the back of my freezer. After confirming that both strawberries and blueberries did in fact exist in the depths of that frosty compartment, I took just a moment to consider my plan. It didn't take long to figure out that waffles with berry sauce was the answer to all of my longing.

Berry Sauce

1/2 pint each blueberries & strawberries (fresh or frozen)

2 T. honey

If using frozen berries, thaw. Cut larger strawberries in half.

Combine the berries and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir and allow the mixture to come to a simmer. As the berries release their juices, smash them with a fork or other utensil to make a chunky liquid. Taste and add more honey if you see fit. I don't like my sauce to be too sweet, though.

Continue to cook the berries for another 5-10 minutes, turn off the heat, and you're ready to bliss out!

I used a mix that I really enjoy to make these waffles. It's called The Cravings Place: All Purpose Pancake and Waffle Mix. This mix makes fantastic waffles (the pancakes I've made with it were only so-so).

Spoon the warm berry sauce over the crispy waffles and transport yourself to late July. So amazing. If you're fortunate enough to have leftovers, this sauce is also magnificent over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Indulge... Enjoy...

Homemade Granola

Even during the height of my hippie days (picture dreadlocks, patchwork and hemp macrame), when my granola-feasting ways first came into being, I never actually made the hearty cereal myself. Always digging into the bulk bins at the health food store, the thought of it never really crossed my mind. Only in the last two years or so have I experimented with combinations of oats, kamut and spelt flakes, baked with honey or maple syrup into a blend of sweetened grains with nuts and dried fruits. It became obvious as soon as I delved into my first bowl that 1) this was one of the simplest things to make, and 2) I had been missing out all of these years with the grocery granola, big time.

The aspect of homemade granola, or homemade anything for that matter, that I enjoy most is the control I have over the ingredients. I say how sweet it is. I decide which spices, fruits, seeds, or nuts goes into it and eventually into my belly. This might be especially important to people feeding their children. Cereals tend to be consumed in the morning, and who wants the first thing that hits their kids to be jam packed with sugar, weird colors, and the mysterious, yet ubiquitous, "flavors" (All that "natural flavors" propoganda is for the birds. The stuff is still manufactured in a lab using chemicals to extract flavor from a strawberry or whatever. Why not just add a real strawberry yourself?).

So, when you decide to take matters into your own hands and finally feel ready to discover the wonders of do-it-yourself cereal, here is a recipe to aid you on your quest.


Homemade Granola Goodness
4-6 servings

2 C. rolled oats (or try kamut, barley or spelt flakes)
1/8 C. canola oil
1/4 C. honey or agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 C. chopped nuts and/or seeds (I used walnuts, pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds this time around)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/3-1/2 C. dried cranberries (or raisins or other dried fruit pieces)
1/8 C. cacao nibs (optional - for a chocolaty, antioxidant boost)

Preheat your oven to 300 F. Spread the oats out in a 13x9" baking pan and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the oil, honey and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat on low, and stir until every thing is mixed well.

After the oats are out of the oven, add the nuts & seeds, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Pour the honey and oil mixture over the oat mixture and stir with the wooden spoon until all of the dry ingredients are coated with honey/oil. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 3 / 8 minute increments (a total of 24 minutes), removing the pan from the oven in between to stir. Your granola will be a little darker each time you take it out of the oven. If 24 minutes seems like too long or too short, based on the desired darkness of your granola, then add or subtract some bake time as you see fit.

Remove the pan from the oven and stir one last time. Allow the granola to cool for 20-30 minutes. Stir in your dried fruit, and you're ready to eat! I store my leftover granola in a large glass jar to keep it fresh and delicious for mornings to come.