harmony valley farm stand @ dane county farmers market

Hello, lovelies! How did we get to Friday already? Summer is moving fast. There doesn't seem to be enough time to cook everything I want to cook! And we're not even to corn or tomato season yet. Yikes. What's a girl to do?  

p.s. here's a little song that makes me happy... hope it does the same for you.

p.p.s. Mr. Klein is BBQing ribs on Saturday. I think some corn pudding is a must along with some vinegary cucumber salad ... and maybe some sour-cherry sorbetto for dessert -- we still have a lot of cherries to use (and pit by hand!)

p.p.p.s. Goodness, don't these look too good for words?

p.p.p.p.s. as a lover of food-based literature, I must read this book!

Happy eating, -s.

sweet (for the moment) klein boys

Holy hotness. It seems the whole country is under a heatwave. All I want to eat are ice-cold green beans, watermelon and ice cream sandwiches. That's a balanced meal, right? (wink.)

p.s. In honor of our former neighbor (lead guitarist of the Go-Gos, Jane Wiedlin), here's one of my favorite songs EVER.

p.p.s. We're hosting my fabulous sister, Heather, and two of her kiddos this weekend. On Saturday, we will be heading downtown to the Dane County Farmers Market, then to the pool for a swim and lunch.  Here's our menu for the weekend:

Friday Dinner:
slow-cooker BBQ'd pulled chicken sandwiches with romaine slaw on buns

potato chips

watermelon

limeaid

ice cream sandwiches for dessert

 

Saturday Breakfast:

berry smoothies

scrambled eggs

toasted and buttered bagels

roasted breakfast sausages or bacon

 

Saturday Lunch @ the pool:

Turkey caesar sandwiches

chips and salsa

carrot sticks/snap peas/green beans

p.p.p.s. With both blueberries and raspberries in season right now, I NEED to make this post haste. How delicious does that look?!

Happy eating, -s.

summer on a plate

I am utterly in love with latkes, but come summer, potatoes get replaced by zucchini. With six, plump beauties waiting their turn in the crisper, I knew what I was making for dinner: zucchini pancakes. As with most recipes from Marc Bittman, I modified things a bit. Using his recipes as a spring board, I changed up a few things, like squeezing the grated zucchini of its moisture, cutting out the minced onion and adding chopped basil to the mixture. Be forewarned, these are delicate little fritters; I used my All-Clad saute pan with success (a.k.a. no sticking), but if you have a non-stick pan, I would use it. I use this small scoop to make bite-size cakes, but feel free to make this bigger too -- just cook them a bit longer to cook off the raw egg. A dollop of chive sour cream adorned each latke. 

Happy eating, -s.

cool rhys; mint awaiting a muddle; berry-splattered piggy; happy james hunting for bunnies



Good golly, it's the weekend. I barely made it through this week! After having a long weekend last week, this whole working-all-5-days is a real downer. We have birthday parties on both Saturday morning and afternoon, so I am hoping that we can hit the pool on Sunday for a long time, with a picnic lunch in the shade. These meaty sandwiches look great .. so do these vegetarian ones. Food just tastes better eaten outside. Hopefully the mosquitoes won't eat us alive as they have been. Pickle has been swelling up around every bite he gets. Poor thing.

p.s. Here's a fun little song to get your booty shaking.

p.p.s My mint is screaming MOJITOS! (hint, hint, Mr. Klein) ... and maybe some farro tabbouleh.

p.p.p.s. I want to make these for Sunday's dinner and these for breakfasts during the work week!

happy eating, -s.

sour cherries from our little tree

The market this Saturday was a pea extravaganza -- sugar snaps, snow peas, and, my favorite, English shell peas abound.  There were also gorgeous baby zucchini that would be perfect on a pizza with thyme, lemon zest and feta. My basket was filled with all things green, with some golden beets and yellow zucchini brightening the mix. Spicy arugula, crisp green beans and bushy bunches of cilantro rounded out my shopping. With so much of this earthly goodness to cook with, menu inspiration comes easy these days. 

Our backyard has become a source of fruitful inspiration, with our sour cherry tree bursting with tart, red fruit. Our raspberries are just blushing from the sun -- a few more hot, sunny days and we should be eating berries every day for a few weeks. The Klein boys cannot wait, as I catch them eating barely ripened ones when we're playing outside.

Here's what our market basket contained:
arugula
cilantro
English peas
golden beets with greens
green beans
snow peas
sugar snap peas
zucchini -- green and yellow

And here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday: grilled Italian sausages (made by me!), blanched green beans and watermelon
Monday: kiddos: mozzarella en carozza served with prosciutto, melon and arugula/ mom&pop: arugula salad with melon, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella in a lemony vinaigrette
Tuesday: pasta with sauteed shell peas and parmigiano reggiano/hopefully some raspberries and cream for dessert!
Wednesday: stir-fried snow peas and sesame fried eggs with jasmine rice
Thursday: zucchini pancakes with chive sour cream / served with melon
Friday: roasted golden beet tortas with fresh goat cheese and almond-cilantro pesto

Happy eating, -s.

an adundance of mint: I think it's time for mojitos and vietnamese food

Here's an oldie but a goodie to kick off the weekend. 1982 was a good year (wink).

Today is the summer solstice, which technically means it's the longest day of the year or maybe not.

As a long-time fan of the Sopranos, I was super sad to hear about James Gandolfini's death. His co-star, Edie Falco's, words of condolences were really beautiful and touching.

As a fan of all things rhubarb, Seven Spoon's rhubarb danish looks too good for words.

A favorite blog of mine took a vacay to Montauk. See all the gorgeous photos here.

It's Very Berry Festival at the Hilldale Farmer's Market. What could be better on a Saturday morning I ask?!

Finally, on Sunday, my sister Holley and I are taking a sausage-making class at the Underground Food Collective's Meat Facility; couldn't be more excited! 

Happy eating, -s.

 
Tomorrow is my 11th wedding anniversary. How fast does 11 years go, you ask? Really, really fast. Our 11 years have included two cities, two houses, two kids, several new jobs, a temporary stay in a condo to find our dream house, lots of highs and some lows, too many bottles of wine to count, amazing travels and some really incredible meals. I can't wait to see what the next 11 years brings for me and Mr. Klein.
 
And speaking of the fabulous Mr. Klein ... can I wax poetically for a moment? He is my best friend, the person who makes me laugh the most, the guy who likes food almost as much as me and my co-conspirator on all boozy evenings during the last 11 years. He's the best dad and he's loyal to a fault. Oh, and did I mention he puts up with my crazy worrying, my bouts of perfectionism and my manic moments in the kitchen? It goes without saying, but he's the best husband a girl could have. I'm so lucky.
 
Love you, Babe. Here's to 11 x 11 more years.
 
We have a busy, busy weekend full of graduations parties, birthdays, Father's Day dinner and probably some yard work mixed in for good measure. I love having ready-made lunches for this kind of weekend. I have a real weakness for chicken salad in general, but I am proclaming the following recipe to be the best. I've modified it a little -- roasting the chicken breasts and cutting back on the raw garlic, which gives me a headache. Oh, and the extra dressing is great smeared on a cucumber and sprout sandwich on whole-grain toast. Just saying ...
 

photo from Gourmet.com

 Cilantro-Almond Chicken Salad
modified only slightly from this recipe
serves many hungry bambini and their moms and pops, too
 
Ingredients

For roasting chicken:
4 large chicken breast halves (with skin and bone; about 1 lb.  each)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For dressing: 2 cups slivered blanched almonds (6 oz)
1 garlic clove
1/2 to 1 fresh hot jalapeño, coarsely chopped, including seeds (optional if feeding kiddos)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 tablespoon kosher salt, or to taste
3 cups chopped cilantro

Accompaniments: mixed greens; roasted yellow, orange, or red bell peppers

Directions

For roasting chicken: Generously sprinkle the chicken with kosher salt and black pepper. 
Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before roasting.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.  Put chicken in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Roast until skin is browned and crisp, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven to cool. When chicken is cool enough to handle, discard skin and bones and shred meat (you will have about 8 cups).

Note: Chicken breasts will shred most easily and beautifully when freshly roasted and cooled, so try to refrain from the temptation to cook and chill the breasts a day ahead before shredding.

For making the dressing:In the already-preheated oven, roast almonds in a rimmed baking sheet until golden and fragrantly toasty, about 10 minutes. Cool.

With motor running, drop garlic into food processor and finely chop. Stop processor and add jalapeño, mayonnaise, sour cream, 1/2 cup lime juice, and 1 tbsp. kosher salt and blend until smooth. Add almonds and pulse until chopped. Add cilantro and pulse just to incorporate. Taste and season with additional salt, pepper and lime juice.

Combine chicken with dressing in a large bowl.  Chicken salad keeps, chilled, 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
 

Happy eating, -s.