The Pig and I

I hate pot pies. Hate them. I really will never understand what makes people like them. But cottage and shepherd pies? LOVE. We wanted to up the amount of beans we eat, since it's an easy way to increase protein in the diet, and I made a huge batch of Appaloosa beans. Also, Ross really wanted to have a casserole, and since I think normally the only two casseroles I make are lasagna and tuna it seemed like a fun way to mix things up. So I thought I'd put a couple cans' worth in this, in place of some other kind of meat. I called it green not because it's environmentally friendly (although it is that), but because the avocado in the mashed potatoes makes it literally green. Which is kind of fun, unless you don't like that sort of thing in which case you can just wait until Saint Patrick's day to make this. Anyway, if you're wanting this with meat, just add that in (before the veggies) and take out (or not) the beans. Hope you enjoy! 2 big glugs olive oil 3 ...

We had some soujuk in the freezer, and now that I'm not pregnant the smell doesn't make me sick. I wanted to eat it, and have been saving it for when I could eat it again. But I didn't want to have breakfast for dinner, so I decided (when I came across some chick peas I'd cooked for hummus and frozen for later) to make a stew to go with it. It evolved a lot while it was being made, and it was really, really wonderful. I'm looking forward to eating some for breakfast with leftover bread, too. Hope you enjoy! 1 clove minced garlic 1 diced soujuk (or about 2 tablespoons diced other sausage) 1-2 teaspoons olive oil 2 cloves minced garlic 1 large onion, diced 2 cups sliced celery (about 4 stalks), with leaves 1/2 orange bell pepper, diced 2 tablespoons olive oil zest from half a Meyer lemon salt and pepper to taste 1/2 teaspoon each: basil, dill, sumac, mint juice from half a Meyer lemon 5 ounces frozen spinach (can be thawed or not) 1 12-ounce bottle ...

I didn't get around to making breakfast pastries this morning, and since my intention is to sleep in tomorrow, I know I won't do them in the morning then either. So I decided to go ahead and throw together some bergamot-cranberry muffins so Ross will have foods to take with him for breakfast. It's a pretty standard muffin set-up, with a little extra. Hope you enjoy! 1 cup milk (I only had soy milk for some reason, which is weird since neither of us drink soy milk, so I used that) 1 large egg 1/2 cup bergamot juice (you could use lemon, or any other citrus for this) 1/4 vegetable oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar (reduce this if using a sweet citrus) 2-ish cups flour (I admit, I did not measure very carefully, so it was somewhere between 2 and 2 1/4 cups) 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder (see flour measuring above) 1 cup whole frozen (and thawed if you have time) cranberries Whisk together everything in the first group of ingredients. Add flour and baking pow...

I finally had the baby, so we're leaning strongly toward meals that can be eaten for a few days at a time. I'm giving extra preference to things that can just be made from odds and ends I find in the fridge too, since I'm still working out the logistics of running errands with an infant. After I'd attempted to make some yogurt for Ross, and overheated it, I wound up with some really lovely farmer's cheese. So, I hung it to drain overnight, and salted it in the morning. We decided that lasagna would be the result of this mistake. Adding to that a tomato sauce made from canned products and random veggies in the fridge, this turned out to be significantly more delicious than either Ross or I expected it to be. And because it actually worked out really well, here it is. Hope you enjoy! 1 box no boil lasagna noodles (unless you just like boiling your own) 1 14-ounce can each: crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce juice of two l...

I really wanted some Madeleines. For a while, I've been wanting some. But since I have these bergamots, I thought I should use some of them for it. Unfortunately I didn't have a pan, and I didn't really want to buy one. Aside from a clutter issue, there's also the unitasker issue as well as the "how often will I really make these? Enough to warrant the cabinet space?" question. So, instead of going out and finding a pan, I asked my Facebook friends if anyone had a pan I could borrow (and return with a batch of fresh pastries). Not surprisingly, no one actually had this specialty pan (or if they did, I guess they just didn't want to share it?). So I went out to find one, ultimately deciding that I will simply make sure I use it often enough to warrant the space it'll take up. I remembered seeing some old tin ones in thrift shops lately. I mostly remember it because I saw a bunch, and I thought it was odd, and I also had to talk myself out of getting o...

I think that Lisa might actually be the Citrus Goddess of my dreams. Just when I think she's shocked and awed me with not only her fruit selections, but her incredible generosity in sharing these fruits with me, she pulls another trick out of her sleeve. This time, with the box of bergamots that came yesterday, were five Ichangensis lemons. I kind of didn't believe it at first, while I was staring at them in my lap. I was thinking, "there's no way these are what they say they are. How is this even possible?" I was so shocked that I actually set the bergamots (you won't believe this) to the side so I could just stare at this rare and impossible to find fruit for a few minutes. See, you guys may not know this about me, but bergamot, although my favorite citrus in the world, is not the only citrus I am interested in. I kind of love them all. Everyone of them has its own kind of personality, allure, mystery and thing about it that makes it beautiful and perfec...

Lisa very, very kindly has sent me a new batch of bergamots! I have a lot of plans for these guys. Perhaps too many plans, since I might actually need a tree of my very own to have enough fruit to make as much stuff as I'm interested in. But I'm going to roll through as much of my list (which I'm keeping a surprise!) as I can, so we all have new ways to play with bergamot. So, feel no surprise if you see nothing BUT bergamot from me for a little bit. This only happens once a year, so I figure y'all can be entertained by it instead of annoyed. Also, feel free to make any of these recipes with another citrus fruit than bergamot. Y'all should also expect to see a lot of adapted pastry recipes, because pastry is what I'm particularly interested in right now. Which is kind of weird, considering I don't have much of a sweet tooth. The original scone recipe I adapted this from can be found here, at Rock Recipes . The original recipe has raisins in it, and stuff l...