peanut butter pie & a new start

I've spent the weekend with friends. Catching up and being surprised by an old friend in a way I hadn't imagined. Dancing, toasting and laughing as a group of ladies, old and new friends, shared in the celebration of a marriage to come. Sitting and listening to the soothing sound of planes to just be with a friend who needed a friend.

I aspire to someday use this blog to share recipes and life and to actively join the great group of people who share their food and their friends freely because it's a great community. But until I get there, I am inspired and encouraged by reading their blogs and following along on Twitter. My Google Reader list gets longer and longer and I mark recipe after recipe to be made. They make me laugh, make me cry and give me new ideas that keep me going when I'm feeling stuck.

Because of this, I made this peanut butter pie, in honor of Jennie and Mikey. We spooned it up, laughed and enjoyed the company of friends. Because life is short and love is long.

The city looked bigger to me as I drove home tonight and the sunset made me take the long way home. The frogs are singing tonight. It's love.

let's get this rolling...and use up some kale

So, thanks to B, I'm going to post tonight. Y'all can blame her if you try to make this and it doesn't turn out. But I need to start blogging again. It keeps me sane.

Moral of the story, I'm not allowed to go to the farmer's market by myself. I wander around, buy a gagillion veggies and fantasize about my life when I meet that special guy. And how we'll go to the market and I'll buy lots of delicious veggies to make us fantastic Sunday afternoon dinners. Instead, I get home and it's 95 degrees in my apartment and I've got sweet corn, baby zucchini, kale, lettuce, green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers and just little old me to eat all of it.

I've done pretty well by it so far, using the corn to make this delish Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Grits from Joy the Baker, eating lettuce, cucs and green beans until my face seems green, but the kale and the tomatoes were starting to languish in my refrigerator. Tonight, no excuses. Secret ingredient? Kale! But what to do with it?

I admit, I LOVE the spicy Italian pork sausage at Whole Foods. I buy it all the time to toss into dishes with pasta, potatoes and polenta. It adds protein and spice and really takes no time to cook. My go to protein for spinach, kale, chard and collards. Delish. Cook it in beer and even better.

So here you have it.

Spicy Italian Pork Sausage, Kale and Tomatoes
(serves 2)

1 bunch kale, stripped off stalk and chopped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic
12 oz GF beer, such as Bard's Gold
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T olive oil
2 links of Spicy Italian Pork sausage

Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat, adding the garlic and scallions, cooking until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook just until soft. Add the sausages, cook for about 2 minutes covered. Add the kale and cook down until soft. Season with a little salt, if you must. Pour the beer in and the pepper flakes and cook until the liquid is gone and the pork links are cooked through. No exact science on that, I just cut into them to see if they were done. Real life - I had to heat them up in the microwave because I put them in last, using the wrong pan with the wrong lid. But hey, I was making it up as I went!

Delish.

I'll be turning 30 in just over a month and in honor of that auspicious occasion, I've made a list of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30 and exit my twenties forever. It should be noted that I totally stole this idea from Joy over at Joy the Baker.

Buy ONE fabulous dress for myself to wear to my 30th birthday party. Send TWO of my favorite books to two people. Visit THREE new restaurants. Send flowers to FOUR people I love. Tip FIVE dollars above average. Send SIX handwritten letters. Leave SEVEN lucky quarters on the ground. Give away EIGHT cupcakes. Enjoy NINE sunrises with coffee. Take TEN pictures with actual people in them. Read ELEVEN poems and share them. Compliment TWELVE friends and strangers. Cook THIRTEEN amazing meals to share. Give away FOURTEEN things I don't need. Donate $2 each to FIFTEEN things I believe in. Go for SIXTEEN sunset walks - rain or shine. Try SEVENTEEN different ice cream flavors at the ice cream shop down the block. Give EIGHTEEN gifts - small or large to people. Pick NINETEEN different things up from the farmer's market. Take TWENTY minutes each day to write and relax. Make TWENTY-ONE phone calls instead of emailing. Take the TWENTY-TWO frozen bananas in my freezer and make something out of them. Think of TWENTY-THREE things I am thankful for each day. Make TWENTY-FOUR actual prints of photos. Find and share TWENTY-FIVE new songs. Make TWENTY-SIX handmade cards. Find TWENTY-SEVEN things I've never done and do them! Turn TWENTY-EIGHT thoughts from negative to positive. TWENTY-NINE days before my birthday - do something I've always wanted to do. Enjoy a THIRTY dollar bottle of wine.

Do you have an idea for me?

life gets derailed sometimes

I've had every intention of posting some new recipes. Cranberry orange bread, cookies, other triumphs and fun, messy failures. But I haven't cooked much this month of my own or other recipes because January is suddenly gone.

I wonder how it's already February and tomorrow, we'll all faux-wait for the groundhog to see his shadow to see if this long winter will be longer. I for one, can take a stab at guessing that with the winter we're having, it's likely that it will be VERY long.

January passed in a flurry of birthdays, celebrations, the stomach flu and a nasty cold bug that has kept me from enjoying fun new kitchen gadgets and Christmas gifts of gluten free flour. (Has anyone out there tried the new King Arthur GF boxed mixes?)

The most ambitious thing I've done is convert a lasagna recipe GF with DeBoles Rice Lasagna - delicious! The recipe over at The Kitchn is a good one. Delicious! Although beware - if you are of smaller stomach, like me, this serves more than 6-8!

And in the midst of one of those winter colds, I craved chicken noodle something, so made chicken and dumplings instead. Delicious, easy (in the crockpot!) satisfying - with extra veggie power thanks to Whole Foods and their fabulous frozen veggie line.

And now, on to February - hoping that things settle down soon, waiting anxiously for baseball and spring days.

In the mean time, I hope to post some of those fabulous things soon. Very soon.

How can you resist this face? #amwriting #waswriting on Twitpic

How can you resist this face? #amwriting #waswriting on Twitpic