this week in (and around) my kitchen :: blog hop

this week in the kitchen has been...

a bit more from the garden: more broccoli rabe, parsley, nasturtiums, kale, and now strawberries.  I've been adding fresh greens to many dishes and the strawberries go quite well alongside french toast and a big ol' mug of black tea.  if they make them into the house, that is.  I'd love to make some more strawberry jam, or try my hand at making some strawberry hand pies.  we'll just have to wait and see if I can stockpile enough to do either.  we have two 4x8 beds of strawberries, but there are three mouths around here eager to gobble them up while they are still warm from the sun.  this is the year we need to expand and re-home some of our runners into a new bed, I think.  one can always use more strawberries.

wine.  I'm enjoying Argentinian Malbecs lately, though still typically prefer a good hearty beer.  it seems to depend on the overall mood/weather/etc.  if I'm the only grown up in the house that night or it's rainy or there's some jazz or the Eddie Vedder Pandora station (I've been digging this lately, it features a lot of Johnny Cash, Mumford & Sons and post-Pearl Jam Eddie Vedder) then it's wine.  sunny and two grown ups?  more of a Ben Folds or Michael Franti Pandora Station night?  beer.

bread.  made with my trusty recipe torn out from Mother Earth News several years ago- a quick google search for Mother Earth News No-Knead bread brings it up in seconds, and really I pretty much have it memorized, but I admire that little magazine clipping's tenacity and am somewhat amazed that it continues to not get lost after all this time, so it stays.

Trader Joe's~  I'm fairly new to Trader Joe's and am still in the feeling-it-out phase, we just got one in Asheville somewhat recently.  I have discovered though that I'm a fan of their black bean and cheese taquitos (and other things as well).  yum.  and with some of the last of last year's tomatillo salsa and some roasted broccoli?  dinner in 15 minutes?  yes, please.

also, smoothies.  we tend to alternate between berry smoothies and pineapple/coconut/banana smoothies.  today's was coconut milk + OJ + coconut flakes + banana + pineapple + spinach.  mmm mmmm good.  spinach goes down a bit easier in smoothies around here than kale does.  soon, thinking maybe later today, I plan to start filling some popsicle molds with some of these concoctions.  thinking I like the sound of watermelon + coconut milk + mint.  do any of you have this book?  I know the interwebs are loaded with recipe ideas but I keep peeking at this one.  and I guess it's like the thing with the bread recipe, sometimes I just want a hard copy of something, you know?


*joining Heather for her This Week in My Kitchen :: Blog Hop series