WIAW 153 – Quick and Easy

We had some gorgeous days this week! Temperatures in the 60s (when there’d been snow on the ground the week before!) Beautiful clear days, sunny sky, crisp rather than cold breeze…

I went to the nearest Greenmarket. The big one at Union Square is in walking distance from my house, or at least, I’m used to thinking of it that way, but I haven’t been feeling that great this winter. Suddenly a roughly two mile round trip, carrying produce on the way home, seems… long. Mile and a half feels much more doable. (I’m working on getting my mileage back up… I want to get there again in the next few weeks.)  That one is also in a park, so after I got my parsnips, rutabagas, and cabbage I sat in the sun to read – and bask… Imagine sitting out to read on a park bench in February!

On the other hand, I paid for the warmth when the cold front came in… Oh, well. (And that’s been the main reason I’m not feeling energetic – it’s been a roller coaster of a winter.)

So meals weren’t very interesting… Quick and easy, yeah, that’s the ticket…

Well, first, breakfast. And muffins aren’t quite as quick and easy as the grits I’ve been eating – but they’re not hard, either, using my corn muffin mix,  and right now I have the most energy in the morning. (Which if you had known me long and in person, you would know wast the strangest thing I’ve ever said – I am so not a morning person!) So they’re a nice combination with cheesy eggs.

Oh – and a question for you all, if you would be so kind? When I wrote up that recipe I used weights to measure the flour, since both I had started using weight for my regular baking some time earlier, and all the gluten free bakers were saying you should use weight, not volume to sub one flour for another. And, honestly, since I’m used to weighing flour, I find it much easier…  But I was recently in a conversation with a number of people who said they would just skip over any recipe that required weight. Huh.

I assume that most of my gluten free baked goods will appeal more to the serious baker, thinking that the casual one may just want one of the AP blends on the market (even though they then struggle with them all behaving a little differently,..) so I’m fine with keeping weight measurements for most of them. The muffins, though… I want them to appeal to anyone, including the one who misses the little blue box (which I did, to be honest, which is the reason I made the mix in the first place…) Would you like me to update that recipe with volume measurements, to make it easier for more people to use?

And is there anything else on Inhabited Kitchen you would really like to see revised or updated? For that reason or any other?  (I’m thinking the Roux Cubes, particularly…)

Anyhow…

I’m using the very last of the vegetables I still have from the CSA! I’d microwaved the last winter squash the day before, so for lunch, mixed some of that in with chickpeas, shredded pork, and rice. That was good enough that I’m working it up (it needs more seasoning) for a future post…  I’m sure you’ll see it before long.

And for dinner, I simmered some chicken, more chickpeas, and the last of the spinach I pureed and froze in November. Mostly, I’ve been using commercial frozen vegetables, along the the root vegetables (and some cabbage) from Greenmarket – but we’ve enjoyed having the occasional memory of the arms full of vegetables we got all fall…  All I have left now, though, are a few herbs – mostly parsley and mint. It has been a warm winter, though – maybe we’ll see overwintered greens in March?

And I am starting to crave something brighter and fresher. I had a few big carrots I got last week, and made Carrot Ginger Salad. Oh, my, that was just what I needed… fresh and bright, with a little bite from the ginger! OK, I’m in winter salad season, now! (What can I do with those parsnips…)

So come on over to Laura’s for Jen’s WIAW party – you know you want to!