New York Times No-knead Bread

I love this No-Knead Bread Recipe from the New York Times.  The no-knead factor makes it super easy to make homemade bread. The only thing you need is a dutch oven, bread flour, yeast, and salt.

Yesterday, I mixed up two batches and this morning, I baked them together. This was the first time I'd done two batches but it was PERFECT because it made them a better round shape (versus the flat loaf we've gotten before with only one lonely batch in the big ol' dutch oven).

Instead of 3 cups of bread flour I used half bread flour, half whole wheat flour, and to keep the loaves from sticking to the counter or to the towel, I used flax mill in addition to the flour which added a nice texture to the crust.

Quick and Easy Fish Tacos w/Red-Cabbage Slaw

We eat fish tacos regularly because they're quick and easy to prepare. Since we got some cilantro in last week's basket, and we still had a whole head of red cabbage (from the PREVIOUS Urban Acres basket) we made a cabbage slaw to top the fish tacos.  While I cooked the fish, Travis prepped the slaw.

Fish:
Two filets of tilapia cooked in olive oil, white wine, lemon juice, sprinkled with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne.

Slaw:
1/3 head red cabbage
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
Chives (from our window garden)
1 jalapeno
1 T mayo
1 T lime juice
1/4 t cumin powder

We served it over corn tortillas. There was leftover slaw which made for a great brown bag lunch addition the next day.

Spinach, Strawberry, Avocado Salad

I tossed some spinach (from the Urban Acres basket we received last week) with some fresh strawberries, cucumbers, avocado, blue cheese, and olive oil/balsamic dressing.  I topped it off with homemade croutons. Yum!

Fresh salad greens with candied walnuts

We spent Easter vacation in New Orleans, which was delightful, but it meant a lot of eating and drinking. We got home late Sunday, so I used today, the Monday after Easter, to catch up on some domesticity and to prepare for a week of healthier eating.

Both my arugula plant and my spinach began to bolt, so I chopped them off and prepped the greens for a week's worth of salads. Knowing this salad-making was somewhere on the horizon, I baked up some candied walnuts the last week.  SO EASY!

In addition to exploding lettuce plants, we returned home to find a half loaf of stale bread. Any time our bread gets a little stale, I chop it into cubes, drizzle some olive oil, and toast it into croutons. Again, SO EASY!

Thus, the salad pictured below contains fresh arugula, fresh spinach, homemade croutons, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, blue cheese, red onions, and some other fresh goodies (celery, cucumber). A simple olive-oil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing finished it off. It was a perfect combination. Even Travis really enjoyed it!

New batch of goodies!

Today's goodies include the following:
7 Carrots
4 Bananas
2 Turnips
3 Japanese Sweet Potatoes
2 pints of strawberries
4 oranges
4 apples
3 bunches of spinach
Kale
Bok Choy
Monster Lettuce
Let it be known that Japanese sweet potatoes are white instead of orange.
Also, I've never cooked turnips, bok choy,or kale. Challenge accepted.
The goodies from last time have not been completly consumed, and with it being vacation week, we won't make as big of a dent this week either. This presents a super challange for me today as I brainstorm ways of prepping and preserving. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Beets: Round two

We tackled the root and greens on Wednesday. Travis roasted the beats in the oven for an hour (with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary). While that cooked, I chopped the greens and sauteed them with chopped salami and garlic, of course. I served it with rigatoni al diente. Besides the fact that it was beets with a side of beets, it was a pretty good meal.

Edible garden

I want to share one last little bit of Saturday kitchen business. 
It's a beautiful Saturday so I took a short walk to Repotted and snagged some basil plants and salad greens for my backyard mini-garden.