Pastariffic without the pasta

I'm still on the them of food, when I said our fridge was packed with freshness, I wasn't kidding. We currently have tomato salad, carrot salad and fruit salad at arm's length; tasty veggie packed goodness ready to grab whenever someone has the hankering for a snack.

Last year I posted some ideas for using up the summer rush of zucchini, and to this day zucchini "noodles" are my favorite. They hold the right texture of an al dente noodle, but no bloated gut from wheat overload. None of that crazy blood sugar roller coaster from carb overload either.

How do you make zucchini noodles? Find a baseball bat sized zucchini (or a bunch of reasonable sized ones) and wash and peel it. Run the vegetable peeler lengthwise down the zucchini, creating ribbons of the fleshy part. Stop when you get to the seedy core. Now you have a giant heaping of zucchini ready to lightly saute in olive oil. Do a bit at a time so you don't break or chop the ribbons into small pieces. You want them sturdy and as spaghetti-like as possible; only saute until the ribbons get just tender. Season as you go, I use salt and garlic but season according to your tastes.

Last night we used up a particularly large zucchini, topped it with tomato sauce and homemade meat balls. The meatballs did have a handful of oats in them, but generally the meal was veggie-heavy, meat-light, and very easy on the body.

Plentiful Food

This is the story of a Sunday afternoon baby shower. My brother and his wife are a month away from meeting their new baby Reagan. It doesn't feel like that long ago we were in the same anxious position. For the shower, I tried to think of a gift I would've enjoyed 8 months into carrying Mabel.

I should preclude the great gift unveil with this tidbit of information: the only thing filling our bank accounts right now are sounds, echoes of C and I asking where we spent so much money (bills, bills, bills). My first thought was to make a couple really simple, really fast frocks for little Reagan. I wasn't sure I'd get enough time at a sewing machine. Then it came to me, our fridge and freezer are filled to the brim of a delicious summer bounty (already!), so why not share the wealth?

An idea was born.

I made up a little menu of some of our favorite summer time meals, dressed up the wording, wrote it out in pretty font, printed it and voila! The beauty of this idea (for me) is that the work isn't any harder than fixing for 2 (and a small) hungry mouths.  

I wrote up a little explanation that went a little something like this:

As Reagan's arrival approaches, we thought a gift of a week's worth of dinners would be helpful. Perfect for those nights when all you can do is ask Lonzo [my brother] to stick dinner in the microwave, but satisfying enough to curb your hunger for two!

I want the dinners to be go-to meals, not simply good intentions  so I also let her know we'd tweak the meals to suit her own tastes and preferences. It seemed to be a hit! Wholesome, homegrown food, free range meats and affordability all rolled up into one caring gift.

What do you think? Would you have appreciated prepped meals during the last few weeks of pregnancy? Is it overreaching to meal plan?

Looking for an answer

Ever heard of reishi mushrooms? I hadn't until I started reading James Green's The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook. What's so wonderful about this particular family of fungi? Read about some of their healing potential.

In fact, I was so intrigued by the information I decided to try my hand at growing my own.  The kit sent up pins, and now I'm waiting for them to fan out at the top. In the meantime imagine my surprise when I saw some similar pins shoot up from an old oak stump!

Doesn't seem like they're one of the tough ones to ID, but I want to make sure. The coloring is much duller than when I picked them--there's a powdery finish now rather than the bright orange you can still see on the stems.

Anyone know if these are reishi?

**In full disclosure: I'm an affiliate of Mountain Rose Herbs. I chose to be one because I use and believe in the quality of their products. If you click the link to their reishi selection and buy something from the site I will get a small percentage credit from the sale. 

The weekend is almost here...6 hours away for me...so we're gearing up to finish the porch. Nothing like dragging along on a project that should've taken a day, 2 tops!....

Little Sugar Creek. May 2012
image by Nadine Ford,/td>

That's what I started blogging this past Friday and that's pretty much how everything is right now. Busy, fragmented and the minutes are just too short. To celebrate the madness, here are a few things keeping me busy:

The contest is still going on for a chance to win your very own copy of Little Paper Planes! Might I suggest you get 2 copies--one to play with and one to keep whole?

Little Sugar Creek. Early June 2012
image by Nadine Ford

Volunteering a little at the Tuesday Twilight Matthews Farmers Market.

Little Sugar Creek. Mid-June 2012
image by Nadine Ford

Growing food and constantly weeding at Little Sugar Creek Community Garden. (Enough with the weeding already!)

Mentally designing one of these.

Phoenix Rising: A Bit of Background

 

Remember a while back when we were working on a drawing for Little Paper Plane's new book? Okay, so now I can't find any posts, but I'm sure I talked about it in at least a few posts. Anyway, it was recently released through Chronicle, and is now available for purchase! Though since I've decided not to shop through Amazon anymore, I think purchasing it through Little Paper Planes is far better...why not purchase it directly from the curator? Working with the Little Paper Plane's crew is always a treat, the gals are upbeat, funny and beyond dedicated to furthering the arts for the benefit of the artists. This experience was no different and to be a part of it is such an honor; 20 amazing artists and 20 fun projects. The art that matters most to Wolfie and the Sneak is art that engages the mind and the community, and this book has that and more!

The drawing pre-Photoshop coloring

A little background on our contribution and evolution: To stick with what we do best, we went with a nature-themed OCD style drawing: a bird. This time, though, the bird reflected a common source of awe for Charlie and me--the Firebird. As is the case with most of our prints, I do the drawing and Charlie works with me critiquing, editing it in Photoshop, and generally getting the design and colors tweaked just so.We also tried a few old school paper plane designs, but went with Charlie's favorite.

The drawing post-Photoshop coloring

To accompany the book, Little Paper Planes had a book inspired show. We took the opportunity to create a 200+ page flip book showing the rise of the phoenix (if we were better organized or had more time, a second volume may have shown some birdy combustion).

Flip book nearing completion, and look, a little bird shadow!

I took this picture of the show from LPP's facebook page.

and this picture of the publisher's offices from LPP's facebook page.

Instructions on how to make Charlie's favorite paper plane.

A most beautiful design by Christine Buckton Tillman.

So there you have it, a little glimpse into our part of this amazing book. And guess what!? If you've made through all the gushing and ramblings, you've made it to the part where we offer one copy of Little Paper Planes to give away! You have to do a little digging...name 3 of the artists in the book. At least one of the artists must be someone not listed in the Amazon description. This post on the Chronicle blog will help you on your mission. Comment below with the names and you'll be entered in the giveaway! Enter as many times as you'd like, but your answer has to be different every time! Make sure you leave an email or a link so I can find you if you win. Good luck and happy flying!

The end.