The kids are back in school this week which oddly means I am not as busy as the prior two weeks. Don’t get me wrong – I got out of work on time once this week, but at least my late days were reasonable late and not twelve to thirteen hours after I got there.

As I sit here and write this Bob is doing some crazy rap thing for his work. I’m not sure what, and I’m not sure I want to know, but it just reminds me of the question Laura posed at the wedding … “Did you ever think you would marry a man who knows every word to the Humpty song?” No. Just a simple no. I’m not sure why I remember that question so well, but it may have something to do with the picture of Bob dancing and rapping in a suit as my mother danced along. Not something I am very likely to forget for a very, very long time.

But on to the important stuff … Food. This week was not exactly conducive to culinary master pieces that were photo worthy. Long days and falling asleep on the couch by nine don’t make for exciting dinner options. However, I did manage one very tasty photo worthy meal this week. Dandelion and spinach salad with goat cheese and tomato dressing.

I must admit I was skeptical about this one. Dandelion greens are usually way too bitter for me, cheese based dressings are like cream based dressings and not my thing and spinach is very hit or miss for me. I was so pleasantly shocked at how good this turned out. I would have happily eaten it for the meal itself.

The salad was basic – dandelion greens, spinach, red onion, pecans and bacon. The dressing took goat cheese, white balsamic vinegar, olive oil and one plum tomato in a food processor. Pulse until it is all combined and liberally dress the green mixture. Had I known how much I would have liked it, it would have been dinner alone. I could have easily eliminated the bacon for a great vegetarian, grainless meal, but alas, I did not know so I paired it with a grilled flank steak.

This was such a great meal. I did not get bitter from the greens, the cheese gave it a lovely texture and heartiness and the red onion and pecans a crunch that was needed. It does not, however, save well. I tried to take the remains to work for lunch and wow was it bad. So this is not a make ahead recipe. But now I know and I can take the dressing and salad separately.

Tomorrow is ribs, so I should be able to get a picture of those. Hopefully.

Sometimes, despite the desire to eat healthy and be really, really good, you just need to eat something that maybe, just maybe, isn’t that great for you. I am a firm believer in moderation; most food, eaten in moderation, is fine. Too much of anything isn’t good for you (except maybe mangos, carrots and tomatoes – I could eat those every meal, every day and be very, very happy). But this weekend I just wanted something a little less good for me, and with John here, we went for it…

Bradley’s sausage, my version of coleslaw and baked beans. Not the healthiest lunch, I admit, but sometimes you just have to indulge. The sausage was from our last trip to Tallahassee where we always stop at Bradley’s Country Store for the sausage. I am a very picky eater and don’t generally like sausage, but these are exceptional. Spiced beautifully and made so you can taste the care that goes into making them. Yes, I am waxing poetic about sausage (because they are that good). I would make special trips to Tallahassee for these, but luckily, in the cooler months, they ship!

The coleslaw isn’t a real coleslaw. It has no mayo in it because I have an aversion to the stuff. I just do not like the idea of mayo, the smell of mayo or the texture of mayo. So instead I start with shredded cabbage, add carrots, cucumbers and red onions. For the dressing, I use brown sugar, molasses, chili peppers, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lime juice and peanut oil. This is one of those dishes that is best made about an hour or two in advance to let the favors meld. So while this was not a meatless, grainless dish, it was an excellent summer lunch.

And what lunch would not be complete without some homemade cookies. Hey, if you are going to go off the ranch for a day, you might as well go all the way off.

I had to do it. Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I could not decide if I wanted regular chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate chocolate chip cookies. So I compromised. Instead of doing a full double chocolate cookie, I added just a quarter cup of coco powder to the butter/sugar mixture before adding the flour and other dry ingredients. The results were amazing – a little extra chocolate flavor, but not so much that all you taste is chocolate. It is just a really good chocolate chip cookie.

On a side note, we had another odd sighting when taking Jessie for her walk yesterday …

I wasn’t exactly sure what this was, but Bob said it was a vulture. It was not afraid of me or my camera in the least – but is was a little uncooperative and would not move into better light for me. 😉

It has been an interesting couple of days. I’ve gone into work a bit more and have a few new projects to occupy my time before I go back full time in August. The one that frustrates me most is having to administer the retakes for an End of Course exam. For those unfamiliar with Florida testing requirements, we test kids until everyone – teachers, students, administrators and parents – are all ready to snap, and then we test a little more. This past year we spent eight weeks testing. Yes, eight weeks of the school year. I fully admit that not every student spent eight weeks testing, but for a smart 8th grader with two high school courses, that student would have tested in 8th grade Reading, 8th grade Math, Science, Writing, Algebra or Geometry and potentially Biology. I had one student (a junior) who ended up testing in Reading, Math, Geometry, Biology, US History and the College Placement Test. I am all for solid data, ensuring students have mastered material, and improving educational opportunities and outcomes; I just think we need a new approach – one that does not require multiple choice questions and tests designed by people who do not teach.

That is my rant for the year. I will make every attempt to not bring it up again and move on to happier topics.

On a good and not so good note, I tried salmon for the first time this week. I picked some up at the store the other day, and grilled it that evening with my veggie cake experiment. (I’ll come back to the salmon in a minute). The veggie cake was based off a Sarah Molton recipe for corn cakes, but as corn is not on Bob’s new eating plan, I completely changed the recipe. Instead of corn, I used two cups of grated carrots and zucchini. To that I added one large egg, some almond flour and coconut flour (no wheat) some chili pepper paste, cilantro paste (it keeps longer than fresh cilantro until I can get it to grow in the garden) a touch of baking soda and a splash of buttermilk. Yes, I know I should measure and report quantities, but I don’t measure when I cook most of the time, so I honestly have no idea how much I used. I mixed all that up, and then fried them in a little bit of olive oil until both sides were nicely crusted. I moved them to a cookie sheet, added a slice of tomato and some cheese (I used the Corra Linn from Scotland – a sheep’s milk cheese that has a great flavor) and popped me in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes. The results were fabulous. Lots of flavor, some nice texture and a grain free, meat free option that could become a meal unto themselves.

The salmon, on the other hand …. Well, I grilled it and had a hard time telling when it was done. Part of the cut was very thin, and part was very thick. Thanks to Bobby Flay’s grilling cookbook, I was able to figure out when they were done, but … I did not care for the taste, and hated the texture of the fish. It vaguely reminded me (the texture that is) of foi gras which I cannot stand. So I had three bites of the fish and decided it was not for me. Unfortunately before I totally finished dinner, my stomach rebelled and it appears that while I am not technically allergic to fish (according to the allergy test) my system cannot handle it. On the up side, Gracie and Jessie seemed to like the fish just fine.

John is in town for the weekend so hopefully we will have some good outings with lots of pictures. I’m thinking the Edison and Ford Winter Estates tomorrow if the weather holds.

Usually when I cook I start with a recipe, decide there is something in it I don’t like, don’t have or just don’t want to do, and change the recipe to fit a) my very picky tastes and b) what is in the house. Today, I just went to the fridge, pulled out some stuff and cooked. No recipe and I have to say, the stuffed pepper and zucchini came out so well, I’m now trying to remember what I did so we can have it again.

I started with a little round zucchini and a yellow pepper I found at the farmer’s market Saturday. They need to get used. I had pulled out ground beef, so out came that. Onion, yellow cherry tomatoes, and some of the Scottish cheese. Brown the beef, add some tomato paste and spices (chili pepper, salt, and Italian seasoning I think) and a touch of water, add veggies and simmer. I layered the beef mixture and the cheese, placed the little dears in a shallow baking dish, cover and pop into the over. Cooked at 350 for about 40 minutes and out it came.

This dish was so cute when I pulled it out I’d the oven I had to take a picture of it. Still didn’t know how it would taste, but it was really, really good. So … lesson learned – take what you have and some really good food can come out of it.

Did I mention how cute they looked? 🙂