Spring Wishlist: Recipe

I finally got my Bonterra Customer Card last Friday, printed out a pocket sized 'shopper's guide to pesticides' to carry in my wallet and I'm starting to feel like a bonafide card-carrying 'foodie'.  Spring is here (not really -the first day of spring is over a week past and the temperature has barely broken past 50 degress) and I'm looking forward to trying a more in-depth effort than last year's at growing fresh herbs.  Having a beautifully colorful, abundandly and deliciously yeilding vegetable garden is another item for my wishlist, but I should be able to handle a few herbs right?  Last year we were able to use our own thyme, rosemary and mint and I barely did anything after putting them in the ground near our backdoor. 

This is a 'recipe' I get from a commenter on an article about veggie burgers in The New York Times online.  I don't know about the haloumi cheese, but the simple spreads at the end sound yummy, -definitely checking out tapenades next time I'm at the grocery store.
Brush a portobello with a mixture of crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Prick with a fork, then pan fry on both sides in a hot, lightly oiled cast iron skillet. Brown a slice of haloumi cheese beside the mushroom. Spread basil pesto on a whole grain/seeded bun. Top with the mushroom, cheese, sliced tomato (onion optional) and arugula, or alfalfa sprouts. I plan to use tapenade on the other half of the bun next time. Non-pesto people can forego the haloumi and make a nice yogurt/garlic/cucumber sauce instead, or a vegan sauce of tahini/garlic/lemon juice thinned with water.
I've already invested $2.49 in a little basil plant that I couldn't pass up at my grocery store, and it is currently the pride of my dining room table.  So fragrant...  I snipped a little onto my pasta and jarred tomato sauce last night and it made such a delicious difference!

Another group of recipe pulled from an article that sounds delicious and totally doable. (I'm loving finding recipes that are contained within one explanatory paragraph, three, four or five intuitive ingredients, able to be held in your mind from weekend grocery store trip, to dinnertime kitchen.) Another New York Times online article, written over two years ago, this time about cleaning out and keeping healthier, more econimic and spacesaving staples in your pantry.
IN Dried beans. More economical, better tasting, space saving and available in far more varieties. Cook a pound once a week and you’ll always have them around (you can freeze small amounts in their cooking liquid, or water, indefinitely). If you’re not sold, try this: soak and cook a pound of white beans. Take some and finish with fresh chopped sage, garlic and good olive oil. Purée another cup or so with a boiled potato and lots of garlic. Mix some with a bit of cooking liquid, and add a can of tomatoes; some chopped celery, carrots and onions; cooked pasta; and cheese and call it pasta fagiole or minestrone. If there are any left, mix them with a can of olive-oil-packed tuna or sardines. And that’s just white beans.

I'm also looking forward to Easter this year: Kara's getting a dollhouse instead of a basket, Easter-egg hunt for Isabella and Kara will be somewhere (Last year Steve put together a simple and awesome egg-hunt for the girls in my grandmother's backyard -so fun! I'm going to miss that backyard... so many memeories.  I think of that house as an extension of my body.), and making these super cute Easter cupcakes I saw on one of my favorite blogs. 
 Maybe an Easter brunch, too? Kara needs to eat more eggs; I've tried scrambled, omeletes and soft for dipping.  She's just not a fan. So, maybe quiche?

Now all there is to do is write up the shopping list and get in the kitchen. As if.