he said. she said.

you are who you live with. you are who you love. you are what you eat.

when we are young, people refer to us as sponges. we absorb all that is around us and adapt that into our speech patterns, mannerisms and lifestyle. i believe that in some way you are sponges forever. being in a situation long enough you adapt, change, absorb.

i met my husband nearly 8 years ago when i was a sad little individual. i had just broken up with someone after 6 and half years, just broken up with one of my closest friends, had no where to live, put all my stuff in storage and moved in with my father. professionally things took a turn though and the sun was shining over in that corner. and that's when we met. we worked together for a month on a tv show, he gave me a job at the wrap party and we were off. he sort of picked me up and put me back together.

we were so different. back then. not so much now. as i said you sponge, change, adapt.
you really wouldn't know that 16 years separate us.

6 years married, 2 kids and one cross country move later i find myself saying things that never would have escaped my mouth before - i'm the one who called his 75 year old dad dude for gosh sakes! his little sayings have become mine, his little nuances have become mine. don't get me wrong, we are still different in many ways but in most we are quite similar.

another thing we have taught each other about is food. i have brought new tastes to his palate and he has shown me about simple classics. like the chef salad. before him i never would have made a chef salad. and certainly not for dinner. but let me tell you it's a good dinner. i would have always made something completely complicated with baby field greens topped with wasabi pea crusted lightly fried goat cheese (yum by the way), a crazy variety of nuts and dried fruit - trying of course to impress my inner-martha because back then people didn't call me mini martha for kicks. this is basically clean-out-the-fridge salad and a pretty tasty one to boot. so next time you want something cold for dinner look and see what you have in the produce and meat drawer - you might surprise yourself.

chef salad basics

the only real preparation you need for this salad is hard-boiled eggs - it's a must have for this salad. for the perfect boiled egg: place eggs in a sauce pan and cover with water, topping off at least an inch. bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 12 minutes. rinse with cold water and peel. next look in the fridge and see what you have. start with a lettuce base (or in the case of the photo - baby spinach leaves) then start layering on your goods. look for deli meats (ham. turkey etc.) or leftover chicken and cube it up. some cheese would be good too. produce could assorted coloured peppers, mushrooms, cucumber, green onion, red onion - really anything that is nice raw. then are the condiments - could be pickles, hot peppers, roasted peppers, olives....really here the world is your oyster (i don't think oysters would work though!). the great thing about this is there are no rules - just guidelines!!! it sucks to throw food away - especially since the prices seem to be rising - so before you get to that point whip up one of these bad boys. not only with your belly thank you, your wallet will too.

getting our easter on.

easter. last year my head really wasn't in the game for this holiday and i left everything up to others so i was determined to make up for it this year. boy did we craft it up in the week leading up to easter!

we dipped eggs

there's more to read here >>

dinner: Eggy wonderful.

Dinner.

The task we all require but one that some loath. I, on the other hand, love it. Every two weeks I get note paper, have my fliers ready and map out a grocery list in conjunction with a dinner list to maximize every penny we have.And the following week I just check my list and make sure I am buying for that week. Good planning that way really does make it all go smoother.

Now I don't get everyday's dinner down but I do get a good road map so I can buy exactly what we need so there is no extra food hanging around or going to waste. We have a core staples - milk, bread, eggs, cheese, pasta, sauce, potatoes, chicken, ground beef, carrots, celery, rice & apples - but sometimes you want to create something that uses something a little more special and therefore I like to have it before I need it. 

Then you come to Thursday and Friday night's around here and the pickings get kinda slim - I am on a Saturday only shop kick right now. And when you haven't planned for that night then you find yourself standing in front of the fridge hoping for inspiration to hit you with something jaw dropping fabulous - the Maguyver of patched together dinners if you will. When it doesn't strike you hit the books. I have some pretty beautiful cookbooks plus a few I made myself - the one request the husband had of me before we moved west to east was that I go through all my cooking mags and pick out the recipes I wanted and get rid of the rest. I did do that, put them all in page protectors, put them in binders et voila! Yes kind of geeky but such a great reference! But that's for another post!

While on the prowl I came across a recipe from my good Ol'Rachael Ray - love the mag! my one guilty pleasures - from a section of her October issue about dishes using only 5 ingredients. Yes! And to my surprise I had them! I always seem to be one ingredient short on all recipes (and always the one you can't omit), have to take a special trip to the store and get very frustrated with the whole process when I should have just changed my mind and gone another direction.

I may have used a couple extra ingredients but was thoroughly impressed with the results as was the husband. Actually mentioned that it would be good Christmas morning for company. Sounds like gold stars for me!

Potato pancakes with avocado salsa and eggs

1 1/4 pounds shredded potatoes (I used Yukon gold but the recipe called for baking potatoes)

I grated onion

Extra-virgin Olive Oil - have it ready

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper or to taste (I used more)

4 eggs

Avocado salsa - recipe follows

Place 1 1/4 pounds shredded potatoes in a kitchen towel and squeeze to remove any moisture. Transfer to a bowl and add grated onion, 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil, salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick skillet (I used a griddle), heat 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Divide the potato mixture into 4 mounds in the skillet and pat into 4 inch pancakes. Cover with a sheet of foil and cook, turning once and adding one more tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, until browned, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a platter. In the same skillet, cook 4 eggs sunny-side up with 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil for about 1 minute - this is where I flipped my eggs, I really do not like any runny white but cook them however you would. Top each pancake with salsa, egg and hot sauce. Yum!!

Avocado Salsa (guideline)

2 ripe avocados - Pitted and diced

4 Ripe Tomatoes - Seeded and diced

2 sprigs of green onion - diced

Cilantro - rough chop

2 jalapeno peppers - seeded and diced (optional)Lime juice

2 tsp lime juice

salt

sugar

Combine avocado chunks, diced tomato, diced green onion, cilantro and diced jalapenos. Toss together. Add lime juice, pinch of salt and generous pinch of sugar. Toss together. Refrigerate for at least one hour for all the ingredients to melt together.

**With the salsa please feel free to make it your own. You can add black beans, corn, tropical fruits - this will add another dimension to your dish.