Rosemary Kate!

My friend Kate brought a sack full of herb to the Mom's Club pool party!

Literally, it was an oversized shopping bag filled to the brim with rosemary and basil. Some was for a strawberry recipe I remembered from a high-class cook out years ago. And the rest was for each of us to take home.

Since I'm growing basil, I took only two gigantic sprigs of rosemary. I didn't grow up in a house smelling of rosemary, so it's not a "go-to" flavor in my mind-recipe-box.

I brought home those delicious smelling herbs and stuck them in a bud vase. For two days, the aroma filled our kitchen... and finally, the challenge began! What could I cook using rosemary and the leftover veggies from last week's farmer's market? Thank goodness for the internet! Behold:

Keep rosemary sprigs in a bud vase for longer freshness.

They'll suck up the water, so keep an eye on it!

Dinner 1: honey rosemary sweet potatoes, rosemary & garlic scented roasted okra and garlic rolls

• honey rosemary sweet potatoes perfect according to recipe in link - be sure to use parchment paper so the honey & potatoes don't destroy your pan; tin foil might tear
• roasted okra: toss whole okra, garlic slices & rosemary sprigs in olive oil; spread on pan and sprinkle with salt; roast at 450° for 15 minutes
• had dinner rolls in freezer. Melt butter & garlic in the bottom of a glass dish inside warm oven, dip the tops of the rolls in the butter then put them in the dish & toast in the oven

Dinner 2: oven "fried" okra with homemade rosemary breadcrumbs and cold peanut noodles with tempeh & green beans.

• These Weelicious okra fries are the best oven fried okra I've tried so far! I made the breadcrumbs using multi-grain bread: toast whole, fresh slices of bread in the oven for :15 (turn once); when cooled, break apart and grind in blender (I had to do 3 batches using 5 pieces of bread); add rosemary sprigs to chop in blender and mix all crumbs back together. Okra recipe only needed one coating of egg/bread crumbs using fresh breadcrumbs
• Left out several of the ingredients on cold peanut noodles and it still turned out great! (omitted bean sprouts, chives, cilantro and added green beans). Made with whole wheat spaghetti noodles. FANTASTIC!

Grilled strawberries:

• de-stem the strawberries and marinate in olive oil and balsamic vinegar;
• rinse 12" sprigs of rosemary so thoroughly wet;
• string about 4 strawberries onto each sprig (pull them up the sprig);
• grill on low for about :06, turning regularly, or until hot all the way through.
• If you made enough for everyone to have a sprig, great! Otherwise, pull strawberries off into a bowl;
• Drizzle with more balsamic if desired.

Peaches!

I've been pretty disappointed with peaches over the years. They've been hard, mealy and just un-flavorful... but that all changed this summer! We moved to the Peach State which means I no longer buy peaches from the grocery store. And I learned a very important lesson...

Peach Rule #1: Never, EVER put a ripe peach in the fridge!

Did you know that refrigeration makes a ripe peach mealy? You can put unripened peaches in a bag into the crisper you're ready to finish ripening on the counter. Whether you buy at the grocery or a fruit stand, peaches often need to sit on the counter for a day or two before they're ready to enjoy. Some of the ones I got at the Peaches & Pigs festival this weekend were ready to eat and still others are just getting there three days after purchase.

It's rare that a peach makes it past it's ripeness in our house, but it did happen a few weeks ago. So what to do with peaches that are past their prime? Here are some ideas:

• Blanche: boil whole peaches for 6 minutes then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water. Once they've cooled (at least 5 minutes), you can easily pull the skin off the peach. Blanching gives the peach a deep and delicious flavor. You can cut it up and freeze in a single layer to use for later (shakes!), or you can chop it up and mix with yogurt!
• Grill: Cut peaches in half and put in dish with balsamic vinegar, honey and a touch of vanilla. Grill pit side up for 3 minutes, then turn for another :03 or until heated through. Dish 'em up, drizzle with remaining vinegar/honey mix and serve with vanilla yogurt or ice cream.
• Saute´: Cut peaches into thin slices and saute with cinnamon until soft. Great topping for pancakes, yogurt, oatmeal, on cheerios, or a stand alone snack.
• Puree: Either raw or after using above techniques, puree the peaches and freeze in an ice tray. You can use as a sweetener for other recipes or as baby food!

Final Destination... the abortion issue

So, after dropping my son off at school today, I was traveling down 41 and there was a dump truck stalled in the intersection. Everybody was slowing down and what happens? I have a flashback of my friend Amy.

Amy was a really, really close friend of mind in high school. We had a lot of fun and many deep conversations; so many good memories. One of the things that always stands out in the forefront of my memories with Amy is that she was supposed to be aborted. Her mom got knocked up and chose to have an abortion. However it happened, she ended up having Amy, but she knew this her whole life - she knew that she was literally the product of the abortion debate. And for whatever reason, Amy was still pro-choice. She told me, "you know, I would never have known the difference".

And, as you would suspect, her life was tough. The reason a stalled out dump truck reminds me of Amy is because, as she was traveling down 41 in Alachua County FL, she drove right into the side of a tractor trailer doing a three point turn. Amy was on her way to class at the local community college, t-boned the trailer which was doing an illegal turn, and was decapitated.

Snap - the end of it.

Ever see that movie "Final Destination"? It makes me wonder... was she ever meant to grow old? She had already cheated death once when her mom chose not to abort. And then at 20, maybe 21, everything was taken away from her.

Almost every time I think of Amy, I think of the abortion issue. Being pro-life vs. being pro-choice and what does it really mean?

If you're pro-life, does it NECESSARILY mean that other women shouldn't have the choice to have an abortion?

I am politically pro-choice. Every woman ought to have the choice to carry the baby to full term and deliver it. Government has no business in our reproductive rights. I believe that a fetus is not a baby until it can survive outside the womb without intervention. And any family that going to lobby for taking away abortion rights should to adopt or foster a child every year that they lobby.

A baby is not a baby until it's outside of the womb, living, breathing, swallowing, pumping blood on it's own. It's part of nature that mother feeds the baby. I've heard the argument "well, if you feel that way, and if you intervene by feeding the baby, you're proving yourself wrong..." Note: feeding our young is a part of nature. Breathing for them is not. When the lungs are collapsed or the heart is malformed or the brain is swollen, should the baby live? Should we listen to nature and avoid excessive intervention? Or should we follow our human instincts and do everything possible to keep a non-viable baby alive? These are tough, heart-wrenching questions.

Personally, I'm pro-life. For my person, my body and my family, if I unexpectedly got pregnant, I would carry, deliver and love that baby with all my heart. Would I have made the same decision 10 years ago? I have no clue! Thankfully I wasn't faced with it, yet I want other people to be able to make that personal choice. It's not MY decision for them or their body or the fetus.

Even though Amy had a great time for so much of her life, she also had it tough due to the circumstances she was born into. Her mom got knocked up very young and thankfully, she had grandparents who stepped in to take that parental role.

Not every child who is born is born wanted. It's a shame, but it's how it is.

Love you, Amy. Always on my mind...

Amy & Kristina - way back in the day.

multiplying the chard

An impromptu family dinner, so what do you do? Well, pasta makes everything bigger!

I bought some beautiful red ruby swiss chard at Publix the other day. I'd never bought it before, but it was absolutely fresh, crisp and beautiful, so I had to give it a try. With the bro and his kids on the way over, it was time to multiply dinner...

Started with spinach nuggets from the produce section at Publix. Delish, healthy and easy apps! Then we had corn on the cob, Italian swiss chard (garlic & red pepper with olive oil) and whole grain spaghetti. For dessert? Baked peaches from the farmers market! Complete with vanilla ice cream my brother brought over. See, delish meal on a moment's notice and a shoestring budget. YUM!

What's for dinner? Get creative!

Inventory:

• long beans
• red potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• garlic
• onion
• broccoli
• eggs

So, what was for dinner? Since hubby was working late, we could cook lite:

• sauteed long beans with the thai dressing we bought at the farmers market
• scattered red potatoes with broccoli, onion, garlic & egg (beat egg, grate potatoes, puree broccoli, onion & garlic. Mix, squeeze patties to get out moisture, pan fry in olive oil until personal satisfaction. I like mine crispy.)
• Sriracha on my plate

I'm certain that I've eaten long beans in a chinese buffet at some point. They didn't taste much different than a string bean, but a bit more tough and less full with moisture. My 3 year old loved the beans with the thai sauce, but it was too sweet for me. Perfect with the sriracha. Struck out with him on the scattered potatoes, but I liked it! He's not a potato fan anyway.

Family dinner!

Every other Wednesday, we enjoy family dinner with my little bro and his two girls. They've tried some new things at our house and some variations of the staples. I decided to nix the long beans tonight and instead oven fried the okra and made two pizzas using pre-made dough from Publix and veggies from the farmers market. Yum!

Here's the recipe I used for oven fried okra. It's super-simple and is always a kiddie & grown-up crowd pleaser with toothpicks for spearing & ranch dressing on the side! One tip - if the okra is small, cook only :30, not :40.

We discovered the pre-made pizza dough in a fridge at the Publix Bakery. I think they're about $3 and they taste so good! Just let it rise for an hour in a greased bowl with a towel over it, then stretch and top. We cook ours on a large baking dish at 450° for 12 minutes. Don't worry about the shape! When we started, we came out with some funky shaped pies.

On this pizza: olive oil, a mixture of blanched broccoli, chopped tomatoes, garlic & ranch dressing and a package of 2% Italian shredded cheese.

The second pizza was more traditional with pizza sauce, basil, garlic, sliced deli ham (for the guys) and mixed cheese.

Food, Family & Politics: they definitely go together!

I started cooking more and more after getting married 8 years ago. Our dinners went from baked chicken & broccoli in 2003 to Aaloo Palak in 2011.

I gave up meat (have a weakness for fall off the bone ribs & bacon, though) at the same time my oldest son Jake was old enough to try it. I always had an aversion to raw meat, gristle and any type of "pink" in my steak, so I had been experimenting with vegetarian dishes for years. That summer, my neighbor lent me the book Skinny Bitch. All that I had tried to ignore my entire life about our food was screaming at me from those pages. So, I gave up meat, except for those special times like eating King's BBQ in Lake County this past week end. Going meat-free in our house was a major turning point in the kitchen.

Almost on a daily basis, I look up recipes online to try something new with whatever's in the house. Last night it was an Indian dish of spinach, potatoes, tomatoes & spices called Aaloo Palak.

The food issue in America was brought to the forefront when we visited the Kennesaw Farmer's Market on Tuesday. I've been to road side stands and to other farmer's markets, but I was blown away by this one. While it was intimate, it was plentiful! I bought hydroponic organic

lettuce for $2 a head, a big bunch of freshly picked spinach for $2, tomatoes & hot peppers for $2, long beans for $2 (going to make tonight! What the heck is a long bean?!), homemade Thai dressing for $5, a basket of freshly picked okra for $2, Georgia peaches for $4 and a basket of freshly tilled sweet potatoes for another $2. A week's worth of FRESH produce for $21 + amazing dressing for a vegetarian family!

Whoah, those are some looong beans!

I'm still on cloud 9! I can barely get over the fact that I've been buying grocery store lettuce and spinach, possibly in a bag, for half my life. And fruits & veggies picked early so they look better in the store. For what? The convenience? What's so convenient about going to the grocery store and paying twice as much for week old, bland, vitamin depleted produce?

You may be thinking "is this chick really just learning about farmer's markets"? Well, no! I've known about farmer's markets for ever, but discovering a good one is the key. While living in Ponce Inlet, the closest weekly Farmer's Market on City Island featured resellers. These folks bought old produce from the grocery stores and then resold it at the farmer's market! yuck! And still others resold things like sunscreen or pallets of water. Yes, some Saturdays, we could score amazing produce, and the local honey was fabulous, but the entire event was spotty.

Long story short, I'll be posting my kitchen creations and food revelations on Kristina's Conscience going forward.

Food, Family & Politics: they definitely go together!