Last night’s dinner was delicious! It was inspired by yesterday’s post-work trip to the Wickenden farmers’ market.

First, we started with a caprese salad made with a striped German tomato from White Barn Farm, mozzarella from Narragansett Creamery (also from the market, sold by Wishing Stone Farm) and basil from our garden plot. The tomato was giant and so sweet. I thought we’d have leftovers, but it was impossible to leave any.

Then, Jeremy grilled a chicken breast stuffed with arugula from the garden, spicy dried sausage and hot pepper cheese, both from Tony’s Colonial on Atwells. Meanwhile, I sauteed beet greens, also from White Barn Farm, with some garlic and hot pepper flakes.

What a feast! And what a great city we live in.

The latest weed that’s taken a hold of my garden plot - even flourishing during an unwatered week of vacation - is purslane. I initially let it be, hoping it would make an attractive groundcover, but quickly realized my mistake as it started to spread.

Uglyagnes told me that one of her plot neighbors has been cooking purslane, so I thought I’d give it a try. I bit off a leaf and found it juicy with a mild citrus flavor - like a tame sorrel. Searching Epicurious revealed a few recipes, some of which, to my amusement, implied that purslane was something that one could only be lucky enough to find at speciality markets.

Salad with Purslane

I was most excited by the recipe for Grilled Zucchini Salad, but I modified it to include lentils and a chopped cucumber. It was the perfect way to use some of my Wickenden Street farmers’ market purchases. The result was quite delicious and a good use of “weeds”!

I’ve been neglecting my blog this week. It’s not that I don’t think “I need to write about this!” every time I eat a delicious morsel or spy some interesting food item - mostly, it’s that I hesitate to post without a picture, and after a day at work, the lighting in my house can most pleasantly be described as “romantic”. So I’m going to tell you about the pot of risotto I made tonight, but you’ll just have to imagine how beautiful it looks.

No food photo, but check out this asparagus napkin I silkscreened at AS220’s print shop yesterday!

Sometimes I gravitate towards recipes with multiple diced vegetables - I read them slowly, thinking of how therapeutic all that chopping will be (I suspect that visions of the beach do this for most people, but I’ll take what I can get). Last night I was reading Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, and when I got to the Risotto Primavera recipe, I knew it was the perfect fate for my Monday night and the extra bunch of farmers’ market asparagus I’d been saving.

While it doesn’t take that long to prepare, it’s the perfect evening “cooking retreat” - an excuse to turn off the phone, the TV and the computer, and immerse yourself in the acts of chopping vegetables and stirring risotto.

Now for the recipe…

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It’s inevitable, when you cook more than 4 courses in a night, to make a total mess.

But I’m happy to see how much smaller that mess looks in my new kitchen! (on the right). We cooked a 5 course dinner for 8 of us this weekend and there was still space left on the counter.

Since my post about the Price Rite which opened near me, I’ve returned countless times. I have especially enjoyed exploring new ingredients in the Hispanic foods aisle.

One of my discoveries was Giant White Corn. The dried kernels were definitely giant - about the size of a penny. Inspired by the recipe on the Goya package, I prepared a stew with pork, making a few modifications based on the ingredients I had on hand. The result was delicious and I’ll definitely make it again.

Pork Stew with Giant White Corn

A similar recipe can be found on the Goya site here. The modifications I made were:

1. I used the whole package of corn (1 lb) and a bit more pork.
2. I didn’t have the spices and the sofrito on hand, so I improvised, replacing some pork broth with water and seasoning with chipotle and cilantro flavor cubes made by Knorr.
3. Last, I ate the stew with some hot sauce and liberal amounts of fresh cilantro.

Maybe it was an overly indulgent week of Valentine’s treats, cheese and duck-fat fried poutine, or maybe it was the RAVE diet vegan infomercial we saw in the hotel, but something made me want to give animal products a break this week.

I wasn’t planning on being awfully strict - after all, someone brought a bag of Reese’s to work yesterday and there’s the matter of a gallon of vanilla ice cream already in the freezer. Instead, my goal was to eliminate animal products from my cooking.

The verdict? Although I don’t see myself becoming vegan or even vegetarian, I would like to cook this way more of the time. Aside from being healthy for myself and the world, much of the food I made was inexpensive and lasted longer than meaty leftovers.

Pumpkin oatmeal made with steel cut oats and soymilk

Here are some of my favorites from this week:

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins - I have to admit, my heart usually sinks a little when I’m offered vegan baked goods. But these excellent muffins don’t suffer at all from lack of eggs or butter.  I substituted maple syrup for the molasses and used whole wheat flour.

Pumpkin oatmeal - I cooked steel cut oats in a mixture of unsweetened soy milk and water, adding some nutmeg, cinnamon, maple syrup and raisins. Then, in the last few minutes of cooking, I stirred in the leftover pumpkin from the muffins, about a half cup. It was delicious - luckily I made enough to last for a few mornings.

Chipotle split pea soup - Split pea soup usually gets its smoky flavor from ham; here, the smokiness is accomplished with chipotles (an ingredient I find myself using more and more). Not only is this vegan, but it’s also very thrifty - the whole batch, around 10 servings, cost me less than $2 to make.

Tofu scramble - onion and bell pepper sauteed with firm tofu, topped with scallions, parsley and avocado. Looked and tasted great, kept me full for hours.

Fudge is often thought of as a rare vacation treat, sampled and occasionally purchased at gift shops (”shoppes”?) or on the boardwalk. But it’s actually very easy to make - especially with this shortcut recipe.

I made this m&m fudge for my valentine (who also took the photo). Credit: Jeremy May

If you’re looking for a last-minute treat to make for your valentine this year, this is it. This recipe skips the messy and difficult techniques - all you have to do is melt, stir and pour. Still, every time I’ve made this fudge, it’s gotten rave reviews. Enjoy!

Easy Fudge

Ingredients

• 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 to 18 oz of chocolate, either chips or bars*
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup mix ins, such as m&ms, nuts and/or dried fruit

* I love dark chocolate, so for the M&M fudge, I mostly used Baker’s Semi-Sweet chocolate and added a few ounces of a Ghirardelli 100% unsweetened baking bar.

Procedure

1. Spray a 9×9 pan (or 9×13, for thinner fudge) with non-stick spray, or line with wax paper.
2. If you’re using chocolate bars, chop them into small pieces.
3. Pour the can of condensed milk into a pot.
4. Stir in the chocolate and heat over medium heat, stirring often, until the chocolate is completely melted. (You can even do this in the microwave. Just take it out every minute to stir until completely melted.)
5. Turn off the heat. Stir in the vanilla and then the mix-ins.
6. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
7. Allow to cool in the refrigerator until firm. Cut into squares. I usually find it easiest to remove the whole slab from the pan before cutting.

Variations and ideas: Stir in 1/2 cup peanut butter. Use peanut butter, butterscotch or white chocolate chips. Make two different batches of fudge and layer. Some recipes call for 2-4 tbsp of butter, which is melted with the condensed milk and chocolate.

We all know that bringing a lunch to work is less expensive and usually healthier. But it can be a hard task to keep up with if you aren’t prepared. Here are some tips that have helped me bring my lunch at least 95% of the time.

A few of my past lunches. Want to see the details? All these lunches are on Flickr.

First, develop a system for carrying your lunch. It could be a fancy lunch container, but it could just as well be a nice bag to hold your ancient mismatched containers. The key is to give yourself an option that makes you look forward to bringing your lunch so you’ll do it more often. Make sure it fits your lifestyle - if you don’t do dishes daily, you might be better off with a few identical containers.

I own a Mr. Bento and Mr. Bento and use them often, but if I hadn’t had an amazon.com gift certificate to spend, I would have been perfectly happy bringing reusable tupperware-style containers. My current favorites are Ziploc Twist & Loc, and I also love reusing glass jam jars like the beautiful ones from Bonne Maman.

Second, narrow your food options. What type of lunch food satisfies you? Not just your hunger, but your senses? You might like biting into a sandwich, or you might prefer something that requires a knife and fork (I do - it makes me feel like I’m eating something substantial). Do you have a microwave at work? Is messy or fragrant food going to be a problem? These questions will give you a place to start.

Third, develop a formula. Preparing lunch is a lot easier if you don’t have to think about it too much. Usually I’ll prepare a main dish and a side. I don’t mind leftovers and don’t require variety, so I usually make a large quantity of something on the weekend and eat it for several days. If you do crave change, think about freezing a portion of each dinner you make for later lunches.

Here’s my basic formula:

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A year ago yesterday, a crazy event took place: a Lord of the Rings day. My boyfriend and I, along with another couple, watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. This wouldn’t be much of a challenge, except these were the extended versions - a total playing time of about 11 hours.

To pass the day in style, we prepared and ate food for all 7 Hobbit meals, including “coney stew” (rabbit), which we cooked over a wood fire. Of course, this was accompanied by a decent amount of ale and mead.

Here was our menu:

First Breakfast - omelette, mushrooms, bacon (cooked in the fireplace), coffee - which, fortunately for us, they did actually drink in the books

Second Breakfast - whipped cream and berries, seedcakes

Elevensies - bread, cheese, fruits. This is when the ale started.

Luncheon - leek and mushroom-stuffed puff pastry boxes, cold chicken

Afternoon Tea - seedcakes, banana bread and Keemun tea

Dinner - coney (rabbit) stew with red wine, onions, garlic, carrots and herbs, cooked in the fireplace for about 6 hours

Supper - we were going to have a selection green salads, but could only muster up enough hunger for a few sprigs of watercress

By the time next February comes around, we might actually be ready to do it again.

Sources:

• Rabbit: Antonelli’s Poultry, 62 De Pasquale Ave., Providence RI
• Keemun Tea: Basically British, 16 Cutler St., Warren RI
• Cheese: Farmstead, 186 Wayland Ave., Providence RI

A lot of people find working with yeast dough intimidating. While it does take a bit more time than picking up a loaf at the store, it’s really not all that hard. I’m going to share some tips and my favorite recipes for bread and pizza dough.

The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake - this is mine!

I was lucky - when I was young, my mother let me bake bread with her.  Now, I love the almost flesh-like feeling of dough as I knead it. But I’m far from an expert, and you definitely don’t have to be to turn out some great bread or pizza.

If you’ve never baked bread before, I have two recommendations. One is to buy yeast at Costco or Sam’s Club, where a giant 2 pound package cost me $3.87…22 times less than those puny envelopes at the grocery store! Buying a package not only saves you money, it gives you the flexibility to use a larger or smaller amount than is in the envelope, and you can experiment without feeling wasteful.

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