where oh where has the blogger gone

Another gap in my blogging - I KNOW! Yet again, I'm at a place where I'm considering abandoning the blog(s). I keep reinventing this thing in hopes . . . . in hopes of various things.

In hopes it will be useful. But to whom?

In hopes I'll come back to it and write more.

In hopes it will simply be a space, a thing, to which I enjoy giving my time.

Honestly, with even minimal thought I quickly come up with only negative responses to these hopes. I mean, c'mon, I can give my time to far better things than a blog, a nonentity. So take that hope #3. And hope #2, well, I have a separate writing blog where I had wanted to explore my writing and the serious commitment I was making to it. I haven't been over there either. And lastly, hope #1 is a constant issue because I *should* blog for myself but I don't. And since I'm being honest here, as long as I'm not blogging for myself then I'm not likely to feel at home here.

I'm not trying to be the next big anything with this blog so I really have little business blogging for others. On the flipside to that, blogging for myself is pointless. Really, I don't see the point. I mean I see the point to writing for myself but not blogging. I don't put in-depth information out into the world. I'm a private person. I will tell you that what I tend to blog here is within the confines of what I'd discuss at a cocktail party. I'm quiet, shy, a wall-flower so if you know me you know that's not a whole lot of information. I guess that's part of why I find it so hard to fill posts. I'm editing myself. I'm editing myself right out of entire posts.

So maybe I will drop this one and just keep my travel log and writing blogs up. Release myself from the self-imposed blogging pressure. I could pick up some paper and a pen and actually write openly, honestly and completely for myself there. I'd still edit but at least I'd try to limit it.

So yeah, that's where I'm at right now and why I'm not here much.

Eating like it's Spring

I'm a vegetarian so it would make sense that I like salad. Though in my case, this is reversed - I've come to like salads because as a vegetarian often times salad is the only item available for me. Becoming a weight watchers lifetime member solidified my salad love. The lower the points the more I love it!

With the change of season, I've gotten out fall and winter clothing, and I've come to the joyous realization that even my fat pants are snug. So salad it is. This is a little bothersome because the toddler boy needs "real" food. So far it's worked out fine but I know long-term this will become and issue. Stay tuned. For now though, I thought I'd share my approach to the boring SALAD.

First and foremost is prep. During the summer I frequented the farmer's market and whatever was in-season and looked good was what I got. Normally though, I buy whatever lettuce is on sale or a mix of different greens that strike my fancy. I'm not above the bag of salad either.

Tip: Though the following idea may sound obvious, I thought it was pure genius (thanks AJ for sharing) . . . wash the lettuce, dry it, store it, and serve it in a giant salad spinner. It works great to have everything ready to go and keeps me from derailing due to well, let's call a spade a spade here, complete laziness. Personally, I also store the veggies in the salad spinner that I will want in each type of salad. For instance, something like cucumber I may use in every salad, whereas carrot I would not so I'd leave the carrots in their bag, not the spinner.

Next you have all your toppings and quite frankly this makes or breaks a salad in my opinion. I like to have all the toppings on hand for any type of salad I could possibly decide to want for dinner. This also helps keep me on the straight and narrow because if I was in the mood for miso I would potentially bail on the salad if I didn't have what was needed for a miso salad. I try to fool-proof everything so the salad is actually the fastest and simplest thing to eat for dinner, besides a bowl of cereal of course.

Here is where I contradict myself and say next is NOT the toppings but figuring out which salads you like best and may want to make. Below is my list of favorites, check them out and they may be your new favorite too!

Bobby Flay's Sophie's Chopped (served at Mesa Grille)

CPK's Field Greens

Molly Woo's Miso Salad (aka House Salad)

Panera's Fuji Apple (sans chicken)

CPK's BBQ Chopped (sans chicken)

The others are my recipes which I will describe briefly below each.

Taco Salad

This is a modern version of my moms 1980s taco salad with Catalina dressing and Taco Sauce. I add black beans, veggies, and non-iceberg lettuce in this. It is requested each time I visit family & friends in Texas.

Cheddar Apple

I love cheddar and apple together and often eat that as a sandwich on a baguette or ciabatta bun with some honey mustard. Take it off the bread and put it into a salad - WaLa!

Wedge Salad

I think you probably know this one; it's not really my recipe. Of course I use fake bacon in mine. I always have tomatoes as well and sometimes diced cucumber for extra veggies. This is my only iceberg lettuce salad; sometimes I just really want the crisp, watery iceberg.

Santa Fe Lime

I just made up that name though the salad is real. This is based around a couple things - jicama, black beans, and Lime Vinaigrette (one of my current loves). I have no clue what makes it Santa Fe in my mind considering I've not had anything like this when visiting Santa Fe. Maybe it's actually more San Diego? Who knows. I don't particularly care; it's good and I like it.

This many salad recipes may sound like you'll need to keep a lot of ingredients on hand, but that's not really true. I could make all but the wedge salad right now and that's due to the iceberg lettuce. Most of these salads have similar ingredients. Once you have determined your favorite salads look at the ingredients and make your grocery list from that. It is important to me to have just the right dressing; I have two shelves on the door of my fridge full of dressings. Again this is to keep from being derailed by my salads being too far off the mark from the original, not satisfying and hence leading to desserts (yes, plural).

Once you've bought your toppings - from veggies to beans and from croutons to fancy imported cheeses - organize and store them in a way that works for you. I keep all my salad fixings in one drawer in the fridge and on one shelf in the pantry so I can see it all. Then I grab and go for whatever I have in mind. Remember, these are your favorite salads so you won't need a recipe. Likely you've eaten these a million times so you know exactly what to grab!

Tip: Looking to add crunch without the wasteful calories of a crouton (I'm not really anti-crouton but WW's point system is.)? Try roasted garbanzo beans. They're easy to make, packed with protein and add the needed crunch to a salad. Use 1 TBS of olive oil per can of beans. Drain and rinse the canned beans and place in bowl - add the oil and your whatever seasonings you like. Don't be shy with the seasoning! The beans need flavor so add about 2 teaspoons of dried seasoning per can plus salt to taste. If you like them plain just add salt, pepper and the olive oil and bake. You'll want to watch these the first time you make them. My first batch was undercooked and my second nearly overcooked. Bake at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes. They crunch up slightly more once cooled too. I set the timer for 10 minutes and shake the pan each time it goes off to stir them a bit. Enjoy!

Though autumn has arrived with all it's comfort foods, I will be eating as if it's spring and summer until those skinny pants are fitting again. I need to locate my weight watcher's book with all the points. I'm seriously not buying a new wardrobe. It's becoming my MO to end with a question, so . . . . what's YOUR favorite restaurant salad (or salad of your own creation)?

Considerations

As fall approaches it's naturally a time of change. I used to pass a reservoir on my way to work each day, and I always noticed the seasonal turnover of the lake each fall. The mix of water color across the lake was mesmerizing to me. And not surprisingly, the beautiful scene gave me a sense of melancholy. Where changes in the spring, be it lake turnover, budding trees, or melting snow, fill me with exuberance, I get melancholy this time of year. I love fall and I can handle change. I guess I'm a summer girl though and it's harder to transition into fall regardless of how much I love it once I do. This year I can feel the itch for change and I can see that in others too.

I'm considering a number of changes, from how I interact with people to the table we eat dinner at, and my head is swirling with the possibilities. I may spend my evening at the library tonight just trying to think through it all, and only because the zoo is closed. During our visit today I could have sat in the aquarium for hours. I made a mental note to return there with a notebook some rainy afternoon.

Do you feel an autumnal desire to make a change or changes in your life? I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours - comment below! Okay, okay I'll give you a sample, but it's a utilitarian change, nothing exciting. I'm hoping to change how I approach my computer time with a 'Kick the E-mail Habit 30-day Challenge.'

"When you're finished changing, you're finished." - Benjamin Franklin

Here and There

As I admitted in my last post, I've been, well, busy. Perhaps I should find a synonym that annoys me less. In any case, I also mentioned I'd carved out time for a few things including weekend trips. Below are the highlights - enjoy!

On or around July 4th we began to stew in unending heat and humidity. This has continued with cool offs only a few days here and there up through this week. Today it's 90 and we're in the midwest so that's neither normal or abnormal but still hot (for us). I remember feeling like I was melting when we went to the parade and watched Mr. Franklin read the Declaration of Independence.

Our mid-summer vacation was to the lake, as in the one D spent summers at growing up. It's about 40 minutes north of my parents' home so we bookended the trip visiting them. The lake is small, about a mile wide and probably triple that in length. It has a turn of the century (the last century) amusement park on it which sadly is in need of much repair. At the other end of the lake from the park is an extremely small town, and surrounding it all is rural Pennsylvania. It's quiet. It's beautiful. And we wish we could spend more time there, but alas. Last year J was afraid of the water. He has a lot more fun this year but was still wary of the blue gills that would swim right up and bump your toes or legs.

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary in August. As usual we discussed the options of going away versus doing absolutely nothing. And as usual we ended up somewhere in-between. We visited a conservation center, that works with zoos all over the world, and took a safari tour. It was cool but we both think it would have been better if we'd done a sunset tour as it would have been cooler, and more animals would have been active. Now we know what to do next time!

We traveled over this past weekend, Labor Day, to visit my parents and the fair we grew up attending each year. This is a small fair but it still has vendors offering elephant ears, not just funnel cakes, so clearly it's awesome. I like a small fair. I don't need six vendors selling me burritos when one or two is fine. I don't even need a butter sculpture.

This was J's first fair. We went through the animal barns first - horse, cows, pigs, goats, sheep and then the beloved chickens. Not surprisingly this was J's favorite barn. We had to go through it twice. My father met us there after we were done with the barns and the chickens were the only ones J wanted to show him. Of course I too love the chickens and so much so that I didn't actually get any photos of J's excitement as he ran through the aisles. I was too busy getting close-ups of the birds and working through my own excitement. My bad.

After the animals we hit the center field of tractors - so many tractors. J was equally happy here. Then we moved on to lunch, games, and of course dessert (the elephant ear!!!!). It was cold and rainy but overall still a good time and a nostalgic way to welcome fall.

Put up or Shut up

I've been so busy. I hate when people say that. But I know sometimes it's actually true, and when it is I don't mind hearing it. I've actually been so busy myself for the past few weeks. I've been working on freelance work in all my spare time and that's why there have been no blogs. I did manage to carve out time to celebrate my birthday, take a couple weekend trips out-of-town, and put up a bunch of goodies.

Our CSA came to an end last week; that's a little on the early side but we knew that going in. Between that, the farmer's market, our garden, and a trip to the berry farm, I've been able to freeze and can quite a bit of things. I froze two types of jam, blue berries, pesto, and corn. I hope to get at least one more batch of pesto frozen this weekend. I love pesto and I'll know next year to plan 7 or 8 basil plants since the 5 I have has not yielded as much as I would have liked. I've also discovered that though I love basil, I absolutely adore rosemary and it's likely my favorite herb.

There should be a name for this time of year, between summer and fall. The days are noticeably shorter and range wildly in temperature - today is 90 here but yesterday was 80 and tomorrow is forecasted to be in the 70s. That's crazy but also so normal for this time of year that clearly needs a name. It's also when gardeners are inundated with tomatoes and zucchini. We only grew tomatoes this year. We have 8 heirloom plants and they are massive, however they're not yielding a crazy amount of fruit. I've gotten enough to freeze some pints of salsa as well as a handful of containers of oven roasted tomatoes, however I've had to supplement from the farmer's market. I also got 12 pints of tomatoes canned. I hope the remaining tomatoes ripen in time for this weekend so I can move on to quarts and do a last batch.

This is my first year of canning and that is the source for my blog title - Put up or Shut Up. I've been talking about wanting to can for at least two seasons now. I spent most of the summer filling our freezer, hesitant to actually get the canning supplies out and try my hand at it. Well, it's easy! I'm so excited to have successfully canned peach butter, tomatoes and jelly (okay the latter wasn't a success but that was an issue with overly juicy peppers not their processing) that I'm looking forward to apple butter, applesauce, and even soups this fall! Now I need a place to store all these goodies in the basement. Of course I'm set on something vintage, so I've been scouring Craigslist.

Admittedly I could have also called the post Put up AND Shut Up considering ever since the arrival of a large box of canning jars and accessories from my mom arrived, D has been bugging me about using them. He didn't think I actually would and that they'd just take up space. Ah, but now they are taking up space and filled with garden fresh fruits and veggies for winter. Someone will have to shush now.