White Bean Risotto (ish)

Ok... this isn't REALLY a risotto. I mean, I didn't spend an hour lovingly stirring my arborio rice into creamy submission. What this is, is a realistic-working-week-night-comfort-food-no-time-for-stirring-BS-awesome dinner. So yummy that it's worth sharing.

I wanted risotto, but had little time. So I came up with this hearty substitution. I was also wondering if it would be possible to make something "risotto-like" in your rice cooker? The answer is YES!

You can get a little beauty just like mine for well under $20. I can't make rice without it! This is what I used for the "risotto-like" base.

You'll Need:
2 cups white wine

1 cup water

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 cups arborio rice (risotto rice)

-Add all of this together in your rice cooker. Or if you're MUCH more awesome than me, cook it on the stove like you normally do rice.

Then You'll Need:

1 package frozen artichoke hearts

1 cup parmesan cheese (+ extra for topping)

2 cans white kidney beans (Cannellini beans)

8oz. chicken stock

1/4 cup garlic cloves (about 10 small - 5 large)

-When the rice is cooking, pop your garlic cloves in a small ramekin dish, top with olive oil and sprinkle with your salt of choice (I used truffle salt). Then bake at 425 for about 25min. (till brown). Remove them from the oven and mash them a little with a fork.

(Optional, but what I used)

pinch truffle salt

pinch porcini mushroom salt

After the rice was done in the cooker, I flash fried the artichoke hearts in my cast iron skillet in some olive oil. When they were a little brown I broke them up with my favorite bamboo spoon. To this I added the garlic mash, cooked rice, chicken stock and parmesan cheese. Once it was all smooth and creamy, I added the rinsed/drained beans. Give it a taste at this point and add whatever seasoning you feel it still needs (I dashed a little more truffle salt and some porcini mushroom salt.)

Because I feel strongly that you can NEVER have too much cheese in your life, I also topped each service with a healthy portion.

If you give the dish a try, let me know what you think! This recipe easily serves six (or three big eaters with nice leftovers).
ENJOY!

Grey Hair - Five Months In!

FINALLY! Some decent hair pictures for you. Hair dye hasn't touched my hair since Christmas Eve 2012. 5 Months is BY FAR the longest I've gone without having something done to my hair. No, seriously. (Unless you count birth to 2yo.)

It wasn't as hard to let it go as I thought it would be. Nor does anyone really seem to notice, or care. It just goes to show how easy it is to get so self-absorbed that you think something so silly and minor will cause a reaction. -GASP!- You mean the world doesn't revolve around ME!? No, and I'm really ok with that.

 I quickly took these after a nice night out with my husband. I figured it would give a good idea of how it looks on a regular basis. I think under harsh light, or in the sun it's much more noticeable.

A close-up. See! Not too scary at all!

This is how it looks in dim light. Heck! My husband has a lot of silver in his hair and you can't even see it here. I think most of the time it just comes off looking like highlights.

My point in sharing this is to show that there's nothing to be scared of. If you think the "old age police" are going to hunt you down if you put down the dye box or turn to coconut oil instead of Retin A, you're wrong. You're the one who notices these things the most. You're still beautiful, just without all the chemicals. Baby yourself, love yourself and be the most beautiful YOU that you can be.

(You can see how this seemingly nutty choice came about here.)

May Garden Update

Here it is! The secret to a great garden. Are you ready? Organic compost (mine is mostly bark mulch) and organic chicken poop (that's been composted.) Mix thoroughly into the soil and let it go! So far, this is the BEST my garden has ever looked. I'm so excited, that I just had to share.

Oh yeah, the silver hair is still growing in too! I'll try and get some new pics of it in time for Mother's Day. I was a little tempted by the beautiful women on the hair dye box's the other day, but I resisted the urge.

 How the garden looks from my driveway. Happy, healthy and STRONG! (My son said he'd do some weeding for me for Mother's Day. YAY!)

 One of the two pumpkin, watermelon, squash beds. Also some oregano, glowers and spinach. I try and keep flowers in ALL the beds to draw pollinators and beneficial insects.

 Go little maters... GO!

 This is a funny picture. See all those little sprouts? Those are all peppers. Apparently pepper seeds take about a month to germinate (yeah, the package lied.) I was impatient, so I planted some starts. Lo and behold, the seeds then decided to sprout. I'll likely thin them out when they get bigger and keep some around.

 This is the tomato plant that my husband has deemed the "star performer." We had some super windy days, so I caged it just to be safe.

 This is how she got her name. That big one there is already the size of a baseball, and it's only May!

 Here we have cucumbers (in the back), a peper, tomato and lame strawberries. For some reason I just can't seem to grow strawberries! Also, a nice surprise, my black morning glories (from last year) came back. The basil is enjoying this bed and doing well. I already have a big gallon baggie of it in my fridge. Sweet basil is WAY better than the anise tasting stuff you get at the store.

This is the second watermelon, pumpkin, squash bed. Everyone's happy and doing great! 

 The watermelon from our neighbors is flourishing and happy. The sticks are to make sure no one accidentally steps on her.

 The blackberries are also blackening!

Say it with me now... LAMBS EAR!!! Yes, lambs ear take 2. I blame our a/c exhaust vent for killing my last one. I came home late from a very busy day and my husband had bought me this giant coffee cup planter (with saucer.) I LOVE it and knew right away what I wanted to put in it. Every Sunday we sit at this table and I "twig" the leaves. It's what makes life worth living.

Garden Update - April

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

To celebrate, I thought I'd give a quick update on my garden and how things are going. This time last year we were STILL building our raised beds. We got a very late start to the growing season and I think that, combined with poor soil bit us in the butt (so to speak.) Well, THIS YEAR is going to ROCK!

I've mentioned before that most people in our neighborhood have a food garden of some kind in their front yard. One of the many reasons I love living where we do. Our generous neighbors across the street gave me 6 tomato plants yesterday because they just ran out of room. We also bought a few more starts. I find it's good to give your tiny seed sprouts big siblings to aspire to.

I ran out of tomato cages, so I made some out of sticks and floral wire. I always have a small reserve of sticks on-hand for just such a task. They're also handy for making borders on beds to keep critters out.

All of these tomatoes came from my sweet, sweet neighbors. THANK YOU! (In the smaller box behind are more pumpkins, squash and watermelon.)

This tomato is what my husband calls our "Star Performer." We have high hopes for her.

Here's the pumpkin, squash, watermelon bed.

The spinach is on its last legs (but still tasty!)

The broom corn and sunflowers are coming along nicely. All of my free "gutter flowers" have taken root and are blooming. We've had a ton of wind here lately, but my wattle fence is holding strong!

This is a close-up of my husband's beloved amaranth. Technically it's "Love Lies Bleeding Amaranth." That's why the plant is red.

In this picture you can also see my precious "Sluggo" bait. We were having a horrible time with snails and pill bugs. Sluggo to the rescue! My neighbor (the same one who gave me the starts) suggested it and it really solved our problem.

How about you? How's your garden coming along?

What No One Tells You About Being 40

So, I recently turned 40 and I quickly discovered there are a few things that no one talks about, or tells you. In the interest of public information (and as a scientist), I'm willing to share them with YOU! Lucky dog.



1) Grey hair isn't just for your head. Think of ALL the places you have hair. Yup... that turns grey too.

(Can you read this? HOW ABOUT NOW!?)

2) NO ONE is safe from needing reading glasses. No one! I was assured by my eye doctor that I had the focusing ability of a 20 year old and that I would NEVER EVER need reading glasses. I used to read my friend's menues when they'd forget their glasses and tease them relentlessly.

Turns out, he was a LIAR!!! I had barely turned 40 before my eyes decided I was really 60. My regular prescription needed to be strengthened AND I bought +1.00 reading glasses. (At least the headaches are gone now.)


(My favorite face cream - Weleda Rose Cold Cream)

3) Age spots... gotta love them! My skin used to be porcelain doll milky and clear. Now, despite my years of religious sunblock use, it is splotchy.

(My lovely pillow marks 2 hours after getting up today. -sigh-)

4) While we're onto skin... welcome to the desert! Your skin quickly becomes dry and loses its elasticity. This not only makes you itchy, but your skin holds onto lines a lot longer than it used to. In short, invest in some silk pillowcases.



5) 40 is not too young for perimenopause. If you think you still have years and years to go, think again. I feel this was definitely something that would have been nice to get a friendly "head's up" with from the women in my family. Apparently they're all in cahoots with my eye doctor. Lying bastards! (I mean that in a loving way.) In their defense, I should have paid more attention to their hot flashes and complaints and made a mental note to their age. Darn!

The word "menopause" always makes me laugh. It's like a warning, "MEN! TAKE PAUSE before you open your mouth to a women in the throws of menopause!!!" Hahaha.

Some early signs of perimenopause:
-Sleeplessness at night (waking up at the same time over and over again is common, even if you do fall back to sleep.)
-Night sweats (like you're getting over a bug, but you aren't.)
-Really heavy, or really light periods. (By heavy I mean... "Did I lose anything just now?!")
-Major mood swings, depression, anxiety, etc. (If you don't know what's going on, you may only see your Dr. for just these symptoms.)
-Increase or decrease in your "carnal appetite."
-Pain or discomfort during or post-intercourse.
-Headaches and/or dizziness.

Doesn't that sound FUN!? Now days we know HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is a very risky game to play. My doctor suggested trying some natural remedies (one of the many things I love about her!) to ease my symptoms. 

Here's what I'm trying:

-Ultimate Omega by Nordic Naturals (good for mood support, among many other things.)

-St. John's Positive Thoughts by Source Naturals (good for both depression AND anxiety. I trust this brand.)

-Valerian Root Tea by Alvita (a great herbal tea brand.) Take only at night.

I quit taking Zoloft once I found out what was going on and started the supplements. Honestly, it's not as good as the Zoloft, but I don't miss the side effects, so it's worth it. I also feel a lot better than I was feeling before.

So now that I've spilled my guts all over my blog, how about you?
Anything surprising happen to you when you turned 40?

Garden Plans 2013

Spring is in the air and I'm ITCHING to get my garden up and running! Over the last month I've added organic compost and organic chicken manure to my beds, then mixed it up like a giant dirt-cake. I found so many earth worms that I began to get giddy. This is the year! My garden is going to OWN it!

Last year things didn't go so well. Live and learn. I now know the problem was my soil. I had bought a 50/50 mix from a local hardware store. I believed them when they said that it was 50% organic compost and 50% topsoil. I think it was more like 95% topsoil and 5% lies. That's why I'm heavily amending the soil for this year. It smells of sweet success!

Along with fixing all my soil (which cost about $150... so far), I'm also adding a few new "structures." I put it in quotations because it's nothing like the raised bed project of last year. It was done on a whim, but fits in with our garden layout nicely. My son likes to call our garden a "Hobbit" garden and I love that! Yes, there's also a hand-made wattle fence in my future, as soon as I can find the time.

Here's what's going on in my garden as of March 2nd, 2013:



This is a new plot I built using stepping stones I had in the garden. It's going to be for the squash, pumpkin and watermelon. Yes... I'm trying again for pumpkins! Keeping them heavily fertilized (lots of poop in there!) and close to the ground should be a huge improvement over last year's raised bed fiasco. My husband also pointed out that it's the perfect shape and size to "dispose" of any unwelcome house guests.

This was a leftover spot where my 50/50 mix rested for a year. There are lots of worms in there, but enough cat poop that I really didn't want to plant anything edible. Organic broomcorn seemed like the perfect solution. It's a tall, ornamental grain/grass that will provide a bit of privacy for the garden. It will also be fun to use in decorations come autumn, that is IF it takes sprout and grows! The sticks were leftover from a dead tree in the backyard and are there to remind me to water that spot regularly.

This is some kind of lettuce (I forget what) that is really too "spiny" to eat. I planted it in late fall. I think I'll cut it all out and try to make a big batch of "creamed greens" out of it. Worst that happens is it gets composted!



This is my bird fountain that I made. The birds use it regularly and it always makes me smile! My birds LOVE to feast on garden snails, so I'm always happy to have as many as possible come visit the garden.

These are my brussels sprouts, spinach and strawberries. So far, they're doing good! The sticks are to keep the cats from getting any ideas.

These are mustard spinach greens. They were delicious all winter and are our new favorite greens. I let them go to flower to attract some pollinators and birds to the garden. Plus, it just looks really pretty!

This is a single chamomile plant that is very happy and doing fantastic! I hope to have some fresh mint and chamomile tea this year.

This is our Christmas tree!
I just re-potted it, and it's doing well. I added some empty water bottles to the bottom of this huge pot to help with drainage without adding extra weight. It was a great trick and one I'd recommend!

This is my baby herb garden. My sister-in-law bought it for me last May and shockingly enough, I haven't killed it! (Yet*)



This is my blackberry bush. Also a joy and surprise that I didn't kill it last year! I'll be SHOCKED if we get anything off it this year though.

So, that's it so far! I didn't post any pictures of the raised wooden beds, because there's nothing to see right now. We're planning on starting our peppers and squash in the next few weeks. I'll be sure to share updates where there's something worth sharing going on.

Month 2 (More Pictures)

I finally got my butt outside in the lovely spring sunshine and snapped a few pics. I SWEAR it looks more silver than that in my bathroom, but it HAS only been two months.

I'm still not sure what color my natural hair is. Time will tell (I guess.)

 Jeez that's a lot of forehead wrinkles!

Only about an inch and a half of growth. Putt... Putt... Maybe I need better vitamins?