|34 weeks|

soon, the little freeloader will be here. it is so strange to see something moving under your skin.

this heat has done incredible things to my feet and legs. i read somewhere that eating more protein will help reduce the swelling. i'm not sure there's any science to that, but i'm willing to give it a try!

matt is relieved that my bellybutton won't turn inside out. it doesn't have that nubbin part that sticks out, so it has just become very, very flat -like a dimple. he also wants to know why a baby wouldn't like a nice cold draught of milk on a hot summer day. (i had to explain what a bottle warmer was.)

i'm not worried (should i be?), but if he doesn't make any effort to learn about baby care, then he can't possibly be mad at me if i laugh at him. i told him, it's not like the baby just showed up on your doorstep and you didn't have time to prepare -it's been months in the making.

it will be an interesting journey. hopefully, we won't do any permanent harm to the nugget.

|CSA pickup week 4|

this week's pickup brings:

- fresh garlic
- shallots
- cabbage
- sugar snap peas
- zucchini
- curly kale
- dinosaur kale
- collard greens
- romaine lettuce

as you might imagine, we're very pleased with the decrease in leafy greens. it will give us a chance to really catch up.

tonight, we had jerk salmon and curly kale (sauteed with the fresh garlic). tomorrow, i want to try a recipe for collards and rice.

also, i've discovered that my lunch wraps have been eyed and envied by my coworkers. i've been using a whole wheat wrap with lettuce, cheese, turkey breast, and mustard or tzatziki sauce. today, i went to the fridge to get my lunch, and was greeted with numerous questions.

i think the wrap tasted better because of all the attention. :)

|red, white, and green manicotti|

because it used up three bunches of greens. and, more importantly, because i didn't have lasagna pasta, but i did have manicotti pasta.

stuffed with red chard, green kale, and ricotta cheese. baked on a bed of curly kale. half of the recipe was frozen for a quick dinner in the future.

and, of course, the required side salad. normally, a salad picture isn't very interesting, but this week's veggie load brought us beautiful, crisp radishes! i had never seen a purple radish before.... check out these purple and red radishes. i thought they were just darling.

jimbo jones said radishes are like a cross between an apple and an onion. strangely accurate.

|csa pick up week 3|

this week's pick-up:

- romaine lettuce
- red chard
- green chard
- curly kale
- dinosaur kale
- collard greens
- radishes
- baby beets with greens

ok, so we're still getting a lot of greens, but at least we're starting to see a little bit of variety. we are way behind on finishing our greens. but we're slowly catching up on lettuce. thank goodness we only got one head this week.

last night, we went out to eat again. i was craving chinese food (or any food that didn't involve lettuce and me cooking). there was peking duck and spicy lamb. tonight, we had leftovers. (we needed room in the fridge to hold all these greens!)

hopefully, there will be a lot of cooking this weekend. i have to find ways to disguise the greens. matt actually said, "i hate lettuce" tonight. and this comes from a guy who used to say, "i love lettuce!" he would just eat lettuce for the heck of it.

his analogy was that if he had to drink beer everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he would hate beer, too. somehow, i doubt that. but i get his point.

i wonder if you can make a chard and kale lasagna....

|lettuce eat lettuce|

the days are filled with lettuce. lettuce in wraps and lettuce salads. i learned today that matt does not know how to wash lettuce. i found three bugs in my salad -after i'd eaten most of it. matt blames the organic-pesticide-free-goodness of the lettuce. but i should have suspected that he didn't know how to wash lettuce. it only took him 15 seconds to rinse it under the faucet. matt didn't seem to mind the bugs. he just kept chowing down.

i am now in charge of washing lettuce.

|and then there was dessert|

|spinach and ricotta ravioli in vodka sauce|

so, i made the mistake of not getting matt a gadget for father's day. i bought him the complete DVD collection of 'monty python', as well as the second season of 'kids in the hall'. but he ended up playing video games all day, anyway. i think he would have preferred some gadget-y gift.

while he played, i busied myself in the kitchen. someday, we should get a picture of me barefoot and cooking -which is much of the time, anyway. i had promised to make ravioli from scratch. the spinach came from our CSA veggies this week, so it served a dual purpose.



it was a messy endeavor, but worth it. again, the basil plants have served us well. the parsley is just starting to come into adulthood, too.



i think the next time i go to the trouble of making ravioli, i will stuff it with something a bit more exotic. maybe crab meat or salmon.

for the dough:
-3 cups flour
-3 extra large eggs
-3 tsp olive oil
-a touch of warm water, if needed

mix ingredients and knead until dough is elastic and smooth. the dough will take some time to come together, and will seem quite dry at first. let dough rest at least 1 hour. roll out (i used the kitchenaid pasta attachments) to desired thickness. i felt that the "6" setting was best, as it yielded a dough you could really bite into. i have seen recommendations for using the thinnest setting "8" and tried it, but it was a bit too flimsy for my taste.

for the filling:
-1 cup ricotta cheese
-1 extra large egg
-1 large bunch spinach
-1 pinch nutmeg
-zest from 1/2 lemon
-1 tsp sugar
-3 tbs flour

cook spinach in boiling water about 3 min, until wilted. squeeze dry and chop finely. mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, and chill in fridge until ready to use.

the photo shows these cute little ravioli cutters that matt bought me from williams sonoma. don't be fooled.... they made perfectly uniform ravioli, but were a little difficult to get the hang of. after the first string of ravioli, i switched to a simple pastry wheel, which was much, much faster, and yielded similar results (after a little practice). i am sure a pizza wheel would work just as well -you would just get a flat edge instead of a decorative one.

the recipe made about 55 ravioli. the limiting factor was the filling, but leftover dough can be used for other pasta (fettucini, etc). again, we didn't have the patience to cut open one of the ravioli for a picture. maybe some other day.

|fried goat cheese salad|

matt is getting the royal treatment, today. he's been talking about father's day for weeks, now. so, this morning, he requested an omelet for breakfast -feta, grape tomatoes, and fresh basil. for lunch, i thought i'd try a new recipe (and use some lettuce!).

fried goat cheese salad with carmelized onions

for goat cheese, chill to ensure firmness, then slice into rounds. i discovered that using a wire cheese cutter worked best, but i think something like floss would work just as well. dip each round into all purpose four, then dip into beaten egg, then cover with bread crumbs. repeat egg and bread crumbs for a better crust. pan-fry for a couple minutes on each side until browned. drain excess oil on paper towels.

for onions, choose a sweet variety (like vidalia). cut into thin rings, heat in pan with oil on med-low for several minutes until browned.

serve cheese and onions on a bed of lettuce (or spinach) with whatever else you have on hand. we used croutons, roasted red pepper, and a sesame dressing. i think a warm balsamic dressing would go great, too.

we should have gotten a photo of the goat cheese round cut open, but someone was salivating too much...

|d'oh|

technical problems.