It's been so long...so I apologize for the long post!

Apparently blogspot thought I was never coming back also, because they shut me out this afternoon...but I'm back!  It has been a long time since the last time I posted...so I apologize to my two fans out there (you guessed it, one of them is my mother).  

When I last posted I was heading to Germany and a little nervous about the frankfurter/hamburger situation in Frankfurt and Hamburg.  Well, since the frankfurters looked like this...

...clearly, nothing to worry about.  And in case you can't tell, that is a glass case with cooked frankfurters already on buns with weird cheese hardened on top.  Yum?  

And, the working lunch looked like this...

You might think to yourself, that picture is too small for me to really tell what it is, but I promise you, it is unidentifiable no matter how large the picture.

And, on top of that, the only pretzels to be had were in a photo at the train station...

But, all in all, Germany had much better food than I expected, at least when we weren't relying on corporate catering.  A lot of fish, and even a little bit of sushi!  Thankfully our co-workers hung out with us the entire time, so we weren't left to our own devices for translating.

Since then, the lifestyle has gone through its ups and downs.  I modified the rules a little bit.  The first modification was that seafood doesn't count when I'm traveling.  It's very hard to figure out what's sustainable and nearly impossible to not eat seafood and meat!  I'm also playing with modifying the sustainable fish situation to only when I cook, but not when I go out to eat.  That might be cheating though, so I have to mull that one over a bit.  I am also at the heaviest I've been in about 10 years.  I'm thinking this is owed more to the fact that I hit 30 than the fact that I am eating more cheese and bread than before, but we'll see if I can kick the 5 extra pounds...diet, here I come!

Now onto the good food!  July 4th weekend we were hanging with the best chef in the world (along with some other great family, friends and babies) and he made us a ridiculous feast, but the one thing I want to share with you is the eggplant!  It was sort of like a ratatouille, but way better.  I only have a picture, because when I asked Jason for the recipe his response was "I don't have a recipe" and after badgering Christina to push him to write what he did down, I still have nothing!  Maybe he'll read this and post a comment (hint, hint)...

From my stalking him while he was cooking, I can tell you it had garlic scapes, eggplant and raisins, and that's all I can remember, besides the deliciousness.

I recently made a cod dish that was really simple and delicious!  The recipe is from the epicurious app, which is one of my favorites.  It was inspired by the veggies from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm.  We had fresh basil and swiss chard. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 pound plum tomatoes, cored, diced

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

5 anchovy fillets, minced

3 large garlic cloves (2 minced, 1 halved)

4 7- to 8-ounce cod fillets or other white fish fillets (such as halibut; about 1 inch thick)

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 1/2-inch-thick slices country white bread

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 475°F. Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Add minced garlic and stir to blend. Season tomato mixture to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange fish on rimmed baking sheet. Brush both sides with 2 tablespoons oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until just opaque in center, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomato mixture. Cook until tomatoes soften and sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

Toast bread; rub 1 side with cut side of halved garlic. Top with tomato sauce, basil leaves, fish, and more sauce.

The swiss chard and potato side dish came from my new vegetarian cookbook - 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.  My CSA partner, Jodie, always makes lasagna with the swiss chard, which I've had and is really yummy, but I couldn't handle more carbs and cheese, so I looked it up and found this new recipe:

Yellow potatoes with swiss chard, rosemary & garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

2 cups, peeled, cubed yellow potatoes (I clearly didn't peel them)

6 cloves garlic

2 tsp dried rosemary

2 cups chopped swiss chard

salt & pepper

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the potatoes and garlic, cook stirring until browned about 9 min.  Add the rosemary.

Add the swiss chard, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring until the chard it tender, about 2 min.

And I also made fresh tomato, mozzarella pizza - with some serious fresh basil - and a side of spinach and peas.  It was really yummy, but again, carbs and cheese. :-(

Until next time...which hopefully won't be as long as last time, but really, no promises!