snaps on saturday (and a couple other things)

The dark leafy greens in my garden are growing like mad!


The first of the harvesting. Kale, chards, and mustard.




My favorite quick meal with greens. Super simple, super easy.

I pop some of frozen "meatless" meatballs (yay, Trader Joe's) into the toaster oven. While those are warming, I thinly slice as much garlic as I can stand to peel (I think this was about 5 cloves...but sliced garlic is milder than chopped, kids) and I saute it in a tablespoon or so of olive oil. While that's going, I do a rough chop on the washed and slightly damp greens, then I add them to the pan with a little salt and black pepper. Sometimes I'll toss in some red chili flakes. After the leaves wilt for a minute or two, I pour in maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup of veggie stock, depending on how many greens I am cooking up (no, I don't make my own stock--I'm a slacker, I reconstitute a teaspoon of this stuff in a cup of water). I only pour in enough stock to help the leaves steam. I'm not boiling them. The greens and the meatless balls get done about the same time, and then I combine them and allow the balls to soak up some of the liquid (which is good, because they are way too dry, imho). I add more liquid if necessary.

And there you have it.

This is my first meal from my first garden, and I am pretty darned excited about it. This morning MyFavoriteKid and I are picking some salad greens and cherries for him to bring to my folks.
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A couple of other little things.....

**I have been knitting more frequently, and it's feeling great! I have made some progress on some socks and on the little summer cardigan I had to rip back and reknit for a better fit, but I have also just completed a little test knit for a designer (more on that once she is ready to publish the pattern).

**I think I have also finally got myself back in gear with the comments on the blog here. I had sadly fallen into the mode of failing to reply to them. A few weeks ago, I finally got myself back into the habit of "my replying to your comments back in the comments". Hopefully I will stay current, although I expect time delays in summer. Over the summer there will be some pre-posting and then catching up and I go on and off the grid, I have a hunch.

**As of today, I am trying to think of myself as being in "training mode". In six weeks I will be going on tour with DandelionDancetheater for a run in Los Angeles. If I try to do this two week run of shows in the physical state I am presently in, I will probably hurt myself. I'm seriously out of shape, and carrying extra weight isn't helping any (you try gracefully launching yourself off the floor using only one leg AND having a sack of potatoes tied to your ass). Today I start doing a bit more yoga, doing a bit more strengthening of the core, and eating like someone who'd like to lose a couple of pounds (and be less ramped on sugar).


Have a great weekend, guys! I'm out today with TheMostImportant guy doing something nice with him for his birthday, which is tomorrow (but we're celebrating early because tomorrow I am doing something nice with MyFavorite kid).