Kitchenware

I didn't really appreciate the kitchen in my Georgia apartment, mostly because I spent very little time cooking. But I hated the floral wallpaper and how the kitchen was isolated from the rest of the apartment. Now I actually miss that kitchen and would love to have the drawers and dishwasher back.

Yes, I have a kitchen that has only one drawer, even that one underneath the oven and holds pots and pans. Even though my kitchen now is tiny, I have discovered a new love for my gas oven and stovetop, and I'm not sure I would trade those in for a dishwasher and drawers.

Since I didn't grow up with gas appliances, they have always made me nervous. I worried that there would be a gas leak or the flame on the stove will lead to a kitchen fire. But since I've already dealt with both of these without gas appliances, I probably shouldn't be particularly worried. (My parents repainted their kitchen after I caused a grease fire, and I called 911 at 2 a.m. when my carbon monoxide detector went off, only to be told by the firemen to change the batteries.)

Now that gas is my only option besides the microwave, I've discovered how well it works. The oven cooks evenly, and better yet, I have yet to burn anything horribly, although that may be due to the timer on the oven that doesn't let me forget what's in there. But I also love the instant control you have over the flame on a gas stove. With my electric stove, I had a habit of cooking everything on high, which cooked things fast but again led to some disasters.

Now that I've adjusted to my new kitchen and accumulated various pots, pans, utensils and appliances, I was starting to feel like I had everything I needed to cook with. But my latest Every Day Food was filled with grilling recipes, and I was tempted.

Now I don't want a grill, I don't even know if I could have one in this apartment. And I know I wouldn't want to bother with going outside to cook half my dinner. But I've been thinking the combination of my gas stove and a grill pan would broaden my cooking options.

Any thoughts or recommendations for a good but affordable one?

Cooking for camping

One of the things that has always made me nervous about camping is the food, mostly because I'm such a picky eater. In my previous camping experience, I had little control over what we were eating.


But this time everyone on the camping trip was responsible for their own food. We did share what we brought, but I found it comforting to know I had things that I liked. But I shouldn't have been too worried, we ate really well.


I took asparagus and zucchini along with some olive oil and spices. I wrapped them in foil and stuck them in the fire. They came out roasted perfectly.

My camping companions had some pretty cool sandwich presses that we could use to cook over the fire. So we made pizza sandwiches, mine turned out perfectly.

Others not so much:

And what dinner in the woods would be complete without some wine — in a juicebox!

And finally my dinner was complete when I had the perfect s'more. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to recreate this.

And now that I know food is not something I have to worry about, I'm looking forward to going camping again, though next time I will remember my earplugs.

Camping adventure

This is just one of several gorgeous views from my weekend camping. I still can't believe I live just an hour from this; this weekend reminded me I need to take advantage of that more often. Camping was a blast; we went hiking, played games and ate some good food. It was cooler in the mountains, and the weather was great except for a rain shower Saturday afternoon. Here's a quick recap in pictures (there's plenty more on Facebook):

My tent for the weekend, courtesy of Katherine (very roomy and it kept our stuff dry!).

Our first hike was to this waterfall. It was gorgeous, and even though the return hike was steep, it was worth it.

I enjoyed getting to meet some new friends this weekend, all thanks to Andrea, who always seems to be connecting people.

We saw lots of deer, on our hikes, the drive and at the campsite.

The highlight of our wildlife sightings was watching this mama bear with her cubs. We stayed there for 15 or 20 minutes taking photos and just watching the interaction between the mama and her cubs. I was also very glad we saw them at a place pretty far from our campsite. Of course later we had a skunk visit us when we were sitting around the fire. It didn't spray, but we ran pretty quick.

After seeing the bears, we hiked up to this point. It was a bit hazy, but it was one of the most beautiful views. I am still in awe that I get to live in this place!

Random Friday post

* My herb garden is doing very well. Of course it has nothing to do with my green thumb, it's thanks to all the rain we've had here. The basil and parsley have served me well in several recipes.


* When my mom gave me my food processor several Christmases ago, it sat in its box in a cabinet for a year. Even then I used it for one recipe very rarely, and I almost gave it away when I moved last summer. But now I honestly don't know what I'd do without it. There's no way I would have shredded all that zucchini by hand.


* My only motivation to go to the gym in the last two weeks was when I didn't have power and wanted to blow-dry my hair.


* I am going camping this weekend. It has been several years since I've been camping; it's possible that the last time was when I went backpacking in Colorado for six days after graduating from high school. I'm thinking the fact we can drive to the campsite will make it a little less intense. But I keep having nightmares about waking up with cold feet, so I have now packed more socks than I wear in a week during winter. Seriously though, we are going to a beautiful place, and I'm looking forward to being outside and enjoying the hang-out time with friends.

* I went to Target to pick up a few things for the trip (and because I rarely drive out there and was having withdrawals). It was totally worth it too because they had retractable marshmallow sticks in the dollar section. But anyway, the point of the trip was to buy sunscreen and bug spray. I found the bug spray easy enough, but the sunscreen was a different situation. I have a specific brand and type of sunscreen I always buy, and I found it in the display but the only spf they had was 80 and 100. Maybe they really have improved sunscreen so much that they can have these high spf numbers, but I am a skeptic (and so is WebMD). I think it is a marketing ploy, and it probably makes people more confident that they can go longer without reapplying sunscreen. My mom is probably dying that I am writing this, but I just couldn't be convinced to spend $8.99 on this marketing scheme. But after much searching, I found my spf 30 (and I promise to reapply, mom).


* I listened to a sermon recently where the pastor said, "Rest does not come in understanding." What a great truth. So often I believe that if God will clearly explain things to me, then I will find peace in my current situation. But I know I would be like a kid, asking "why" to every answer I got and never actually find peace, and I would also miss out on the way God is preparing me for what's ahead. But the point of the sermon is that God Himself is all we need to find rest and peace no matter what. Just something I've been thinking through the last couple of weeks.


Apologies for the random post, but it's all I've got today. Have a great weekend!

Zucchini in bread and pie?

Why is it that I used to write headlines for a living but can't come up with decent blog post titles? Oh well, it's recipes today.

After I picked up my share on Saturday, I spent most of the day cooking. This is what my kitchen looked like:

My kitchen is pretty small, so when I ran out of space, I moved to my table in the living room:

I found some great recipes to use with my share this week. The main ingredient is zucchini. I knew I had a couple of recipes I wanted to try using zucchini, so I traded in my rhubarb to get extra zucchini. I ended up with 3.5 pounds of zucchini, so I still have plenty left!
 
Here are the recipes:

Zucchini bread
(This is from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. I actually doubled the recipe and froze one loaf, and I’m so glad it, it is really good! Unfortunately, I do not have photographic evidence.)

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Grease loaf pan, set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Make a well in center of flour mixture.

In another medium bowl, combine egg, sugar, zucchini and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes (mine took a little less).

Zucchini Pie 
(This is courtesy of my co-op’s recipe blog and came highly recommended by a friend. It's also more like quiche than pie, but I'm leaving titled the same way they have it.)

• 4 cups thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini (I cheated and shredded mine with my food processor.)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley OR 2 tbsp. parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. sweet basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp. oregano leaves
• 2 eggs, well-beaten
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 can (8 oz.) quick crescent dinner rolls (I made Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Pie Crust instead.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In skillet, cook zucchini and onion in butter until tender (10 mins.), stir in parsley and seasonings. In large bowl, blend eggs and cheese. Stir in vegetable mixture.

Separate dinner roll dough into triangles (or make your favorite pie crust recipe). Place in ungreased 11-inch quiche pan, 10-inch pie pan or 12×8 baking dish. Pour mixture in.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. (I had to cook mine longer.) Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

As if I don’t have enough to eat, I made this pasta dish to use some of my cabbage. This is a very random assortment of ingredients, but I actually liked it. I was skeptical of the bread crumb mixture, but it’s exactly what the dish needs. I can't believe, I am saying this, but I actually liked it cold the next day for lunch just as much or more than for dinner the night before. Note that I decreased the amount of all the ingredients and didn’t measure anything very closely, which I realize is not much help.

Cabbage Tomato Pasta Toss 
(Recipe from AllRecipes)

• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 8 ounces bow tie pasta, uncooked
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter

In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, vinegar, basil and parsley; set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding the cabbage during the last 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute bread crumbs, almonds and garlic in oil and butter for 6 minutes or until golden brown.

Drain pasta and cabbage; place in a large bowl. Add tomato and crumb mixtures; toss and serve immediately.

I really enjoyed all of these dishes, and I’m still eating them. I also still have asparagus and lots of lettuce to eat, but I did finish off the cherries.

Fourth pick-up

I had done minimal grocery shopping since getting back from the beach and got into a bad habit of eating out all week. So I was anxious to get my next share and get back into cooking and eating at home.

Here was the round-up this week:

 Cherries (I've already been eating these like grapes.)

Asparagus (my favorite!)

Bibb lettuce

Field lettuce

Cabbage (still not sure what I'm going to do with this)

Tomatoes

Zucchini

I spent most of Saturday cooking, so I have some recipes to share this week.

The thing about cooking for one is that you don’t really have choices. Yes, you can decide to make something on Monday rather than Tuesday or vice versa but at the end of the week you have to eat the meals you planned for at the grocery store. The leftovers will continue to stare at you from the refrigerator if you pass them up one night. There is no one else to finish off those things.

When I first lived by myself, I think this is what I struggled with the most. At my parents’ house I never doubt that there will be several options awaiting me in their refrigerator. But there’s also no guarantee that what I passed up the first time will still be around the next time I am looking for a meal or snack.

But now I’ve grown accustomed to a life without choices, so I actually struggled this week on vacation when the refrigerator was literally exploding with options.

Let me explain a little bit about where we vacation. We go to an island on the Atlantic Coast that is only accessible by ferry and once you are on the island, there is one grocery store and one main restaurant. This means the best approach is to grocery shop in advance and transport the food by ferry. You can still get whatever you need at the grocery store on the island, but it’s a little more economical to do the major shopping beforehand. This is what my mom did, and I contributed my produce share for the week. In addition, my mom prepared several dishes in advance, including two types of already cooked chicken (grilled and buffalo-style), a breakfast casserole (which didn’t actually travel as well as planned), and chocolate pies. Needless to say, even at the beginning of the week we had plenty of food.

Over the course of the week, we accumulated more choices as we prepared fresh seafood for a variety of dishes. My mom served as the main chef, but I promised to give the other participants credit. Note that for all of the dishes mentioned, I substituted shrimp when it was not the main seafood.

Shrimp and grits
Mahi-Mahi with risotto
Pasta with seasoned scallops (prepared by my sister)
Shrimp boil (prepared by my brother)
Steak and potatoes (steaks grilled by my dad)
Homemade pizza

These dishes were complemented with my fresh produce as sides. We roasted asparagus, sautéed zucchini and squash, sautéed mustard greens and fried zucchini.  I of course enjoyed the asparagus and liked both ways the zucchini was prepared. However, I was glad that I shared the mustard greens with four other people. We (well, my dad) sautéed them in olive oil with garlic and some bacon, but they were extremely peppery. I ate my serving as did everyone else, but no one asked for seconds. I’m hoping the next time those show up for me, I’ll be able to swap them out!

I also introduced my family to some of my new favorite recipes and proved to myself that it’s not just me who likes them. I made foccacia bread since I had more spring onions, but I still haven’t mastered the yeast thing. I served Pioneer Woman’s pancakes on one of our last mornings with maple syrup. I also successfully popped my popcorn on the stove and might have just converted my family to that approach over microwave bags, but then again, probably not.

They also got to enjoy the Bibb lettuce that I have come to love, and they seemed impressed by the strawberries that I considered a little subpar compared to the ones I had a few weeks ago. But maybe picking them straight from the farm raises my standards a little too high.

Needless to say, we ate very well all week, and I enjoyed a week of making choices about my meals once I got over my initial indecisiveness.