on wednesdays we wear...

In case you haven't noticed, I'm an irregular blogger. I wish I could blog with more frequency and keep all my darling readers (I'm talking to you, Mom) up to date on all my mealings and dealings, but by the time I get home from work and have supper and hang with honey, I've either forgotten to blog or have fallen asleep on the couch and can't blog. I'm trying to be better about it but, as you may have noticed, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it. Well, for a little inspiration and motivation I've been perusing my blog roll, that one that I rarely check aside from the standard few that I check nearly every day. In doing this I once again stumbled upon one of my favorite fashion blogs - Librarian Wardrobe. It's exactly what it sounds like, Librarians looking fab at work, and I love browsing through it.

You see, I'm a Librarian... kind of. I went to library school and got my MLIS, but halfway through the program I discovered that I wanted to be an Archivist at a school and all of my focus switched from books to old papers and students and stuff. But since it's kind of tough to find any job in New York, let alone one as specific as School Archivist, I found myself working lots of smaller jobs - real estate law firm Records Manager, After-School Librarian, Assistant School Librarian, Assistant Archivist, regular Archivist, Non-Profit Women's Organization Cataloger, Organizer of Important Things, Chinese Restaurant Hostess, bakery assistant, etc. On top of being capable of handling all of these awesome positions, I like to think that I do it all whilst looking kinda cute. And I think that because of my Librarian title and my sweet sense of style, I'm exactly the kind of gal that could be (should be?) featured in a collection like the one kept by the folks at Librarian Wardrobe. But since I'm not quite ready to be the kind of gal that promotes her jazzy ensemble on someone else's blog, I'll just brag about it on my own!

A new weekly posting to feature some of my favorite outfits, accessories, hairstyles, and general stylish nonsense. Let's start with this little Springtime number that features my favorite fashion trend - mixing patterns, in particular stripes and florals!

None of these items are new (they've actually been staples in my wardrobe for quite some time now,) but when they were new, I found them at the following places: basic striped tank from Forever21, skirt by tibi New York, sweater by J. Crew, nude pumps from Target, the RayBans were a surprise gift from Honey.

linens

Did anyone else see the post about linen sheets on Cup of Jo the other day? Well, I sure did and boy did it get me thinking. I love a light linen blouse for it's airiness on a hot Summer day or loose linen pants for the soft, cool way they brush against my legs. I can only imagine how amazingly light and dreamy it would be to sleep wrapped in linen linens with a warm breeze coming in through the window. And I'll have to continue to imagine that dreamy sleep because at around $250 for a set of Queen sheets, I won't be making my bed with them anytime soon. But not being able to afford linen sheets is no reason not to look around and plan which ones I would put on my bed if I could afford to do so. While wandering around the web in search of my dream sheets I stumbled upon Los Angeles company, Matteo. Sure their vintage linen bedding looks unbelievably cozy but since I've never had the opportunity to take a nap in it, my opinion is based solely on their promotional images. Holy cow, have you ever seen a more deliciously tempting bed?

I love how slept in all of the beds in their images look. It's like someone just rolled out of bed as the sun started coming in through their window. In my dream world, I'd have a bed just like that. It's kind of like home decor porn.

Other notable delicious beds: Eileen Fisher, Bella Notte, Restoration Hardware

big easy

Normally I try to avoid pre-seasoned or pre-packaged foods because they tend to be too salty and not that great for you. But every once in awhile, especially after a long day of field tripping with the fifth grade, I'm not in the mood to plan a menu and prep all the elements of the meal. Exhausted times like these are when it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve and a few mains and sides in the freezer or pantry.

Tonight we opened the freezer and pulled out some seasoned waffle-cut fries and saucy cajun salmon. Even though the White House may consider french fries a vegetable, I don't. We needed more color on the plate and since we have seemingly never-ending supplies of beans and kale, that's what I made. I seasoned the kale with some sazon and cumin and steamed it with garlic, onion, and sliced summer sausage. I prepared the beans just like I would a spicy vegetarian chili, but only brought it to a simmer for a few minutes to make sure everything was hot but not totally cooked into chili; almost like a summer chili because it isn't as hearty as winter chili. Thirty minutes later we pulled the fish and chips out of the oven and spooned our two veggie sides from the stovetop for a bright, colorful, slightly inspired by New Orleans meal. Even better than the quick simplicity of the meal was the fact that the ease and swiftness with which we prepared it meant that the weather was still ideal for al fresco dining!

summer chili

ingredients

1 can red beans

5 campari tomatoes, large diced

1 small onion, large diced

1 tsp avocado oil

1 tsp pepper jelly

cayenne, chipotle, black peppers to taste

directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat oil and sautee onions until slightly softened. Add beans, tomatoes, pepper jelly and peppers. Simmer on a medium heat about 10-15 minutes.

uphill bean battle

Lately, I feel like Sisyphus; at least when it comes to beans. I may not be facing a constant uphill battle with a boulder, but I am combatting the seemingly endless supply of canned beans in my pantry. Seriously, it seems as though canned beans are reproducing in the cool, quiet darkness of my storeroom. And I haven't even begun to tackle the dried beans! But all of these legumes and such have been coming in handy since I've been making a concerted effort to cut back on our meat consumption, especially on Meatless Mondays. Fortunately, I'm pretty familiar with all of the beans I've got on the shelf - black beans, pink beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, beans, beans, beans, yadayadayada. There was however, one can that I remember buying on a whim without knowing how I'd use it. As of this morning, I still had no clue how to use butter beans. I didn't even know what kind of bean they were (it's pretty much just a lima bean.) So, I turned to Google.

butter beans + kale. Kale. This bunch of leafy superfood seems to be taking over my refrigerator just like beans have laid claim to the pantry. After a quick browse through the results I stumbled upon a guest post from Kelli of The Corner Kitchen on Say Yes to Hoboken for a butter bean and kale tomato sauce with mushrooms served over polenta. It was fate! I already had all of those ingredients in my fridge, it was so perfect.

Since I like to really own my recipes, I tend to use other recipes more for ideas than anything else so I put Kelli's wonderfully inspiring creation aside until later on. In my mind, the sauce wasn't the hard part even though I did decide to make it more of a hearty stew or ragu. The hard part was going to be the polenta. I cook with polenta quite frequently because unlike most corn products, I actually love polenta. But I've always bought the pre-made stuff in the tube, never made it from scratch. I usually end up slicing it and pan frying it or just heating it up and piling delicious things on top of it. But every time I've ordered polenta at a restaurant I get something reminiscent of Cream O' Wheat which then makes me wonder if I'm eating breakfast or supper (more on that at the end,) and I've still loved it. So now the challenge of turning pre-made tube polenta into creamy, parmesan-y porridge. It wasn't a challenge. The side of the package told me exactly how to do it and I improvised with a potato masher.

creamy parmesan polenta
ingredients
1 tube pre-made polenta
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water or stock
splash of cream
1/4 c seasoned parmesan
salt, pepper & olive oil to taste
directions
1. Slice polenta into 1/4" pieces and crumble into a heavy bottom sauce pan with milk, cream and water. Heat on a med-high flame and mash until you've achieved desired consistency. Stir in cheese, salt, pepper and oil and heat until hot but not bubbling, stirring often to avoid sticking.

Had I known it was that easy, I would have made creamy polenta long ago. And now for the meatless main event!

kale and butter bean ragu (inspired by Kelli's tomato braised butter beans with kale & mushrooms)
ingredients
4 medium tomatoes, chopped (I used a variety of campari, heirloom, and kumato)
1 can butter beans, rinsed
5-7 c kale, rinsed and torn
1 c sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh basil, torn
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste
directions
1. In a large pan, heat garlic and onion in olive oil until the onion starts to get soft. Add 1-2 c water and heat to a simmer on a medium flame while tossing in kale 2 cups at a time, allowing to reduce. Season with salt and peppers. Add herbs.
2. When kale has wilted down and become soft add in the mushrooms, cooking about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for about 3-5 more minutes, covered. Season as desired. Serve on top of creamy polenta with a dollop of fresh ricotta if desired.

Dinner was almost too easy tonight. And it was so delicious and flavorful and hearty and belly-filling good! It's getting a little warm out now, but this is a perfect late winter meal if you ask me. I mention breakfast earlier because I think if you toned down the spices of the veggies and put a poached egg on top, you'd have an unbelievably beautiful brunch dish. Or you could put it all in a skillet with a few eggs and bake it - gosh that would look so nice on a morning table! After we ate, I checked out Kelli's original recipe and it wasn't much different than my interpretation. She used canned diced tomatoes with the juices and shredded her kale so it looks like it was more along the lines of a sauce than a stew. She also used thyme which I lovelovelove! Maybe next time (because I'll for sure be making this again,) I'll try out the original. And maybe I'll even try making the polenta from scratch (did someone say Sunday?) Another Meatless Monday success! Thanks Kelli and your itty bitty kitchen for the inspiration!

sunday from scratch - pizza pizza

Welcome to a brand new slice of the delirious kitchen pie - Sundays from Scratch! A new, weekly installment that will feature a supper meal including at least one brand new ingredient that I've made from scratch. This isn't to say that all the recipes featured here aren't from scratch, because they all are (or at least semi-homemade.) No, these recipes will be brand new to my repertoire; recipes that I've always considered making but never actually gotten down to business with, ingredients that I've always purchased from the grocery store rather than made myself.

For our inaugural post, I've decided to tackle a treat I've been dying to try to make on my own for quite some time now. I wanted to make ricotta cheese... from scratch. I've been reading about it for a couple of years now and it just seemed so simple and easy to make that it doesn't make sense to buy it. But I've never had all of the ingredients on hand (not that there are many,) and I've never created anything that required ricotta to be such an integral ingredient that it needed to be deliciously fresh. But tonight, I decided that I wanted to make a meal around the ricotta, where the ricotta was not only a feature player, but the star. What better way to highlight the creamy sweetness of ricotta than by tossing together a pizza?

This wasn't just any pizza, mind you. The pizza I created for our very first SFS had to be almost entirely made from scratch, each element being of the homemade variety, not just one of the ingredients. So, over the course of the past few days I started prepping everything - ricotta cheese, whole wheat pizza dough, another variety of pesto, plus I took a trip to the grocery store for some fancy tomatoes and dug around the fridge for a few extra toppings including fresh basil, seasoned parmesan from DiPasquales, sliced baby bella mushrooms, and thinly sliced prosciutto. Just looking at the counter full of fresh and colorful ingredients was making my mouth water, there was no way the finished pie wouldn't be scrumptious. Now, let's get down to the business of making all of these ingredients:

The other day when I was going nuts with my food processor, I decided to make a non-traditional traditional pesto. Why not traditional? I didn't have nearly enough basil in the fridge and pine nuts are crazy expensive. Being the frugal gal that I am, I just decided to use any green stuff I had in the fridge and whatever bag of nuts I could grab out of the pantry. On this occasion, the green stuff happened to be kale and the nuts, chopped walnuts. The result was a garlicky and clean pesto with a peppery flavor rather than the usual sweetness from basil. Pestos will last for awhile in the fridge so I made this earlier in the week and let it settle allowing all of the flavors to marinate together in preparation for their grand pizza debut.


kale and walnut pesto
ingredients
3 c kale, rinsed and torn
1/2 c walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 c olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
directions
1. Blanch kale in salted hot water to soften the leaves. Drain.
2. Blend all ingredients in food processor until desired consistency is reached. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Next came the super simple pizza dough. Back in the day, when I was taking HomeEc classes in Middle and High School, I used to make pizza pretty frequently because we seemed to make dough every time there was a sub. But let's just say that it's been quite some time since I participated in a class like that and therefore, awhile since I've made my own pie. But it really is the easiest thing in the world to make, plus once it's kneaded and risen and kneaded again, it can be frozen for a few weeks until you're ready to toss it in the oven. I've almost completely stopped keeping white flour in my house and have substituted whole wheat flour for any recipes that call for it so I ended up making whole wheat pizza crust, not that I'm one to complain about making something just a little extra healthy.

whole wheat pizza dough (via Crossroads Middle School HomeEc class)
yields two small pizzas
ingredients
2 1/4 oz packets yeast
4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp course salt
1/4 c olive oil
1 1/2 c warm water (not hot)
directions
1. In a large bowl, pour warm water over yeast and let sit until foamy, about five minutes. Whisk in remaining ingredients until a sticky dough forms. Knead together in a clean, oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let sit in a dry place to rise for about one hour.
2. After an hour, dough should be doubled in size. Knead a second time. Separate into two balls and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Can be refrigerated up to three days or frozen 3-4 weeks.

Finally, just a couple of days before our pizza supper, I spent a very brief amount of time preparing ricotta cheese. It's amazing how simple and easy it is to make ricotta and how little active time it takes to prep. All of the accounts I read regarding homemade cheese clearly stated that fresh, unpasteurised milk and cream make the best tasting cheeses, but since there are no midweek farmers markets in Baltimore (that I know of, at least,) I had to deal with regular old milk and cream from the grocery store. Despite the shelf life of these dairy products, I think homemade ricotta should probably be used within five days of making it for ultimate tastiness. It really is so much creamier and richer and smoother than anything you'd find at the supermarket so, if you have the time and the ingredients, I say try it out. Especially if you don't use it very often - wouldn't you rather those few occasions have the freshest and most delicious ingredients available.

ricotta cheese (via smitten kitchen)
ingredients
3 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 tsp course salt
3 tbsp lemon
directions
1. In a small, heavy bottom sauce pan, heat milk, cream and salt to 190 stirring constantly. When it's reached 190, remove from heat, add lemon juice gently stirring one or two times. Let sit five minutes.
2. Line a colander with cheese cloth and place over a large bowl. After five minutes, pour the curdled mix through the colander separating the curds and whey. Let drain for at least one hour. Remove cheese from colander and store, refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days.



Mmmm, with all the ingredients ready, Honey and I were set to have a super delicious supper. After a leisurely breakfast with Sunday Morning and The Sun, a long bike ride up to Druid Hill Park to catch a few glimpses of the quickly fading cherry blossoms, a few hours of backyard urban gardening, and some major preheating, we prepped our fabulously tasty pizza. On thinly rolled out dough we smeared about three heaping teaspoons of kale and walnut pesto, then some healthy dollops of ricotta, thick slices of kumato tomatoes, strips of prosciutto, sliced baby bella mushrooms, fresh basil leaves and a sprinkling of seasoned parmesan. A bit of research informed us that it's better to put your pizza on a super hot pizza stone and then in the broiler because the higher the cooking heat and the quicker the cook time, the better off your pizza will be. So we cranked up the heat and preheated the pizza stone to such a high temperature, requiring a very brief 5-7 cook time for the whole pie. I'd say it was a pretty amazing pie and when I asked Honey what he thought of it, he responded with a full mouth mumble which I can usually translate to mean delicious. Sometimes he speaks languages that I can't quite understand. :)

I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of Sunday from Scratch and that you'll try out one or two of the recipes I shared. Make sure you come back next week for another tasty new kitchen adventure! Have a great week! xoxo, me