Tapas and Fondue!

Our dinner highlights this week were definitely Tapas and Fondue! We love to have tapas dinners on the boat…small bites, small plates, small table! We usually eat in the cockpit of the sailboat, and our table is maybe a foot by two feet. Tapas nights are also a great way to use up random things in the fridge.

Husband prepared it all on Monday night, when I get home a little later from the studio. He made a homemade pate which was fantastic and maybe I’ll get him to guest blog about that. Also on the table were toast points, warmed marinated olives and red peppers, sliced apples and pears, roasted almonds, several kinds of cheese, and a great bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the lighting in the cockpit consists of a rope light which doesn’t make for great photos!

We house- sat for some friends a couple days this week, so we took the opportunity to have a fondue party with two other couples…one other couple is pretty much max for entertaining on the boat. We served a lot of the same things as the previous tapas night, plus a whole lot of melted cheese! For dipping we had lots of bread and fruits. Everyone brought wine, and I think my favorite part was the wine tasting! Husband had ordered a wine aerator several months ago (and it still hasn’t arrived!) so one friend brought hers. I have never used one before, but the difference was pretty amazing. We all tried several different wines, before and after aerating.

For the rest of the week, we had hot dogs and sliders at a football party, pizza, chicken Caesar salad, vegetable lasagna, and chicken and veggies with pasta. We spent $94, so $11 into vacation fund!

I have been trying to try one new food item each week, last week was the pizza yeast, and this week it was this Philly cream cheese sauce I found on sale. I used it with our chic/veg/pasta dish. It’s already seasoned, so you just stir it in for instant sauce. It was pretty good, but I wouldn’t pay the normal price of $4.99. I got it on sale for $1.99

I guess that’s it for the week! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Beach BBQ Fish Tacos

We had some wonderful, fresh-caught meals this week provided by husband T, who had one very successful fishing day! He never fails to bring back something, and it's the only time I eat fish. After two bouts of fish poisoning (think food poisoning 10 times worse) I gave up fish unless it was caught by him. This way I'm sure exactly where it was caught, which makes a big difference here on the island, and I can enjoy fish again!

This is the mahi mahi,


and he also caught a tuna and some mackeral. The mackeral was for the dog, as you normally wouldn't eat it unless it's smoked. He fried a little up for her, and we both tasted it...wow- it was good!



For dinner that night we had tuna bruschetta with cheese quesadillas. I know, kind of strange.



My plan for dinner was veggie quesadillas, and he surprised me with the fish. He marinated it and seared it, served it with some mango salsa on french bread. Mmm.
We put the mahi in the freezer at his work for a couple days, then took it to the beach for a fish taco bbq! We took our power boat, a couple friends, couple dogs, and went to one of our favorite uninhabited islands, Happy Island.


He grilled the mahi on our little Son of Hibachi grill (great for taking by car or by boat because of the snuffer bag it comes with...you can fold up the hot grill and put it right in the bag and take it with you!)


We had shredded cabbage and a wonderful cilantro cream sauce, along with a delicious black bean salad made by one of our friends...and in keeping with the theme, lots of margaritas! As always, a great day at the beach!
We went over budget this week by $14, and this is what we ate:

Wednesday: Homemade Falafel with tomato soup (thanks to Witchy Woman's post about falafel last week...we love it but never think to make it!)

Thursday: Pasta with mushrooms and asparagus and a white bean garlic sauce

Friday: Tuna Bruschetta

Saturday: Dinner out with a friend, I had Chile Rellenos

Sunday: Veggie Pizza with meatless pepperoni (pretty good!)

Monday: Chili Pot Pie...this was so yum
. I made a chili with tomato, onion, mushroom, and crumbled up veggie burgers. Cooked it for a while in veggie broth, then put it in the casserole topped with cornbread, cheese, and black olives.
Tuesday: Big salad with pesto pasta

Another effortless vegetarian week! When we started about a month ago, we weren't really trying to make it a thing, just not eat meat until we really felt like it...so far, not yet!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Back to the Boat!

We just spent two weeks housesitting for some friends, and were back on the sailboat this week...good to be home! Though our kitchen on the boat is tiny, it's so much easier to keep clean! The nice thing about a big kitchen every once in a while, is that we can "stretch out" and make things that take a little more elbow room...our pierogies last week, for example.

We stayed almost on budget this week, we spent $106 (one dollar over!) and this is what we ate:

Wednesday: Tostadas- we baked the corn tortillas until crispy, and topped them with pureed white beans that husband seasoned. He says "we'll never buy canned refried beans again!" They were really good. Lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, and salsa...fairly cheap and really easy.


Thursday: We had an event to go to in the evening, so we both had a late lunch (veggie burger for me) and no dinner.


Friday: We had tostadas again for breakfast, same as dinner but topped with a fried egg. For dinner we had veggie burgers and french fries.


Saturday: Used up the rest of the french fries (the market only sells ONE brand, it's a big bag, and costs $6.99) with sandwiches- roasted mushrooms, red peppers, and onions


Sunday: Pizza- ricotta was on sale, so we used that with a homemade sauce and various veggies (and anchovies for me!) on pita breads.


Monday: Stir fry vegetables with thai noodles


Tuesday: Stuffed sweet potatoes with ricotta, onions, fake bacon bits, and sour cream, with steamed asparagus on the side


Yep, did you notice it was another veggie week? We both agree we really aren't missing the meat!

Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Flame-Kissed Chicken Skin

My husband T, describes his perfect day at the beach as such: "Best girl, cold beer, and flame- kissed chicken skin". Not sure about the last one, but this is from the guy who lovingly described the texture of a tenderloin I once cooked as "Noodles of Beef". Last week was our wedding anniversary, and he kidnapped me from the studio for a beach BBQ to celebrate. We went to our favorite beach,

the day was beautiful, and he planned ahead and brought everything! I mean everything...food, drink, chairs, towels, sunblock, even the book I was reading. He takes his beach days very seriously.

He recently bought a little travel grill called the Son of Hibachi, which he was eager to try out. Apparently it gets the coals hot very fast due to it's stovepipe design

opens up for two grilling surfaces,

and the best part, comes with a snuffer bag! For those, like me, that don't know about grilling stuff, this is a special carry bag that you put the hot coals and hot grill into when you are finished, so you can transport it immediately. Very ideal if you take your grill in the car or on the boat.

He grilled some marinated chicken, and served it with coleslaw and chips...delicious!

We enjoyed lunch and some champagne, then it was off to meet some friends...indeed, we transported the hot grill in the snuffer bag without causing a fire or the car exploding...good purchase, T!

I have been terrible on the budget this week ($15 a day for food and drink, lunch and dinner)...I think we went a little over every day. I have been very busy at the studio and have not been taking the time to plan ahead too much...so lots of easy meat and potato meals, soups, and pasta.

Two highlights of the week were the corned beef I did in the slow cooker (which I paid $17 for! It was maybe a pound and a half) served with potatoes and sauerkraut,

and meatloaf served with roasted red potatoes and carrots.



I vow to be back on track this week, it really helps to save money when you are paying attention!

Stayed tuned for my next post...I am sharing a post with my studio blog, Water Candy, and making water candy sushi!

Thanks for stopping by, and you can follow me here, too!
http://www.watercandyglass.blogspot.com/

Budget: OVERBOARD!

How ironic that my last post was about preparing for a hurricane...and then we had one! If you follow the weather, you know that last week Hurricane Earl hit us here in the Virgin Islands. We knew he was coming on Monday, and I started the day normally... showering, checking emails, etc...much to the irritation of husband who was busy securing lines on our sailboat (home) and powerboat (business). I didn't think that we would get weather so soon, then the rains came and the winds picked up and our boat was tossing and turning! One big gust threw the boat and stuff came crashing off the countertops! I packed my "ditch bag" as fast as I could and told T: "The dog and I are ready to go!"

We packed up and headed to our friend's house at 8 a.m. They have a great place (we stay there to watch their dogs when they are away)...huge TV with a million channels, (we have no TV) great hot shower, (boatyard shower for us!), big fridge and freezer with everything you'd want (tiny dorm fridge with no freezer for us!). We arrived, and much to our dismay, they had been out of power since 5 a.m! No TV, no shower, everything melting in the freezer. Sigh.

I was dying for an egg sandwich for breakfast, and thankfully they have a gas grill outside...so, grilled eggs

We sat through the rains all day, and cooked a pork tenderloin on the grill for dinner, along with some veggies...no complaints here!

We did have to scoop water off the deck with a dustpan to fill the toilet so that we could flush, but probably more than you want to know!

Hurricane Earl came down at a 3 or 4 strengh, and we were so worried about the boats! We wanted to check everything, but were trapped by fallen trees and a curfew. Finally we got home...everything OK! I was amazed. Home and business still floating, not a single thing amiss. BUT...Hurricane Fiona was supposed to hit that night! We stayed another night with the friends...skipped dinner because we all got ridiculous playing Happy Hour Trivial Pursuit (drink a shot everytime you miss a pie piece).

Next day we went home, everything still ok...and our power was back on. Some parts of the island were restored just a few days ago!

So -hurricanes done, and we were off to North Carolina for a family reunion...not sure that would happen because another hurricane was threatening. We made it, it was great...my brother smoked a pork for 12 hours with a homemade raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce that was amazing...so much good food all weekend!

Long story short, the budget was nowhere to be seen for about 2 weeks! Faced with an emergency, you buy whatever you need NOW, whatever the cost! There are actually laws here against stores price-gouging in an emergency...so no trouble there.

Whew! Crazy couple of weeks. One of our first meals back was gigantic smothered burritos...

tonight is chicken with corn and mash...needing some comfort food!

Thanks for stopping by!

Boatyard Stack-Up

Nope- not a bunch of pancakes or a really big sandwich...this is our marina during hurricane season! We are in the Caribbean, and those of us with boats take extra precautions. Many people like to haul out (take the boat out of the water) for the season, and our marina is a popular and safe spot. Is is very strange to see layers and layers of boats stacked up on the jack stands, with the masts towering above. Just doesn't seem right to see boats like this out of the water! We do not haul our sailboat or our power boat...we stay in a lagoon that is a very safe spot ( not a lot of wind, not a lot of storm surge)...but if a big storm comes we will get off the boat and stay with friends.

Normally this time of year on the island is quiet, but husband and I have both been very busy...I just opened a store for my glass art, and T has been busy doing adventure charters on our powerboat...I regret that dinners have suffered a bit! We came in a little over budget this week ($110, should be $105), and this is what we had to eat!:

Thursday: NO DINNER! We were both so tired from long days and opted for liquid dinners (never a good idea when those liquids are beer and wine!)

Friday: T took me out to Randy's restaurant...we split fried mozzarella, caesar salads, linguine with a creamy pesto, and a reuben...we spent all afternoon boating and we were so hungry we had a bit of everything!

Saturday: Sweet and sour salmon with fried rice...really good!

Sunday: The island's annual Chili Cook-Off! About 50 booths set up on the beach and compete for the title of best chili...we definitely sampled them all, though I think T's Cranberry Chili is still the best I have ever had.

Monday: Lemon pepper pasta (from newest Vegetarian Times mag) with chicken soup

Tuesday: Green chile pork stew...all day in the slow cooker= yum!

Wednesday: Leftover stew with grilled cheese sandwiches

Thursday: Black bean and sweet potato enchiladas with a raspberry chipotle sauce (my invention...T was skeptical but loved it!)

Oh, also this week I tried my first star fruit! Our neighbor gave us one off of his tree...no need to peel, just slice it like a star. Tasted like a cross between a pear and a kiwi, with a little crunch. T served it over eggs with hash and bacon...wow!

Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

My Sister's Garden

I received the best surprise in the mail earlier in the week...a box full of good stuff from my sister's garden! She lives in North Carolina, and sent all kinds of things that I wouldn't even try to grow on the boat! There was a bunch of Chiogga beets (?), a bag of dried zucchini, and containers of ground red pepper and coriander seeds.

We used the red pepper first, adding it to a corn side dish that we had with chicken and mashed potatoes. She warned that it was hot, and it was! It tasted great, but both husband and I just love to smell it- so fresh and earthy.

There were a bunch of beets, so I decided to make borscht in the slow cooker. I had never heard of this particular beet, and was surprised when I began peeling them and they seemed pink. Once I cut them though- wow! Perfect stripes of red and white. Would the borscht be red, or pink, or white?



Turns out it was white, which was weird because it tasted just like borscht (beet soup) which should be red and which we make quite a bit. I added some sliced potatoes, onions, and sausage, and smoothed it all with the immersion blender then topped it with sour cream. Delicious!

The dried zucchini is also something new to me. She said we could freeze it (no freezer) so we will be adding it to some soup tomorrow. It tasted good as -is though!

We will have no trouble using all the crushed red pepper...but the corriander seeds will be an adventure. Have never bought them, and sister suggested Mexican or Indian dishes, so we will try that on the menu this week!


For the budget this week, we spent $108, which is three dollars over budget. Incase you are new, our budget is $105 for the week, and that includes breakfast and dinner (lunch is leftovers), food and drink. If we go under budget, it goes into Vacation Fund. Those few dollars really can add up...this year we spent 2 weeks doing a New Orleans vacation/Caribbean cruise, and last year we did a week in Paris and a week in Barcelona.

Anyway, this is what we ate this week:

Thursday: Homemade pizza

Friday: Fish and chips at the Toad and Tart restaurant. Friends were visiting and they graciously took us out (Thanks Deb and Mike!)

Saturday: Homemade veggie burgers (see last post)

Sunday: Grilled Kabobs (our neighbors have a grill and we joined them for dinner)

Monday: Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn (with sister's hot peppers)

Tuesday: Frozen Pot Stickers with steamed veggies and rice. I was tired and uninspired this day! But they were OK.

Wednesday: White Borscht with Polish pizzas. (Polish pizza is a thing our mom used to make for special occasions...we are Polish and from the midwest so make of this what you will...mini rye breads toasted and topped with cooked ground beef that has been mixed with processed cheese and then toasted again. I still love it.)

Thanks for stopping by, and hope everyone has a great week! (And call your sister!)

From Catching to Cooking

Another great dinner provided by my spearfisher extraordinaire husband- fish tacos! (And he did everything from catching to cooking!) A few days ago he caught a permit, which is a gorgeous, firm fish with a mild taste, and is excellent for any cooking method. He made two nice filets and seasoned them with chili lime powder, cumin, blackening seasoning, and salt and pepper. As he pan- fried them in olive oil, I made my very favorite sauce, Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce, and chopped some cabbage. Neither of us had thought beyond the fish, cabbage, and sauce, so that's all we had on them!

When the fish was finished, he made the dough for his homemade tortillas..a cup of flour, a tablespoon of lard (yep), a bit of sugar, salt, and corn meal. We still have not replaced our tortilla maker with the broken handle, so he rolled them out (between pieces of waxed paper) and said he actually prefers it this way. The tortillas were excellent, and enough left over for lunch the next day for the both of us!

We ate more beets this week! This time I grated them raw into some cabbage with a little honey and vinegar and made a simple slaw, and served it with portobello mushroom stroganoff. I love portobellos! They are so meaty I could substitute them for beef anytime, but unfortunately they are more expensive than the cuts I would use in something like a stroganoff...$5.99 for two mushrooms!

T had two night dives this week and I was eating alone, so I made a few things he'd probably roll his eyes at. I've had polenta before, but I had never tried cooling it into a shape and then cutting it. I spooned it into a greased loaf pan and chilled for the afternoon. When it was nice and firm I cut it into squares. The first night I just pan fried it and served it with the beet slaw and the other portobello. The second night I gave it an egg wash and rolled it in panko, and then pan fried it. YUM! It made a great crispy side to my turkey burger. He would probably like polenta, but it's one of those things like tofu.

We still haven't had much breeze lately...when it's super hot in the evenings, we like to get in the dinghy with the dog and a couple of cocktails and have a sunset happy hour. A great way to end the day!

We did very well on the budget this week, only spent $83.06 of the allotted $105, the only meals not mentioned yet were Sunday night, which was the last night of our weekend in Ft Lauderdale (mexican restaurant and paid for by Vacation Fund), and a big salad on Monday.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Green Bean Tartine

Isn't it great when suddenly you like a food that you thought you hated? For me- green beans. Yuck. I probably haven't touched them since...well, probably since I was a kid and couldn't leave the table until I finished all my veggies. Oh, I do eat green bean casserole at Thanksgiving, but mostly just the french fried onion top!

Husband has been asking for beans for dinner, so a couple weeks ago I picked up a few and roasted them with red potatoes. Amazingly, they tasted just like asparagus (which I love). This must have been a fluke though because I really hate green beans, right?

It has been about a million degrees with no breeze here on the island, so all I wanted for dinner last night was vegetables, and set out to find whatever was least expensive. I ended up with a bunch of green beans (and beets and a cabbage and mushrooms), so I made a green bean tartine. I made an asparagus and goat cheese tartine a couple weeks ago - it was delicious and easy and no cleanup because it is cooked in a foil packet! So this is what I did:

Start with a piece of foil maybe a foot long. Fold it in half and then unfold it, and make a little box with one half. Lightly oil with olive oil and place whatever bread you have on the bottom. I used leftover wheat for one and rye for the other.


Combine all your vegetables with about a cup of chicken (or vegetable) broth, along with a couple tablespoons balsamic and salt and pepper. I used green beans, cabbage, mushrooms, red onions, and beets. See my last post for how NOT to cook a beet. This time I boiled them.




Pile all the vegetables on top of the bread. Combine a couple eggs with about a quarter cup of your broth, and pour it on top. Sprinkle some panko and lay a sprig of rosemary on top.



Seal the packet and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.



Top with goat cheese. Eat every last bite. Throw away the foil. Done!




My budget ($105 for the week) was a little off this week because we popped up to Ft Lauderdale for a long weekend, and I don't do the food budget while we are on vacation. (Whenever I come in under budget for the week I put the extra into Vacation Fund, so I feel ok about spending more while on vacation. So it all works out.)

Before we left we had to finish whatever was in the fridge, and I think the highlight was pulled pork made from a tenderloin, served with coleslaw. The tenderloin went into the slow cooker with a can of root beer and a little balsamic. I made a BBQ sauce with pureed mango, honey, and cayenne...I loved it, T thought it would be better on chicken since it wasn't a "real" BBQ sauce.

The highlight from our weekend away was a portobello bruschetta we had at a brick-oven pizza place. Really tasty and interesting because it wasn't served on bread which I always thought was necessary for bruschetta (am I uninformed?) I do have to say the size of the portions everywhere we ate were ridiculously huge (and our servers told us that yes, most people eat it all)...I guess no wonder so many Americans are overweight!

Ok, I just realized our tartines were ridiculously huge and we ate every bite (but veggies don't count, right?).

Anyway, hope everyone has a great week!

Smokin' Beets

Well, my beets were smoking, and not in a good way! Confession: I have never prepared fresh beets. My impression was that they take forever to cook, are difficult to peel, and the canned ones are just fine!

A restaurant on the island used to serve a veggie burger with beets and goat cheese, but I didn't have a chance to try it before they took it off the menu...but it sounds so good I wanted to try at home, and with fresh beets. I looked at lots of recipes for roasted beets, and yes, they seemed to take forever. One recipe reviewer said she just did them in the microwave for 10 minutes, then ran them under water and the peel just rubs right off!

I had to give that a try. My beets were kind of small, so I put them in the microwave for only 8 minutes. The first couple minutes they smelled great- like beets! The next couple minutes they smelled like potatoes...and soon I was smelling burning popcorn. Hmmm, that's interesting.

Eight minutes up, I open the door and the paper plate I'd set them on was burned (popcorn smell) and my beets were shriveled and literally smoking. Black smoke was pouring out of the little holes I'd made so they wouldn't explode. Well. Luckily I had a few more beets! This time I put them on for less than 3 minutes, just until they smelled good (and on a glass plate this time), took them out and tented them with some foil til they were cool. I wasn't able to rub the skins off, so had to do it with a paring knife, which was a little tricky now that they were soft.

Instead of a veggie burger, I marinated 2 portobello mushrooms in balsamic and garlic, salt and pepper, then pan fried til golden. I had a taste for those little Hawaiian buns, so I made the sandwiches into sliders, stacking the beets, mushrooms, red onions, and goat cheese. WOW. Delicious! I have to say the fresh beets were tastier than canned (of course), and now that I have my method down I will try again!

I served these with what started as sweet potato fries, and ended up as a sweet potato hash brown. They never got crispy in the oven and were sticking and making a big mess, so I smushed them in a fry pan with some oil and cooked til crispy. Tasted great!

Came $1 under budget this week (it's $105 for breakfast and dinner, food and drink) and this is what we ate:

Sunday: Crispy Rosemary Chicken with roasted red potatoes and asparagus

Monday: Portobello Beet Goat Cheese Sliders

Tuesday: Lobster Feast (see last post!)

Wednesday: Soup and Beef Springrolls

Thursday: Leftovers with Basmati Rice

Friday: Date Night (T took us out for pizza)

Saturday: Chicken with roasted green beans and carrots

Thanks for stopping by, hope everyone has a great week!

Lobster vs. Lobster

Yep, we had some dueling lobster dishes for dinner last night! T caught three gigantic lobsters the other day, and we invited some friends to the boat to share with us. I had bought some pie crusts on sale to make pot pie, so my dish was Lobster Pot Pie. Thanks to all on the recipe exchange who offered suggestions for the sauce. I ended up making a mornay, and mixed it with carrots, red potatoes, creamed corn, and leg meat from the lobster, which I think is the sweetest. Longtime readers may remember my old post "Lobster Popcorn", where I talk about the best way to get the meat from the legs...put them in a tupperware with a little water and put the lid on. Microwave maybe 30 seconds, the meat steams and ideally, bursts out of the shell like popcorn!
This is just a few legs from one of the lobsters...and this is the meat after it was steamed...

To think- before we learned the trick of the Lobster Popcorn, we just threw out the legs!
T wanted to make a more traditional lobster boil, with carrots, corn, and potatoes. Look at the size of these tails- with the beer bottle placed for scale!
We had an informal bet as to which dish was preferred by the guests. I was hoping to score some "awww..." points with my cut outs on the top crust!
We served the pie as an appetizer and T set the veggies to boil with a packet of Crab Boil seasoning
And the lobster is added last
Don't these veggies look great?
Though I hate to admit, I believe his lobster dish won crowd favorite...though I think mine was just forgotten about once the boil was served! Lots of leftover vegetables which went into the crockpot this morning for lobster bisque for dinner.
I love when T catches lobster or fish because it's free! We served 6 people two different dishes with leftovers for $13 !
Before I forget, here is a photo of my tortilla press as requested by witchy woman in my last post...however, the handle just broke off so we are on the lookout for a new one. A friend bought the same one and his handle broke of too, so I can't recommend this brand (Benecasa).
Thanks for stopping by, hope everyone has a great day!

Husband in the Kitchen

I do most of the cooking in our household- husband is great at the meats/fish/lobster dishes, and I do pretty much everything else. This week though, he dominated the kitchen!

He started out the week with a tomato/egg/bagel stack...I bought this tiny egg pan that fits just one egg and cooks a perfectly round fried egg. The pan is so cute, the checkout ladies were actually cooing over it when I bought it. He sliced up a couple bagels very thin, toasted them, then stacked with fried eggs and tomatoes...a perfect summer dinner.

Monday was another light meal...I had baked bread during the day and we ate that with tomato, the most perfect avocado, and a very nice bottle of wine.

Tuesday he made a meal I am still thinking about! We had found some veal at a nice price, which he breaded and pan fried while roasting some vegetables...baby red potatoes, brussels sprouts, garlic, and onions, topped with rosemary. He made a white onion sauce that was amazing!

The vegetables were so perfect they were melting in our mouths!

Wednesday we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday...company was great but the food was a bit disappointing.

Thursday husband made tacos...a while ago we bought a tortilla press, and he has become a master of making fresh tortillas. I have tried (using his recipe) and it turned out to be a disaster. So he is our official tortilla maker. We served them with seasoned turkey, avocados, tomato, and cilantro. I don't think there is anything better than a fresh bread of any kind!

Friday we had cheese ravioli with "Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce" to use up our cilantro. This is the best sauce for everything! I also roasted some onions and tomatoes and served them on top.

Saturday I tried my hand at veggie springrolls...have been craving them but haven't been able to find the rice paper until yesterday. I matchsticked carrots, apples, cucumbers, avocado, and picked some chives and lettuce from our container garden.

The last time I used our lettuce, it seemed a bit bitter to both of us, so I did some research trying to find a sweet lettuce. Didn't find anything, but did run across a tip that in temps over 65 degrees, lettuce does turn bitter (I am growing mine with an average temp of 85 degrees!) but if you pick it and put it in the fridge for a day it will sweeten up...and it sure did!

I also ran across a tip for making springrolls- I assumed you just pile up the ingredients and roll. Well, that doesn't work so well since the rice paper is so thin. So what you do is place your first ingredient along the edge, roll the paper over it, then place the next parallel, roll it all over that, and continue til the end when you tuck the ends in and make the final roll. Worked great! I served these with leftover cilantro cream sauce. Husband has actually never had rolls that were not baked or fried, but he said he loved them!

These were appetizers. For dinner I tried out a recipe from my last issue of "Vegetarian Times" called Asparagus and Mushroom Tartines.

These are made in foil packets. Place 2 pieces of bread on the bottom (I used leftover homemade bread from the other day), then add sliced mushrooms and asparagus that have been tossed in a bit of broth with salt and pepper. Mix an egg into a little more broth and pour on top. Seal the packets, bake 30 minutes at 350. Serve with a bit of goat cheese on top. Sooo good! And no pan to clean up!

This is the before photo...we ate too fast for an after photo!

Hope everyone has a great week!