Slow Foods

The past couple of days I have been indulging myself with slow foods. We're talking home-grown veggies and fresh-from-the-oven bread that I made with these two hands. A little fire, and voila, there is real food to nourish this old body.

Yestermorning, I got up around 7 AM. I made my bed, checked my email, then headed downstairs for coffee. My counter was overflowing with fresh veggies that I brought home from a friend's garden. There were tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, peppers, sweetcorn, basil, cukes, and beets. Yum!

I got busy and started to put things away. The potatoes are hiding in a open basket in a dark, cool cupboard. The garlic is hanging in the garage to dry. My pot for simmering ears of corn was filled with water and put on hi flame. I was going to have sweetcorn for breakfast. We eat cornFlakes, cornPops, and cornChex. Cornbread and cornmeal pancakes are a favorite. Cornmeal mush is the 'other oatmeal'. These days all I can think about is sweetcorn!

The basil got my attention every time I bumped the bag it was in, so pesto was next. I hauled out the food processor, the olive oil, cheese, roasted walnuts, and seasonings. Pesto is such a lovely concoction. So versatile. So delicious.

And then, the hummus. Without cleaning the bowl or blade of the processor, I continued to make the hummus. And it rocks. Today for a late breakfast, I sliced a small yellow cuke and used it to dip hummus. I put several small cups of both the pesto and the hummus in the freezer for later use.

For lunch, after the lawn was mowed, I made a salad using a handful of spring greens mix from our local, food co-op, Wheatsfield. I sliced an avocado, chopped a green-stripe, and orange tomato, sliced a red pepper, and some cuke. I had an extra piece of corn in the fridge, so I cut corn off the cob and added it to the salad. I set the salad bowl aside to let the tomatoes lose some juice for the dressing.

Earlier, I had decided I would roast some root vegetables to put on the salad. I added sweet potato, along with all the beets from the bag. I crushed a clove of garlic and sliced some new onions from my garden. Add a drizzle of olive oil, some splashes of balsamic vinegar, S&P, and a hot oven for 35-45 minutes. Boy, were they good on my salad. Absolutely devine!