shake your booty friday

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.

shake your booty friday

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.

recipe: zucchini pancakes with chive sour cream

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.

shake your booty friday

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.

please pass the peas

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.