Eat Like a Rabbit

Well, let's start by apologizing for a complete lack of tweeting this evening. My phone was dead when I awoke this morning. (The brain is forgetting to charge it at night.) And I appear to have lost my travel charger. I didn't get home until after dinner to get the phone charged.

We dined with our friends, Sarah and John at Harmoni Market and Bistro in Longwood this evening. We have eaten at the one in College Park nearly two years ago and thought it would be a nice opportunity for all four of us to try this new restaurant.

I didn't look at prices, but I will say the market part is kind of spiffy with its food selections. The pasta sauce available is one highly recommended by Smitten Kitchen. I think such things are good to note when you evaluate the estimated quality of food.

Here is the spinach pesto I made to serve on pizza with fresh tomatoes instead of a marinara sauce. The rosemary bread at $5 for two loaves from Costco makes the pizza easy and tasty because it adds lots of flavor leaving only a need for a little salt and pepper on the tomatoes.

You can find the recipe for my spinach pesto from my post last year. Plus, you can search for other recipes I use the spinach pesto with, like spaghetti squash or butternut squash lasagna, which will be made again this year. I will tell you I passed on the Parmesan and sprinkled a little olive oil in the food processor as I was stirring up and dishing out the pesto. Also, be careful with the garlic. All I had were large cloves left, and it was very potent for the amount I made! Unfortunately, my basil needs more care than I have been giving it; so, I didn't have as many leaves as I am used to or wish for. That's the beauty of the spinach in the pesto. It eliminates the need for so much basil, but still allows for fantastic and healthy flavor.

Well, my goal for putting that pound of spinach away in a week was not a success. Paul says my problem was that I never put enough spinach in the dishes. I also contribute part of the problem to not being home for two nights and running out of time in the mornings to make my smoothies the last four or five days. So, I'll be making myself a smoothie for breakfast in the morning and trying to come up with other ways to use the spinach up as quickly as possible because I know it's good for me, and I don't want it to go to waste. Stay tuned for photographs and recipes to go with my spinach creations for the week.

The sauteed spinach photographed was served with my butternut squash soup, which I was very proud of. You can tell that even though the pan was filled with raw spinach, it cooks down a lot. If you're serving a large number of guests, get a big skillet.

Honfleur is a beautiful seaside town with a great history. We suspect that our ancestors sailed to Nova Scotia, Canada, from this port in search of a new life. The day was quite chilly and rain was in the forecast during the first Saturday in March. We took pictures quickly and searched for a restaurant along the warf that had a reasonable vegetarian option. This was especially hard near the sea when almost everything had fish.

We are always happy to open our home to friends. Mike performed our wedding ceremony, and Paul has known Ashley most of their lives.

I sat up in bed sometime in the middle of the night and realized yesterday had not gone smoothly enough for me to be near a computer other than at work. So, bright and early this morning, I am making up for my lack of desire to get out of a nice warm bed on one of the coldest nights of the year in Florida and share my thoughts.

I was eating the leftovers of this at work and a girl walked in saying "That smells good." Always eager to share my creations, I offered her a bite from the side I had not reached yet. She seemed surprised to be able to say "That's actually good." Thank you very much. I almost think it's my favorite of my own recipes thus far.

This is such a great recipe because it takes something that should taste a bit sweet and makes it more salty with the pesto and creamy white sauce. The entire lasagna lasted Paul and me four meals. So, the price seems quite right and all the time invested seems quite efficient.

I had been wanting an egg salad sandwich and was happy to make my own with a new supply of eggs purchased for holiday baking. Also, I came across some flatbread and was interested in giving it a try. Paul often likes sandwiches on pita bread, but good pita is hard to come by around here. I thought this might be an acceptable replacement.

This pasta recipe comes at the end of a number of fall recipes. I read in "Reader's Digest" last week that prices on produce actually go down when the product is hot and in season because there is plenty of the product, and they have to move quickly before they spoil. I found this to be true with apples because last week they were $0.44 higher at Costco than they were this week. So, be on the lookout for produce in season. You will save money and enjoy richer flavor.

I made this appetizer twice last weekend. I have decided that spaghetti squash is best in October, because by November I was struggling to find good fall squash to purchase. The dish was a big hit at both events and the goods were all gone. There's no complement like the complement of disappearing food (as long as it isn't fed to the dog).

One of my EMTs said this was his favorite squash. So, I purhased some on Friday. By Saturday, we were eating lunch at some friend's house and were served Spaghetti Squash. He answered all of my questions about preparation. And I excitedly created this fabulous dish on Sunday. With a salad, French bread, and pan-fried scallops, I was in heaven.

The following post is in reference to that little bowl filled with green at the top left hand corner.

A few situations happening in just a week's time started me thinking about this post. It started when I read one of the many magazines in our office (unfortunately I do not remember which one) that said basil was hard to acquire for a pesto sauce and recommended some alternatives.

This was such a fun creation, with no basis of thought. I was just trying to use leftovers. I absolutely love the olive bread from our local Maitland Farmer's Market, but it is rather expensive at over $6 a loaf. I only get it on special occasions. The zucchini also came from an outdoor stall.

This is such a great, truly simple, and full-flavored recipe. We found it in the "Moosewood Simple Suppers" cookbook. We had given my mother-in-law the book for a holiday or birthday, and she repaid us with this meal.

I love the ingredients in this recipe. It came complements of "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home." Naturally, I chose to make this recipe in the winter when oranges were at their peak. Local citrus is best when purchased from a trusted fruit stand as opposed to from a grocery store.