Tastes Like Food

My earliest memories of food include a tortilla ketchup sandwich (or is it a ketchup tortilla sandwich?) and that swimming pool game where you grease up a watermelon and throw it among a bunch of swimming children. My parents persevered and I was cooking for the family before I was out of junior high--though one of my favorite dishes was cut up oranges. I still like simple healthy meals focusing on whole foods. In the past few years I've become enamored with eating locally and have participated in CSAs and community gardens, both with my money and my time. I'm still learning in the kitchen, but my goodness it's fun.

Recent Articles by Mixed Greens:

• Never leave zucchini unmonitored 7.27.09
  

  It’s worse than an untrained puppy!
  I left my (one) zucchini plant alone for two weeks, and this is what I got:
  My experience with large zucchini is that they tend to the bitter, but I plan to either grill these (lightly coated in olive oil) or shred and freeze them for zucchini bread.

• Shiitake Mushrooms 5.19.09
  

  I recently purchased an indoor shiitake mushroom kit.  Growing mushrooms is perfect for me, because my home doesn’t get a whole lot of natural sun.  I’ve harvested a couple of mushrooms and thought I’d share the pictures.
  Here’s my shitake cooking recipe so far.
  Ingredients

  fresh shiitake mushrooms
  oil or butter

  Directions

  Wash the mushrooms
  Cut off their stalks, save for boiling [...]

• Kitchen ripened tomatoes 11.2.08
  

  A few weeks ago, I pulled up my tomato plants, because I was sure it was going to frost. We haven’t had a hard frost yet. Oh well.
  I did learn that tomatoes will ripen in your house just as easily as on the vine. The taste is not quite as good, but [...]

• Don’t let your potatoes get away from you 10.4.08
  

  I left some potatoes in the fridge a little too long:

  They even were escaping from the plastic bag:

• Summer Breakfast 8.19.08
  

  Garden tomato with basil, wedges of lemon cucumber, sliced Rocky Ford cantaloupe.

• Food Catchup Day 7.26.08
  

  Today was a big food day. This last week, my SO had family in town, so we didn’t do a whole lot of cooking. And I’d been out of town the previous 2 weekends, so the cooking I had done was quick and easy. Today, I had a lot of food enjoying [...]

• Simple Eggplant Parmesan 5.4.08
  

  Modified from the recipe in the Simply Colorado cookbook. I’ve made a few recipes from this cookbook–they tend to be healthy, easy to follow, quick and well explained.

  Ingredients

  2-3 T flour
  1 lb eggplant
  3 egg whites
  3 T milk
  6 pieces of dry bread
  butter
  1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
  1 1/2 c (6 oz) mozzarella cheese
  Parmesan cheese

  Directions

  Preheat oven [...]

• Apple Cider and Strawberry Juice 2.16.08
  

  I haven’t been doing a whole lot of cooking lately, but I’m still eating! And, more to the point of this post, drinking.
  I went through Canon City a few weeks ago and picked up some DiNardo’s juice. This is a little shop off Highway 50 in Canon City and it’s worth stopping by [...]

• Chocolate Charlie 1.13.08
  

  Every year my aunt and uncle send a special Christmas gift to me and my family. It’s a desert confection made in Indiana. Peanuts, chocolate and marshmallows combine to make a heavenly, if rich, package called ‘Chocolate Charlie’. I looked at the ingredients and there were only two things I couldn’t pronounce! [...]

• Easy Hummus 1.6.08
  

  Easy to make and flavorful.

  Ingredients:

  1-2 cloves of garlic
  1/3 lemon
  1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans
  olive oil
  salt

  Directions:

  Remove garlic skin.
  Add garlic, splash or three of olive oil and beans to food processor.
  Squeeze lemon juice out of lemon and add to processor.
  Puree.
  Add more oil if needed, scraping off food processor sides to make sure all the beans [...]