Dinner for Two: our week in food

Saturday: Leftovers from my nephew's first birthday party, including my lemony pasta salad and my sister-in-law's amazing baked beans.

Sunday: Zucchini "pasta" with walnut and sage "sausage." Genius! Although Dustin wasn't fooled and refused to admit it tasted of meat. Recipe coming soon.

Monday: Veggie burger at Bubba Gump. Not a fan, but am perpetually forced to eat there due to my brother's employment at this establishment. Also celebrated my nephew's birthday (yes, again, yay!) with our family's traditional lamb cake.

Tuesday: Awesome pizza at Kona Brewing Co. Yes, again. Having guests in town is a pretty good excuse.

Wednesday: Chips, Nutter Butters, and French Fries at girl's night while watching (part of) Bad Teacher. Not a film I'll recommend but stress-eating junk food after a hard week is a practice I will recommend.

Thursday: Asparagus and avocado pasta a la Martha Stewart. Dustin loved this one. Next time I'll add some lemon juice.

Friday: Black bean tacos with avocado. It is the start of avocado season y'all! My favorite food.

Highlight of the week: making a fort at the beach with my nephew.

Went crazy at the farmer's market today, can't wait to share what I've been cooking up. Have a great weekend everyone!

Backpacking Bliss

Here's a fact: I love camping. Backpacking to be exact. Last week I escaped with my friend Rachael into a not-so-well-known valley for a little adventuring.

To get there, you gotta repel down a steep grade on ropes tied to the trees.

And in a place where you'd least expect it, a house. It reminds me of The Animal Family. Did you read that story? I half expected to find the hunter and his mermaid living there.

I won't tell you how long it took us to start a fire. But hey, it was windy, and we eventually got it going.

We found lots of treasures.

And of course I packed healthy meals. It was part of the detox. Remember that?

Ahhh. Sweet escape.

Dinner for Two: our week in food

This week I am in deep cooking mode trying to figure out my Signature Dish for my MasterChef application. One of my goals before I turn 30 is to try-out for a reality TV show. Therefore, October is Signature Dish month, can't wait to share what I've been creating!

Saturday: Roasted eggplant tacos with asparagus and avocado salsa. Signature Dish possibility.

Sunday: Fresh tombo ahi (albacore tuna) steaks with stir-fried buckwheat noodles, broccoli and chard.

Monday: Duck at the new Sam Choy's in Keauhou. Meh, we were expecting better. But, this was still a really fun night (my make-up date).

Tuesday: Seared albacore with roasted eggplant and arugula salad, balsamic sauce, and tapenade. Signature Dish possibility.

Wednesday: Roasted broccoli pasta dressed in olive oil, garlic, and olives. Signature Dish possibility.

Thursday: Store-bought cheese tortellini with asparagus and tomatoes.

Friday: Wild Mushroom and Puna Pie pizzas at Kona Brewing Co. with my folks. They are visiting from Washington!

Blog Action Day: Let's Talk About Food

At the beginning of this year, January 1st in fact, I went meatless. This was not due to wanting to save animal lives, or lose weight (in fact I think all the cheese has added to the old waistline). Really, I wanted to do more to preserve the environment. Composting just wasn't cutting it for me anymore.

The truth is, I'm an Oregon girl at heart. And Oregon people are full-on tree hugging, trail hiking, scat identifying, one with the Earth types. Full-on. And so it just became too difficult to justify my frozen chicken breast consuming ways.

Not only that, but after reading Julia Child's My Life in France and all of her wonderful descriptions of chickeny-chickens I realized that I'd never in my life had fresh chicken, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon due to what's available in my local grocery stores. Julia's fervent appreciation of food got me to pay more attention to what I was stuffing in my own mouth. And the reality is, flash-frozen chicken breast tastes like crap. So does the vast majority of grocery store meat. I don't like to eat food that tastes like crap. So I don't.

That is not to say I will not eat meat ever or that I'm above cheating. You can call me a meat cheat if you want as my will-power is sometimes too weak to resist a SPAM musubi. If I can get my hands on some locally caught fish, the best is from the guy who sells it on the road-side, I'm totally game.

See what I'm getting at here? I'm just trying to do my part for the environment.

Not convinced or not ready to give up meat? There are so many other ways you can do your part:

-Write your own post about food.
-Get inspired. Get informed.
-Boycott high fructose corn syrup.
-Plant something. Anything.
-Compost your food scraps.
-Feed a kid in need. 
-Buy and eat local.
-Try not to waste food.


This rant is done! Thanks for reading.

This Broccoli Soup will Change Your Life

Want a creamy soup without the cream? You can have your soup and eat it, too because I have a life-changing tip for you.

Replacing the cream with a potato makes the soup creamy without the fat. Boom.


Does it taste the same? Hell no. Cream does not equal potato. But, it does taste great and you won't miss the cream.

Broccoli Soup
Serves 4

2 TBL butter
2 TBL olive oil
1 1/2 lbs broccoli
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped or a handful of baby carrots
salt & pepper
3 TBL flour
4 cups water, or vegetable stock
1 vegetable bouillon cube (omit if using stock)
1 potato, chopped

Melt butter and olive oil over medium high heat in a soup pot. Add onions and saute for a couple minutes, then ad broccoli and carrot and lots of salt & pepper. Saute for another few minutes, until onion is translucent. Add the flour and cook about 1 minute or until flour begin to brown very lightly.

Add water, cube, and potato and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until broccoli and potato are soft.

Pour, in batches, into a blender to get a creamy, delicious soup. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Big Island, Hawaii

Cool Your Jets with Hot Tea

I'm dating someone. He's handsome and manly and we've been married almost five years.

We've been in a bit of a relationship rut, you know the kind: I make dinner, we eat it, we watch some TV, lights out. Inspired by the Joy the Baker podcast on this very topic, I decided it would be a great idea for us to go on a proper date. Arrangements were made and I was stoked.

And then he stood me up. For real. Like totally forgot about our date until it was too late to go out and I finally broke my secret mad silence. He of course promised to make it up to me, blah, blah, blah.

So I waited until 4pm today, by the phone, hoping and wishing that he would ask me on a date. Which he finally did. After which I made myself some damn lavender tea to relax after being thrown back into dating anxiety land.

Moral of this story #1: dating is rough, I forgot how hard it is and I appreciate all you single ladies who are still fighting the good fight. I mean that.

Moral of this story #2: if you are in dating land some herbal tea will really help you cool your jets. Seriously. Lavender is a known stress reducer.

Add a few fresh sprigs or a tablespoon of dried lavender to a tea pot or French press and allow to steep in hot water for a couple minutes. I also added lemon verbena to my tea, but do what you want. If you can get ahold of fresh herbs, this is definitely the way to go. There is a distinct sweetness and specialness to fresh herbal tea.

Chill out! Drink some tea. Have a date with yourself because you matter.