These Last Winter Weeks & Roasted Veggies the Color of Gems

"I have let the whole winter slide without making a pan of sweet roasted veggies," I thought to myself while lounging on the sofa chair with a stack of pretty cookbooks.

I was flipping through an Ellie Krieger cookbook, and saw the recipe for Jewel Roasted Vegetables. Crimson beets, shocking orange carrots, and fresh green sprouts were glowing in the photo. I immediately jotted down the ingredients on my shopping list. And fresh thyme caught my interest. I have had fresh rosemary on roasted vegetables, but never fresh thyme for flavour and garnish.

Delectable.

A basic roast veggie dish with basic ingredients. All too easy to not make again and again. The beets need to be roasted in a separate dish though. I sprinkled a few good pinches of Himalayan pink sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. I love how roasting brings out the sweetness of a vegetable, and makes it crisp, yet soft.

I love the fresh spring taste of the beets.

To me, beets taste like early spring.

These last few weeks Olivia has been drawing up a storm. She gets up in the morning and heads straight to her tub of crayons and opens up her sketch book. She amazes me how fast she can draw animals from her Ed Emberley drawing book.

These last winter days are full of indoor play - lots of drawing, making storybooks, pretend, and Legos covering the floor. Time outside has been short. In a few weeks, it should warm up and we will be able to go to the park and have picnics; something I am eagerly anticipating. 

Over the weekend I discovered some very early bulbs peeking up through the soil.

Not much longer now.

See you in March!

Recipe for Ellie's Jewel Roasted Vegetables here.

Like Cotton Balls



I was sitting on the couch last night catching up on rented episodes of Weeds, when I heard the wind start to pick up. A misty rain mixed with snow started to fall from the sky.

Late February always holds one last surprise snow storm and this was it I thought to myself.

When daylight broke over the horizon, the prairie was white and crystalline.. like something out of Dr. Zhivago.

I wasn't planning on doing anymore photography for the rest of the week.. But, these are the moments I think to myself, "I must capture this." And so.. out  I trekked, jeans tucked into my boots, cold wind whipping, and I found myself encircled in the prairie sticks trying to get some good shots. I loved how the fallen snow looked dolloped on top of the weeds.. like cotton balls. Very serene. And very short lived as this snow was already melting as I moved around.

I am lucky to have this serenity just steps from my backdoor.

It's peaceful and blissfully quiet.

And inspiring.

I hope to return with one more post for the month of February. Then, I am devoting a month to breakfast posts. I realized recently that I don't give much attention to breakfast, and I am eager to plan some meals from scratch. Think buckwheat pancakes oozing with wild Maine blueberries. My thoughts are buzzing.

I'll be back soon. Have a wonderful weekend.

Hurry Up Spring

Snow is covering the ground, but my mindset is spring right now.

Every year around this time, I buy a bunch of seed packets by Botanical Interests. I absolutely love the watercolor art on the seed packets. This is my stash so far. I need to place an order this week for the majority of what I have planned. I am planning on growing all sorts of interesting and colorful radishes, tomatoes, and more.

A little something is in the air though...

I heard the grackles and sparrows singing and building a nest outside my kitchen windows. Yes, the grackles and sparrows hang out together around here - they seem to possibly be competing over territory?

Hurry up Spring.

I can't wait to see you.

Health, Happiness, and a Luscious Chocolate-Zucchini Cake

Can I tell you about how I am feeling right now? I am very happy and filled with joy inside. I can't hold in my happiness!

Last Thursday I had a mammogram done. I had been feeling some pain - enough pain to wake me up at night. So after my mammogram was finished, I was told the doctor wanted to do an ultrasound. They wanted to look further at something. For about 15 minutes after I was waiting for the results, I felt sheer terror inside. I can't even describe it. My whole body felt warm all over with fear. I felt dread. I prayed. 

It turned out everything was fine. Thank you God. I can not contain how happy I feel to receive a clean bill of health. I am bursting with joy. I am drinking green tea everyday now and vow to eat greens everyday of my life. I am so happy.

I want to celebrate life as much as I can. In all that I do and all that I think. Everyday. Every moment if possible. So, for my first celebritory time I had to myself this Monday morning, I baked a chocolate chip zucchini cake. This cake brought me so much joy to make. A very simple cake. With simple ingredients: shredded zucchini, chocolate, a small container of low-fat yogurt, 2 eggs.



I found the recipe in one of Prevention's Flat Belly Diet cookbooks. I love those. At the time I made it, I was out of whole wheat pastry flour, so I just substituted all purpose flour (just double the amount called for of the whole wheat pastry flour). I will definitely be making this again with the whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier.

I will be putting these cut servings (this recipe makes 12 servings) into the freezer for when I get a chocolate cake craving.

My main interest right now is health and light recipes. The future of this blog will hold a keepsake of light, airy recipes. Stay tuned! Here's to celebrating the everyday... with good things for you.

Chocolate-Zucchini Snack Cake

From The Flat Belly Diet Diabettes cookbook by Liz Vaccariello

1 and 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (measure 3.5 cups if using all purpose)

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm)

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

Spray a 11" X 7" pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside

In a medium bowl, combine: the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Then whisk in the zucchini and 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips.

Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until blended.

Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips. Pop pan back into oven for 1 minute to melt chips. With a spatula, spread melted chips over cake. Let cool completely.

12 servings/361 calories a serving

Valentine's Day Tulips

My husband brought home two tulip bouquets last night; one  for the mommy {me} and one for my son's teacher. River looked so cute this morning walking around with the orange tulip bouquet for his teacher.  Valentine's cards for his classes card exchange were safely packed in his backpack and tulips securely held in his hands on the way to school. Morning coffee time, and then the phone rang with a call from my husband, asking what place again that he could pick up a Jamie magazine for me. I couldn't believe my ears. Those are the gestures I love.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

I hope you all treat yourself to a little something decadent today. 

Rustic Elegance for Dim Days

The days of February here have been lacking light. Sometimes for a stretch of 3 or more days at a time. Skies are pale grey and the air is cold. Infact, it is snowing steadily as I type this post.

I miss the sunshine.

I miss looking at green outside.

I tell myself that spring is only a few weeks away, and March is just around the corner. March is when my thoughts will be consumed with garden plans, starting seeds - happy spring preparations.

In the meantime, comfort things have been getting me through these dimly lit weeks.

I've had a bag of arborio rice in my pantry for weeks.

I have been wanting to make a risotto dish for awhile...

and wanted it to be infused with lemon, mushroom, and lots of fresh herbs.

Comfort and rustic elegance. That's what I think of when I think of risotto.

I made a mushroom and lemon risotto, that I adapted from this recipe.

I used both cremini and baby bella mushrooms - cooked with olive oil to make a mushroom liquid to add into the rice.

I love mushrooms. So earthy and filling. I even eat them raw in salads and pastas.

Scallions, chives, parsley and garlic bring aromatic texture to this dish.

I was happy to find a local microgreens farm recently. I added some of those too.

I've been putting together inspiration binders lately.

I have three. One for food photography and styling inspiration, one for recipes I want to try, and one for gardening tips. I just tear out the photos I am really inspired by, and put them in a clear page protectors. I think the process really helps you understand what styles you are drawn to.

I use my food styling inspiration binder to help point me in some direction with inspiration with what I'd like to photograph. But, I am constantly moving things around as I am actually in the process of photographing my dish - trying to keep the simplicity alive. One of these days I will have to share more about my workflow with you.

I'm off to start another weekend! It's supposed to be a cold one here.

Mushroom and Lemon Risotto

adapted from celiac.com

6 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 more for sauteeing shallots

8 ounce package baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

8 ounce package cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 large shallots, chopped

1 medium garlic clove, minced

2 cups arborio rice

1/3 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Juice from 1 lemon

Grated zest of 2 lemons

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, optional

In a large saucepan, warm the chicken broth over low heat.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat.

Stir in both varieties of mushrooms, and cook for about 3 minutes, Remove from heat and set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large, nonstick skillet, and stir in the shallots. Cook them for about 1 minutes until translucent, but not brown. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds until aromatic.

Add rice, stir well to coat each grain. Keep stirring rice for about 2 minutes.

Pour in the wine, stirring constantly until the wine is absorbed. Add 1/2 cup of broth to the rice and stir to absorb.

Keep adding 1/2 cup broth increments at a time while stirring continuously until all absorbed before next 1/2 cup increment. Should take 15-20 minutes and rice will be al dente.

Remove from heat and stir in butter, mushrooms and their liquid, parsley, chives, lemon juice, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese. Season with sea salt and pepper.

The Fog, Dreams, and Grapefruit Salads

"I've been having a reoccurring dream," I told my husband last week.

It's the best dream. In it, I am outdoors and I slowly turn around to find everything blooming. I see fluffy pink sakura blossoms and fields of poppies in Monet hues.

I smile, overcome by a surge of joy, and then I awaken... every time.

I must be really excited that spring is just around the corner.

I'm also curious about the aproximate 200 bulbs I planted last fall...

"Will my front be a spring wonderland?" I think to myself.

With January behind us now, and being a step closer to springtime - my mind drifts to getting my hands in the earth and growing bounties of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I am  most definitely a spring person. I love the new life.

My refrigerator crisper has been filled with all citrus fruit over the past couple weeks.

I discovered the flavor pairing of grapefruit and basil the other day - very nice.

I was looking over at my simple herb garden planters, and snipped some baby basil leaves. I thought they would look pretty and add zing to a simple segmented grapefruit salad.

I made up another salad of fresh red lettuce, grapefruit, avocados, sweet anise, pistachios, and basil. I have been on an avocado kick lately. I even ate avocado with quinoa for lunch yesterday and two hard cooked egg whites. Enough protein to fill me all day. I have a tendency to feel shaky if I don't get some morning protein.



As for my daytime dreaming, it has been all about light.

I am constantly on a search for dreamy, ambient light in my house.

I took these salad photos in my son's room - a small room with 3 windows - total light box. I wish I could have my own studio with lots of light and a closet to house my props - dishes, bowls, linens. That would be ideal.

I've been feeding my Anthropologie ceramics addiction, so my stash is growing it seems.

Light, bright, and cheery -  that's what I like these days.

Lastly, I have to share these photos I took of this mornings fog.

Oh my goodness, it was gorgeous.

I threw on my clogs, grabbed my coat and camera, and ran out to the backyard for some quick shots. I love foggy mornings. So much mood and mystery.

As the rest of winter passes, I'll continue to dream about spring... and light...

While living in the moment - whatever it brings.