a new favorite protein

And while we're on the topic of good food, I just want to rub it in the internet's face that the plant nursery down the street also carries farm fresh free range eggs. For $2.50 a dozen. Like, sometimes covered-in-crap farm fresh eggs. Which is gross, but makes me feel pretty awesome about the food I'm feeding my family.

And the eggs. Oooooh the eggs! I feel bad for everyone still buying eggs from the grocery store that are white and all the same shape with bright, almost sickly yellow yolks. To be fair, I didn't know how truly un-natural grocery stores eggs were until I was exposed to these. They look so different. They're different shapes and sizes and colors. And the taste of those deep orange yolks? Doesn't even compare. 

Good morning, beautiful. Want some breakfast?

Care-Hoe-Line-A

All right. Now I feel okay blogging about Charleston.

Ava and I were out of town for like 3 weeks straight. My parents went to the Hong of Kong to see their bestest buddies who live there and I Shannon-sat because who the heck would leave a 16 year-old at home by herself for 10 days?? Although I think I kept things crazier than they would have been if Shannon had just been there alone but ANYHOODLE. Amidst all the out-of-town-ness I was madly gathering paperwork and criminal records and driving records and MBE scores for Danny so he can take the Michigan Bar Exam for his new job WHILST preparing and putting an offer down on a house. Oh. And Ava decided to cut 4 molars all at once. Crazy. But all-good-things crazy. Can't complain about that.

So once my parental units returned to their domicile I left my babe with them and went with one of my best friends, Reilly, to Charleston.

It.

Was.

Glorious.

Even just the plane ride alone with the option to sleep or read or DO WHATEVER THE HECK I WANTED BECAUSE I HAD MY LAP TO MYSELF was beyond-words relieving. The city was absotute-ly beautiful and the weather was perfect. Reilly's cousin, Jen, lives down there and has a house in downtown in which we stayed. Since her cousin lives on Sullivan's Island, about 20 minutes from downtown, we had the place to ourselves. And she decorated it BEAUTIFULLY. I felt like I was staying in a magazine:


Our days were leisurely (sight-seeing, shopping, and beaching) and our nights were spent having fun with Reilly's family. Jen has four boys and we did a lot with them, including a couple Riverdogs games. They're the minor league farm team in Charleston for the Yankees. The boys' dad owns the team so it was fun to get special treatment (okay, okay. Their dad is Bill Murray. They're a pretty big deal. WINK).

One of the games lasted until 1 am - the fog rolled in shortly after it ended.


Mascots of any kind creep me out. And the germs! OH the germs!

Pralines are legitimately delish. And southern.




If you ever go to Charleston YOU HAVE TO EAT AT HYMAN'S. It was delicious. Except that my body hated me afterward because I could not resist the gluten. Hush puppies and whatnot. BUT I DON'T REGRET IT.




The architecture was amazing and the people were actually very polite.
The homes were ridiculous (I didn't take this photo)

And there was beautiful wrought iron work everywhere.

I would go back in a heartbeat.

Things I am loving right now

The anticipation for this movie (don't pretend you aren't excited about it too):

(Side note: I'm torn with this one because I can't. wait. to see it but I don't want to see it because that means that it's allllll over.)

This cocoa:


That I'm going to be in Charleston, SC next week with her:


This ACTUAL Air New Zealand safety video:


Remembering 80s nights of yore:

(ANTM)




Interdigitation. Engagement foto option #976. Also, 80s night.


My new summer kicks:


Annnnnd this album:

Her lyrics are biting and gentle all at once. And witty. And sooo poignant.

A different kind of pizza sauce

So my mom got me a gluten-free cookbook recently and it is a little bit genius. The flour mix is good, though I still have much practicing to get the outcome right on some recipes. It's called Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone (her son's name is Isaiah and he is gluten-free and dairy-free).

Silvana has a fabulous recipe for pizza dough (hallelujah! You would not BELIEVE how hard it is to replicate pizza dough without wheat flour. It's probably right below phyllo dough on the list of impossible things to make gluten-free) and even better recipe for a pizza sauce that wheat-eaters should definitely get to enjoy as well. You're welcome in advance.

Silvana's Pizza Sauce
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp capers - rinsed, drained, and patted dry
1 tsp tomato paste
2 seeded and chopped red bell peppers*
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. water**

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the capers and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and cook until tender, about 10 minutes; season with salt. Transfer to a blender or food processor **and add water; puree until smooth. Spoon onto your pizza crust like you would marinara sauce. Enjoy!

I put chicken sausage, red bell pepper rings and red onion on this pizza. I will be making this again. A lot.


* I used one red bell pepper and one yellow one. Delish!
**I didn't add any extra water to this recipe. Use your own judgment. If it's too much like paste, add the water.

Salad can be delicious

So I love a good asian salad with the water chestnuts and the sesame seeds and the dressing and the wontons. The wontons are probably the best part. The problem is this: I can't eat wontons anymore because of the whole celiac disease thing. What good is an asian chicken salad without the crunch of the wontons? How many times can I say 'wonton' in one paragraph? I was craving a-one-of-these salads so bad last week that I finally just made up my own version. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but I used snow peas in place of the wontons - just as much crunch and a lot healthier.

For the salad dressing:
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp coconut milk (optional)
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 TBS agave nectar or honey

Mix everything together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the chicken:
(you can obviously nix the meat)
3 med/small chicken breast
3 cloves of garlic, roasted*
1 TBS oil
1 splash of sesame seed oil
1 inch of ginger root, peeled and sliced
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 brown sugar
1 TBS fish (or oyster) sauce
Mix the soy sauce and sugar. Warm the oil and sesame seed oil in a skillet and sautee the garlic. Add the chicken and cook until almost done. Add the ginger, sugar and soy sauce, and fish sauce. Reduce heat and simmer for 7ish minutes (or until most of liquid evaporates). Remove the ginger chips when done.

*You can just mince the garlic but I just love the creamy consistency of roasted garlic.

For the salad:
2 large hearts of romaine, washed and chopped
1 red pepper
1 or 2 handfuls of snow peas
2 oranges, pith removed, sections cut out and chopped
1 can of sliced water chestnuts, chopped
2 green onions, chopped

Assemble salad, put chicken on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with dressing. Delish.

Kitchen fun

So my mom got me this butter crock for Christmas. I was a teensy skeptical but it turns out this thing is awesome. It uses water to make a seal so that your butter stays fresh and spreadable at room temp. Genius. Thanks, momma!



Also. In an effort to eat 80% less meat at our house (for health, economic, and moral reasons) I am furiously searching for delicious, easy-on-the-wallet, filling vegetarian dishes (that use non-processed ingredients). In my search I stumbled upon a recipe from Smitten Kitchen for a pasta dish. Asparagus, spiral pasta, tarragon, lemon, and goat cheese. I've tried goat cheese in the past and haven't cared much for it but in this dish, with all the lemon and asparagus, it is yummy. ALSO the melted goat cheese is a fabulous substitute for a regular white sauce (as Smitten Kitchen points out).



1 lb. spiral pasta
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cp. olive oil
1 TBSP lemon peel
2 tsps chopped fresh tarragon (I just used dried basil)
1 log of goat cheese
fresh lemon juice (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta and asparagus (I cooked both together). Set aside some pasta water. Mix the rest of the ingredients. Add pasta and asparagus and mix until goat cheese has completely melted. Add pasta water if need be. Salt and pepper and enjoy!

Because you can't really get enough Darcy, can you?

Listen. I am not one of those Jane Austen lovers who has read all the spin-offs. I read one by Shannon Hale called Austenland that was pretty decent (in a please-pass-the-ghirardelli, guilty pleasure sort of way) but once you read one, haven't you read them all? I don't see how these spin-off novels can wind up being anything but paltry and predictable. I eye them suspiciously.

Fast forward to today.

We got Netflix this week and for two people who have watched only what we can capture via antenna on our tv since we got married?? Netflix is like Christmas. Danny pointed out today, and I think he's right, that I probably like having all the options of things to watch more than I actually like watching them. Nevertheless, I happened upon a Jane Austen spin-off MOVIE and I thought I'd give it a try, if only because it was put out by the BBC. Turns out it was fabulous. There were still some cheesy parts, but it was so fun to see *spoiler alert* Bingley as a drunk, Mr. Collins married to Jane, Georgiana as a wicked girl, and Wickham as a very noble man indeed. Not to mention the way the movie looked at these often-dreamt-about characters as simple humans instead of characters.

Lost in Austen

Watch it.