Month: July 2019

Recipe: Big, Decadent Omelet (or Scramble)

Ingredients: 

-2 eggs 
-Enough sliced mushrooms to fill the bottom of a small frying pan 
-3 handfuls of fresh spinach 
-A handful of black olives 
-A handful of cherry tomatoes (or equivalent amount of a bigger tomato) 
-A few slices of avocado 
-salt & pepper 

Directions: 

Place a small non-stick frying pan on the stove and turn the heat on medium. Pour a tablespoon or two of water in the pan. Line the bottom of the pan with mushrooms. (Keep an eye on them and add extra liquid if it boils off.) While the mushrooms are cooking, choose a bowl or container that will fit the eggs and spinach. Break the eggs into the bowl. Beat the eggs until they are frothy. Tear up the spinach and add it to the bowl. Stir the spinach into the eggs. When the mushrooms have finished cooking on one side, flip them over. Pour the egg and spinach mixture over the top of them. If your pan has a lid, cover the pan. If you don’t have a lid, turn the heat down a little. While the eggs are cooking, chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Slice the olives. Cut a few slices of avocado. When the eggs have solidified and turned a paler yellow, flip the omelet. It shouldn’t take long to finish cooking on the second side. When the omelet is done cooking, place it on a plate. Arrange your avocado slices on top. Sprinkle the tomatoes and black olives over everything. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes a big, decadent omelet. A good way to start the weekend! [Note: This can easily be turned into a scramble, either on purpose or by accident, if you stir the eggs around with a spatula before they’ve set. It tastes great either way!]  

She Used to Play the French Horn

She used to play the French horn 
Sometimes, at our request, she would open the case 
ceremoniously 
slowly unsnapping the clasps 
opening the case like a huge, black oyster  
revealing a velvet interior 
once blue, it had faded to a dusty lilac 
She would gently lift the shining curlicue from its nest 
play a few scales 
her fingers hammering the valves in patterns I didn’t understand 
a shard of some robust orchestral number 
from memory 
She taught us how to blow into the mouthpiece  
to produce a quacking duck noise 
tinged with the pungent, metallic taste of brass 
Not long after, she sold Monsieur Chanson Bleu  
Sometimes I wonder where he is now 
Is he languishing in the window of some music school storefront? 
Is he singing someone else’s blue songs?  
Has he been melted down into a doorknob 
the music still inside him 
emanating a silent soundtrack 
welcoming someone home? 

Recipe: Pasta Salad

Ingredients: 

-1 16-ounce package of pasta (I like to use whole grain rotini) 
-A half to a whole avocado, depending on the size of the avocado 
-About a cup of tomatoes (I usually use cherry tomatoes) 
– A 3.8-ounce can of sliced or chopped black olives 
-Garlic, minced, as much as you can stand 
-About 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning (or any mix of Italian herbs, like thyme and oregano) 
-Salt 

Directions: 

Cook pasta according to the directions on the package. Meanwhile, pick a bowl that will fit all of the ingredients. Place the tomatoes in the bowl and cut into bite-sized pieces. (Cutting them in the bowl retains the juice.) Add the avocado and mash it. Stir it all together. This makes the sauce for the pasta. When the pasta is cooked, strain it. Then dump the pasta into the bowl and stir until all of the pasta is covered. Add the olives, garlic, and Italian seasoning, tasting as you go. Salt to taste. (It’s good heavily salted.) Makes a decadent meal. [Warning: This recipe makes a huge batch.]

Katydids

The wall of sound 
undulating 
almost sounds mechanical 
one group syncopated with another 
might as well be its echo 
the laborious breathing of heavy machinery 
katydids almost like a train themselves 
the shuddering of a steam engine 
climbing 
metal against metal 
a series of levers  
painstakingly revolving wheels 
the katydids have propelled themselves 
through the forest 
over the Smokies 
across state lines 

Recipe: Dessert Salad

Ingredients: 

-A fresh, juicy peach or nectarine (If the fruit is mealy or dry, don’t even make this recipe. The juice from the fruit makes the dressing for the salad.) 
-About a tablespoon of peanut butter (I’d recommend the ‘natural’ stuff that’s just peanuts and salt.) 
-A 12-ounce (or so) bag of your favorite salad greens (spinach, Romaine, spring mix, iceberg, whatever) 
 

Directions: 

Choose a bowl that will fit the whole salad. Place the peach or nectarine inside the bowl. Chop it into small chunks. (Cutting in the bowl retains the juice.) Dip a spoon into a jar of peanut butter, fill it with peanut butter, and thwack the peanut butter into the bowl. Stir until the fruit and peanut butter are well blended. Dump your bag of salad greens into the bowl. Stir everything until all of the greens are coated. Take advantage of summer’s bounty while you can! With a really succulent peach, this is sweet enough to serve as a dessert. 

Recipe: Waldorf Salad

Ingredients: 

-6 apples (a crisp variety like Jazz, Fuji, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp) 
-6 ribs of celery (or more, if they seem short) 
-About 6 handfuls of walnuts (the kind of handful that looks like you’re making a fist, not the kind where you’re imitating bear claws)
-1 single-serving container of plain Greek yogurt (or fake, vegan yogurt alternative)  
-About 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Directions:  

Chop the apples, celery, and walnuts, and pile it all in a big bowl. Add yogurt and lemon juice. Stir until everything is coated in yogurt. Voila! A refreshing salad for any season. My go-to potluck dish. 
[You can see that this recipe is easy to divide. Try it with one of each ingredient instead of six to taste test it.]