When All Else Fails, Resort to Cats or Food

I’m in the middle of about nineteen things this week.

I have a few great things to share, but none really requiring an entire post. And so, in the interest of efficiency, I offer you just a few quick items of interest.

First, this may just be my new favorite recipe ever.

Amy Kritzer at What Jew Wanna Eat has done it again. We pulled her Farro Stuffed Eggplants with Pickled Jalapeños and Tahini Sauce a week or so ago and finally made it for dinner this weekend. Oh. My. Grains.

First, it resolved the issue of too many baby eggplants in my refrigerator. Second, I’ve wanted to do something with farro and this was as good an opportunity as any. And the rest? Dried cranberries, pickled jalapeños, and tahini yogurt sauce? Bonus.

Kidzilla and the Fab Hub both ate the eggplant; although the Hub did admit he didn’t love the roasted outer portion. But they both ate the insides mixed in with the farro. Kidzilla wanted to try the pickled jalapeños and she loved them. I was a bit wary of letting her toss down hot peppers, but the pickling process really mellows them out and I completely purged them of seeds to reduce the heat. The budding gourmet is right – they are delicious. The Fab Hub had nothing but praise for the tahini yogurt sauce and this is a man who will not eat yogurt in any form. So in every possible way, this is a win. I have a pile of Chinese eggplant that just may end up becoming a modified version of this recipe because it was just so delicious. Thanks, Amy!

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Not nearly as appetizing, but just plain entertaining, is the green eggs breakfast that the Fab Hub made for Kidzilla.

Zilla was reading Green Eggs and Ham on Saturday morning and asked if she could have green eggs for breakfast. The Fab Hub delivered. She insisted on holding her forkful of eggs for the photo. Perhaps we have a future food stylist in the making.

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The smoothie you see in the background of the shot was our latest adventure in smoothie making – a radish smoothie. Yup, you read that correctly. My Grandfather and one of my uncles used to eat radishes by the handful. Raw. With some salt on them. I would never in a million years have thought of putting these peppery little buggers in a smoothie. But you know what? It was pretty good. It felt very…fresh. You can find the recipe here at Domestic DIY. Why did we try a radish smoothie, you ask? CSA, that’s why. It’s all part of my effort to plan our meals (and smoothies) around the fresh foods we have on hand, rather than planning and shopping by a recipe that simply looks good. That method has its merits, but it doesn’t always use the food that is already here waiting to be used.

The smoothie tasted pretty much like a berry smoothie with a hint of radish in it. The recipe includes radishes, coconut milk and coconut water, radishes and radish greens, strawberries and raspberries, some sprouts, a banana, and a pinch of pink Himalayan salt. I suspect Zilla’s interest was piqued by the level of pink in this thing, but she drank it and she liked it. I’m happy.

I was surprised at some of the health benefits of radishes. Apparently, they are a great source of folic acid, Vitamin C, zinc, B-complex vitamins, and more. The most interesting to me was the fact that radishes seem to ease respiratory congestion. We made this by the recipe on Saturday and then in a modified version (regular milk and water, not coconut and kale instead of radish greens because we ran out) on Sunday and I have to admit that the allergy and sinus congestion that has been bothering me since about Thursday of last week is much relieved and my head has opened up significantly. Hmm. I always thought radishes were just a useless salad vegetable. Who knew?

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And finally, my favorite Rotten Cat photo of the week.

That is Cat One, dozing atop a very tall pile of blankets, towels, and other sundry items of the bed and bath linen variety. He sits up there like the king of the mountain acting very pleased with himself. Please try not to notice that we are people who don’t carry our laundry up to the linen closet often enough. And don’t tell my Mother that the Rotten Cat is napping on clean laundry.

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Stop by later this week for posts on the lunchbox adventures of the Fab Hub and Zilla and some Family Movie Night stories.

Hope your week is off to a great start! And happy October!