Knock, knock!

That’s what Paige says when she’s running into a room. It’s her own special way of announcing her presence. It brings an ear-to-ear smile to my face just to think about it. She is so sweet, so smart and so loving … I couldn’t ask for more. And this weekend, she impressed me as she actually acknowledged and played with my niece, who is just three months older. It was nice to see the girls and Will get along so well.

We are back from the wedding and back to life (after hitting the minor speed bump of a half-day of power outage today). That means, as promised, we are back to food. YAY!

One of my very, very, very favorite things is a well-seasoned pork tenderloin. Particularly one that has the rich flavors of garlic, rosemary and white wine soaked deep through the meat. This recipe adapts those delicious flavors to the faster-cooking pork chop. It’s a rich, tender and tasty way to enjoy boneless chops.

Serve it up with some rice pilaf and a green veggie (like green beans) and you will have an easy and delicious meal.

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We harvested and ate most of the broccoli. But, being novices, we failed to harvest this head in time. Did you ever wonder what happens to broccoli left to grow too long? It becomes a beautiful mass of yellow flowers … who knew?

I also trimmed away some of the larger leaves on the spinach plant (foreground), which we happily ate in a salad. What happened to the spinach? It grew much, much, much larger this week. I cannot wait to harvest some more. I am still waiting to see the Brussels sprouts start to grow.

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Mmm . . . from garden to table. Or more accurately, from our garden to our table.

This is the dish I made with our harvested broccoli recently. The flavor of the broccoli was delicate and mild, more gentle than usual … and totally enhanced by the dressing. Shawn and I have agreed that broccoli will be a repeat in our garden beds next year … hopefully with even more success than this year.

I’m having visions of doubling or tripling the number of raised beds in our backyard so that we can plant even more next year. More fresh spinach (which I was hesitant to even plant this year!), more broccoli, more peppers, more tomatoes. More, more, more. (No more red cabbage though. I have no idea what we will do with nine heads of it as it is). I love that we’ve all pitched in tending to the gardens — Will and Paige helping to pull weeds, Shawn mulching carefully around each plant . . . It’s been a wonderful family effort to grow. And we are just at the beginning of a season of truly homegrown foods. I love that.

We all really liked this (yes, the kids and the vegetable-phobic husband too!) dish. It went beautifully with pork on the first night and steak tonight … oh yea, we did eat the leftovers tonight. His idea. Love that too. This is versatile but it’s also easy (don’t be fooled by the length of the recipe, it really is easy … and I broke it up into three parts that are done consecutively so there is absolutely no confusion).

Try it, you’ll like it.

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Today started out as one of those ethereal days where the sky is impossibly blue and the clouds are a fluffy jungle kingdom. You just want to be outside on a day like today, and we made sure to spend a lot of time outdoors.

The kids and I rose later than usual, which is a treat for any mom, but particularly one who rises at the crack of dawn most days … and then we made our way through baths and bananas (they each have one almost every morning). Then we were off with a purpose: to find out if one of the local farmers markets would be opening today … the answer was no. But we are now just a few weeks away from the opening of another local farmers market, so I guess we will just hang tight for a little longer. But, I must admit, I was really hoping to score some garlic scapes, which have an impossibly short season.

After that, we headed off for an on-the-go breakfast and then settled in at a local recreation area for a long walk and rolling picnic, which is becoming a very fun habit for us. The kids and I pack up food in small portions and head to this park. They settle into the double stroller and eat — sometimes it’s lunch, sometimes a snack and today it was breakfast. While they eat, I walk, pushing them over hills and through meadows and across this fantastic area. It’s a lot of fun.

This afternoon, I harvested some of our spinach for a salad and some rosemary too. To go with the salad (spinach, strawberries and blue cheese), I made (in five minutes — seriously — including prep) some quick, tasty croutons using a leftover hard roll. Not only does it use up a roll that might otherwise have been left to rot, but these little delicately crunchy bread bits are OMG good.

How was your Sunday?

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We’ve been sort of counting down until we could happily pluck the fresh heads of broccoli from our garden … today, we did just that — while making dinner. There was something amazing about running outside, plucking a few of the heads and then washing and preparing it. The broccoli literally went from garden plot to plate in 30 minutes. (I will share the recipe for the Broccoli Rice with Lemon Herb Vinaigrette that I made with it in a few days.)

Meanwhile the catmint has sprouted some vibrant and beautiful purple flowers. Last year, I planted it in the garden late into the season and it didn’t do much. But this year, it’s big and beautiful. Read the rest of this entry…

Don’t look too closely at the blurry photo … I know, it’s subpar. And I am so, so, so sorry. But this was so good that I just couldn’t wait to dig in and somehow all of my photos came out blurred. I swear, it won’t happen again. So, just forgive me for now.

Besides, the goodness of whirled butter more than makes up for the badness of the photo. Just a little dob of this delish butter is all you need for a sizzling steak (which of course causes it to melt everywhere) to make the steak taste simply divine. I suggest you try it. And again (cause this definitely makes enough for several meals).

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Sometimes I fear that my posts are starting to be too much of the same. I certainly hope that isn’t the case, but each time I sit down to write, I come from the same happy, joyous place that is grounded in the onset of spring and hopeful for the start of summer.

It was a dark winter here, too long and closed off. Between locked up windows, early nightfalls and the frigid cold that scolded our skin whenever we attempted to venture beyond the confines of our house, it was just hard. But ever since spring struck not long ago (has it been two months already?), everything has felt more open and inviting. As I write this, I can hear the laughter of my children drifting in from our little playground area and everything just seems peaceful. They are happily playing outside while Shawn grills the burgers I made. I am just so happy these days.

Let me tell you a bit about these burgers. They are juicy, with an unexpected pop of flavor. And they grill up to a perfect, round patty. Topped with a little Swiss cheese, they scream “Summer is here!” And it almost is. Read the rest of this entry…