'Fessin' Up

We don't always eat politically correct, organic, CSA food. Tonight the boys had Mac and Cheese from Boston Market which has to be one of the vilest concoctions. Flabby noodles are soaked in runny bright orange sauce that pretends to be cheese -- it makes Velveeta look good. But, I let them eat it every Monday night on the way to music lessons because their mother used to manage a Boston Market and would bring it home for dinner from time to time. So, for the sake of a cozy memory, I surrender to Boston Market's mac and cheese once a week.

I don't have recipes for the veggies I have prepared. I took a batch of greens (may have been mustard), chopped them in bite-size chunks, lightly tossed them in EVOO that had garlic and rosemary soaking in it and stirred them around the frying pan until they were slightly wilted. Then I tossed in some pine nuts and shaved Parmesan. Yum.

The next night's stir fry was chunks of leftover pork loin, julienned raw turnips, green peppers, and onions stir fried in the same EVOO mixture. I tossed in the leftover greens from the night before and it was really good. I hate the taste of turnips in traditional stews, but I couldn't taste them at all in this mixture -- I think the secret is young turnips cut into very fine slivers so that the EVOO, garlic, and herbs can work their charm.

I always keep a cup of EVOO ready with minced garlic and some herb, basil, or rosemary or thyme chopped up into it.

We have too many sweet potatoes and will probably get plenty more, so I'm going to try making sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin pie -- we'll see if I get away with it.

Tomorrow is the official day that Logan's braces get installed. He won't miss any school because the school's are closed for election day -- they use the schools as polling places and don't want the public mingling with the kids for security and safety reasons. Like most of the nation, I'll be glad when this election is over -- I've been getting three to five robo-calls a day for the past week. 95% of them from the Republicans -- that alone would drive me to voting democrat!

Ben's ( and a hundred or so other people's) Veteran's Day Public Service Announcement should start airing on Wednesday. Let me know if you see it. It's sponsored by the Bob Woodruff Foundation and should show old vets, town square, Junior High marching band, and parade spectators, and possibly a certain 13 year-old redheaded boy sitting on the curb.