We were on vacation last week, and came back to find big changes in the garden!  Given that my last post was on the garden as well, it’s pretty fun to see the changes from just nine days ago …

The garden is going beautifully strong.  The cool weather and constant rain early on has made our lettuces and kales grow like crazy, and now that the sun has peeked through at least a couple of times, we’ve got flowers and blossoms coming out, too!

We had a huge harvest of a particularly bitter and strong type of broccoli raab called di rapa novantina broccoli this week. I cut and gave away a whole bunch of it, but also used a lot myself with this recipe that cuts the bitterness of raab with, basically, fat.

We’ve been planting the seedlings we started last month any time the sun shines here in Massachusetts … which means that during our two days of sun in the last month, we’ve been very, very busy! Here’s how it’s coming together.

I was looking for a something special to make for my husband’s birthday that was still vegetarian (after a weekend going to my high school reunion where we totally indulged in bacon, beef, etc. that they served), and I came up with this. Halloumi isn’t cheap, but you don’t need much to make an amazing meal, and for this I added seasonal ingredients (ramps and fiddleheads) that I love, but you can certainly modify it and use fresh arugula or other greens. Halloumi grills beautifully which makes it seem extra special!

Source

I came across this great little tool on the New York Times today. Basically, you select the items most similar to what you ate the day before, and it tells you how much climate change impact your meal that day had relative to other Americans.

We’ve been doing a ton of work starting to establish our veggies and herbs for the year! Here’s what we’ve got in the ground and what’s almost ready to plant …

Given that we are swimming in fresh eggs, I wasn’t about to buy white eggs just to have something for my kids to dye for Easter! I bought a few different products that I thought might work to dye brown and blue eggs.

Now that I’m giving heavy thought to what will go where in my kitchen, I’ve discovered there are so, so many tools in my kitchen that I just don’t use. I plan to do a ‘kitchen audit’ and get rid of items that are at this point just clutter. To that end, here’s a list of what tools I plan to keep.

I have always hated mayonnaise. Still do. But I love it in things. Deviled eggs, tuna salad, sauces. So even though I find it disgusting just spread on a sandwich, it is an essential fridge item anyway, and making my own makes all the things I use it in so, so much better.