I have fallen into the habit of cooking all my beans and wheatberries on one day. I know it seems like a really obvious concept but one that took me quite a while to get to. It saves time on the nightly dinner and gives me the option of bean dips and spreads throughout the week. And if there is one thing my kids will always eat its hummus, or really anything that comes close to being hummus if I call by the same name. So a weekly stash of cooked beans in the fridge is essential.
Also since I have been on a wheat berry kick (more because the texture is similar to meat rather than tastes like meat) I have tried it as a substitute for ground meats in a few recipes, my favorite so far is this Thai ground meat salad with wheat berries in place of the meat. Laap Gai recipe.
The weather has been more than warm lately, keeping us outside gardening, painting, walking, and basking, which might be why I started this post half way through May, and today is the first day of June. We added a trip to the beach, a rather successful paint shopping day ( pretty sure we got around 10 new gallons of pain for about 40 dollars!) some gardening and a trip to the dentist to everything else that happened in May. Looking back at this post and thinking about the month it was a long one!
The beach was beautiful, Kiki got to search for treasures, and Mia ate so much sand! Neil and Gwen took the dogs up a huge sand dune, and Kiki loved looking at all the kites. We had lunch at a restaurant where the kids were able to play in the sand, and these cinnamon rolls that were leftover from breakfast (we added diced apples to the dough and skipped the frosting.) Actually skipping back to the evening before, when Kiki saw the cinnamon rolls on the counter she looked at me and gasped followed by 'Mom I love cinnamon rolls' though I am pretty sure she has never had them before. but now that I have been talking about them for a few minutes here, I think I might make some for snack in a bit.
With so many things having found their way into May it is a relief that it is finally June. And I waited too long to say all the things I wanted to so I should probably leave with a few recipes and a whole lot of pictures for Nonna!
Mixed raw veggie and herb salad:
1 beet diced
1 carrot diced
1/2 zucchini diced
1/2 cucumber diced
1/2 red onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
bunch of parsley minced
few sprigs of mint and basil minced
handful of dill
handful of sunflower seeds
juice of one lemon
few Tbls of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
This is more of a general than an absolute as far as recipes go. As long as the veggies are all diced around the same size and you have a few fresh herbs on hand, some lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper it's really up to you what veggies to add. Plus the bright colors already in bite sized portions makes it somewhat exciting for the little ones to try, though Kiki only took a few skeptical bites before moving on to the millet and bread we ate along with this.
Millet with Fennel seed and kale:
1 cup millet
2 cups water
Tbls fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
salt
splash of olive oil
1/4 red onion sliced as thin as you are able
a few leaves of kale, devined and shredded as thin as possible
juice from half a lemon
tsp of dill
salt and pepper to taste
In a dry medium sized pot with a well fitting lid toast the millet for a couple minutes on medium heat till they turn a bit darker add the fennel seed, bay leaf, salt and water. Bring to boil over high heat, once it reaches a boil add the olive oil stir, cover the pot and turn down to a simmer. Let simmer till the water is pretty much gone, around 15 minuets. Let the millet rest for another 10 minutes without lifting the lid.
While the millet is cooking prepare the rest of the ingredients ( except lemon juice salt and pepper) adding them to a bowl large enough to hold the millet as well. Once the millet is ready combine with the veggies in the bowl (the heat from the millet will cook the onions and kale slightly taking away a lot of the bitter flavor.) Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Grape flat bread with rosemary:
Basic bread dough
grapes ( enough to at least cover the bread some what well)
olive oil
salt
rosemary
Using the same Basic bread dough recipe that I do most often portion out a large enough piece to fill a sheet pan. Roll to around a quarter inch thickness and place on a greased sheet pan.
Slice the grapes in half ( remove seeds if necessary), mince around two Tbls of rosemary, and use your hand to spread olive oil over the bread dough, covering the entire surface area.
Sprinkle on rosemary, next evenly space grapes all over the bread, add a bit of salt and bake for around 15-20 minuets at 460 degrees
