Yes, we still live

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking. Now that summer is approaching, I imagine there will be many posts coming. I have a bunch of photos on the computer, but haven't dedicated the time to writing about them.
Hopefully that will change soon. Thanks for sticking with us!

Yes, we live

Man, we are behind on posts! I breezed through a whole bunch that have been sitting in the Draft pile for months now. I promise we'll try to get missing recipes added soon. I started graduate school and Jeremy is in the last two months of writing. Needless to say, we're a bit busy. More soon....

Spaghetti with (fake) meatballs and pan roased broccoli

Despite years of being a vegetarian, I still crave meat sometimes. It's not the flavor so much as all of the nostalgia I have wrapped up in food. It's also my need for protein, so I appreciate tasty meat substitutes like Nate's Meatless Savory Mushroom Meatballs. They're great in a pinch and add a really nice flavor to spaghetti. It's very important, however, that you brown them first in a little olive oil. It will not only enhance their taste, but keep them from falling apart when you toss them with the pasta.

Roased radishes, red curry soup and watermelon

When I was in Atlanta, my friend Leah told me about how she tried roasted radishes and that they were fabulous. I was suspect, but threw them into the roasting pan. The radishes lose most of their color and, believe it or not, taste like slightly green cauliflower.

Jeremy made this marvelous Thai red curry soup with lots of vegetables and gluten. The coconut milk lends just enough richness. Hopefully he will post the recipe soon!

Tomato beet salad, sweet corn bisque, spicy corn cake

During my last ceramics class, I started signing my pots with drawings of rabbits. This one was on the bottom of a summer soup terrine--not sure why he looks so sad.

Jeremy has slowly been shifting to a pro-beet stance. He still prefers the younger roots because they are more tender and taste less dirt-like. Here we grilled them in butter, salt and pepper and tossed them in a salad.
Below is a sweet corn chowder with tofu. The corn cake was a disaster--gooey, soft and unpleasant. I'll spare you the recipe.
3 c whole milk
3 ears fresh corn, cut from the cobs, cobs broken in half and reserved
2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 c water
2 sprigs thyme
2 springs rosemary (we used sage)
1 bay leaf
pepper
Bring milk and corncobs to a boil in a heavy pot. Remove from heat, cover and let steep while sauteeing vegetables. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium. Add onion and sprinkle with salt. Saute about 5 minutes, but don't let the onion brown. Add corn kernels, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook until soft, about ten minutes. Add water, herbs and milk with corncobs. Bring to a boil. Partially cover and reduce to low, simmering 20 minutes. Remove corncobs, herb sprigs and bay leaf. Puree soup in batches in food processor or blender. Strain into a bowl (very important--it's quite stringy). Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also garnish with creme fraiche, scallions or additional corn.

Heirloom tomato salad, cibatta and rombi with tomato eggplant sauce

My new favorite pasta is rombi--a rhombus shaped pasta that resembles baby lasagna noodles. It's great for thicker sauces and has a nice texture. Hooray, carbohydrates!

Mama Trish's produce, and Squeak's okra surprise

This year we grew eggplant for the first time. (See giant purple globe in the photo.)

They were tasty and not as seedy as other kinds. Definately something we will repeat next year.
One of Jeremy's mom's friends gave her some okra. We don't use it much, but have tried a few dishes this summer. (See other okra related posts.) Here is Squeak, checking it out.