Veg Head Quesadilla

 

I have so many odds and ends from the vegetable garden I'm really working hard at brainstorming new ways to eat these veggies!  Right now my one tomato plant is ginormous and producing so many tomatoes that I'm having to give them away to stay on top of the produce.  I'm glad to report my bell pepper plant, which I thought for sure was a dud, is now growing almost a dozen bell peppers!  We pick one about every 3 days and new ones keep popping up!  That's a great feeling seeing all those baby bells on the plant.

My butternut squash is coming along nicely; they're currently curing my backyard.  We have eaten one watermelon and have another 5 growing on the vine.  I went ahead and planted some fall crop too: peas, carrots, beets, spinach, and rainbow chard.  So far the chard hasn't sprouted so I may need to replant this weekend.

Anyhoo, last night I had bits and pieces of veggies in my kitchen so I decided to make a Veg Head quesadilla for dinner.  I used my new Le Creuset Griddle/Grill Pan for the job!  

First, I diced up some bell pepper, tomatoes, and onions.  Then I heated up some EVOO in a skillet and sauteed the onion and bell pepper and some corn with some salt and pepper, just until the onions became tender (about 5 minutes).  Meanwhile I got the grill really hot and placed one tortilla on the pan.  I sprinkled on some cheese and then added the sauteed veggies and diced tomato on top.  After a couple of minutes the cheese had melted and I had beautiful char grill marks on the tortilla.  Serve with sour cream or avocado (or both!)  Yum! 

Vie

I celebrated my birthday this week; I can't believe I'm 35 years old.  In many ways I feel like I'm still about 31.  And there may not seem to be a big difference between 31 and 35, but trust me...there is.
So I'm 35 and Chris surprised me with a lovely dinner out at Vie, one of the few Michelin rated restaurants in Chicago.  In this case, it's outside Chicago in Western Springs.  The food was quite delicious.  Here's what we dined on:
Amuse Bouche:  chilled cucumber and mint soup
Shared Appetizer: cheese course
My Appetizer: breaded and fried green acres japanese eggplant, prairie fruits farm chevre “veloute,” marinated cucumbers, mint, fresh garlic vinaigrette, arugula
Chris' Appetizer: prairie fruits farm ricotta and spigarello gnocchi, sherry glazed peppers, wood-grilled fennel, cilantro
My entree: pan-roasted alaskan halibut, new crop potato ravioli, “béarnaise” beurre blanc, pickled carrots, radishes, green beans, white anchovies
Chris' entree: a pork combination (4 different types of pork) with slow roasted apples 
Shared Dessert: peach semifreddo, red raspberry torta, grilled peaches toasted pistachios 
 Dessert Amuse Bouche:  raspberry gelatin bites dusted in white sugar

To say the least, we left STUFFED.  What a way to start off my 35th year.  

Paris, France

 After driving through the Provence and Loire Valley regions of France, Chris and I spent the last day of our trip in Paris.  My friend, Sadia, studied in Paris last summer and recommended we stay on the north side of the city in the 'artistic' neighborhood of Canal Saint Martin in the 10th arrondisemsent.
We stayed at an AWESOME hotel, Le Citizen Hotel.  Upon arrival, each guest is given an Ipad to take to your room.  The hotel will text you to confirm restaurant reservations, when your cab arrives, etc.  The hotel was not only clean and in a prime location, it got cool points too!
We did a whirl wind tour of the city, taking time to walk along the Seine and see sights like the Tour Eiffel and Notre Dame.
During a quick rain shower, we ducked into a cafe and had some wine and a cheese tray.  :)

That night we dined at Hotel Du Nord which was a fantastic restaurant, two doors down from our hotel.  Sadia had given us the recommendation and the hotel told us it was 'the place to be seen'.  We got 8pm reservations and had a fantastic meal there.  The vibe was very artistic and the food was top notch.  What a great way to end such an awesome trip.
(and I couldn't resist doing a quick headstand in front of the tower)

Cannes, France

The most surprising thing about Cannes is that we could not find a place to see a movie while we were there.  Huh...go figure.
We arrived, quickly changed into bathing suits, and walked 2 blocks to the beach.  We lounged around, read books, and waded into the Mediterranean sea.  The people watching in the French Riviera is fascinating; so many cultures in one place!  The weather was gorgeous and we had one of the best meals of the trip at a place called L'Affable.  There was a window into the kitchen where you could watch the chefs, in their tall white hats, preparing the food.  Chris had the lamb and he said it was delicious.  I had an asparagus salad, sliced 'beef with herbs' (which is really steak), and an orange crepe for dessert.  Holy cow that was a good meal.
Here's a picture of me doing Bakasana on a pier in Cannes, France

Lake Como, Italy

After a long drive through the Alps, where I suffered quite the bout of motion sickness, we arrived at Lake Como, which I believe is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen (it ties with Santorini, Greece).  I totally understand why George Clooney lives here for half a year.  It's tucked away and very private.  The people are friendly, the views are incredible, and of course the food is fantastic.  We had dinner at a small pizzeria where we ate such treats as: marinated olives, bruschetta, proscuitto pizza, and a lemon almond tart for dessert.  Holy cow, I was in heaven.  And what made it even better was that surrounding the restaurant were tons of tomato and basil plants so when a summer shower hit while we dined on the back patio, the rain water hitting the plants make them release their perfume into the air.  It was so fragrant it felt like I was swimming in tomatoes and basil!
Lake Como - we will for sure be back to visit you again.
(Attached is a quick snapshot of our breakfast, on a patio overlooking the lake.  Coffee, juice, croissants with Nutella, yogurt, meat and cheese.)

Switzerland

We arrived safely back home from our travels abroad.  Three countries in one week is the exact definition of a whirlwind vacation but we really enjoyed ourselves.  I just love Europe and I look forward to living there someday.  (I'm hoping, at some point in my life, Chris and I can rent a villa or apartment in England or Italy for a few months.  I think it would be a cool experience and I'm sure we'll find some way to make it happen.)
The first stop on the trip was Switzerland where we walked the town Zurich looking for a cup of coffee (Zurich is a ghost town on a Sunday morning).  Finally we found a place that was open; enjoyed a cappuccino, and then hit the road to Lucerne.  There we dined on the local meal of cheese fondue.  The cheese didn't taste that awesome to me, but I enjoyed the experience none the less.  And after lunch we walked up to the Lion of Lucerne, which is a large carving out of the side of a cliff.  It was beautiful and a great way to start off the trip.

Baby Butternut Squash

I have a baby butternut squash growing in my community garden bed!  I've been wrestling with pests eating the leaves on the plant, so I worried whether I would get any fruit this year.  I'm so glad I have at least one growing!  Let's hope some more sprout up in the coming weeks.  :)

Roasted Chiogga Beets

I harvested a huge batch of beets on Monday night, for dinner with friends.  I pulled up at least a dozen of the tasty tubers.  I know it's summer when my kitchen sink has dirt and mud in it.  :)

I roasted the beets in aluminum foil, with EVOO, salt and pepper, on the grill for about 10 minutes.  (I had sliced them up, which helped them cook quickly.)  This was the first time, that I could recall, where I cooked up the greens as well!  After giving them a thorough rinsing, I destemmed the leaves with a paring knife.  Then I heated up some EVOO on the stove, added some diced onion, some minced garlic and simmered those until fragrant.  Then I added the leaves, which I had torn into smaller pieces.  It took about 3 minutes for the leaves to wilt.

I then grabbed a dish and loaded up the greens, added the roasted beets, and topped it all off with some herbed goat cheese.  The dish was a hit with my friends!

We're having a heat spell here in the Chicago area so my friends and I opted for a dinner of summer salads.
Other items we dined on that night:
-arugala, pumpkin seed, feta and watermelon salad in a balsamic dressing
-diced tomatoes with basil
-white bean and chick pea puree
-fresh baked bread and butter (I love being friends with a baker!)
-and homemade macaroons dipped in dark chocolate

and to drink we had arnold palmers with fresh made sun tea and lemonade.  YUM!

New York!

My company sent me out to NYC for business this past week.  Technically I only worked on Monday and Tuesday but Chris and I took advantage of the opportunity and flew out for the weekend prior to take in food, theater, and time with friends.

First up, the food.  Here's a list of the fun places we dined at:
1.  Shake Shack (of course!)
2.  Peanut Butter & Co in the Village.  It was a fun place to grab lunch.  I had the Nutella and PB sammy.  Chris had a double decker.  We both devoured our glass of milk (very much needed with such rich sandwiches).
3.  Lupa - we met up with my friend Julie (we're friends from L.A.) and her husband Scott for dinner here.  Chris and I dined here last summer and the food is always amazing.  We had marinated olives, salami and prosciutto for an appetizer.  I had the potato gnocci with fennel sausage for the main course (Chris had the lamb).  Then we had Prosecco and a chocolate tartufo for dessert.  SO GOOD.
4.  Stanton Social - I'm pretty sure next time we're in NY we will dine at Stanton Social again.  The restuarant serves small plates, meant to be shared.  There wasn't one thing we ate that we weren't incredibly impressed with.  Our plates included: potato and goat cheese perogies, Grilled apple and brie quesadilla, Haricot Vert with almonds and asiago cheese, the Kobe beef slider, and the Grilled Aged cheddar slider with jalepenos.  For dessert we had the warm donuts with caramel, raspberry, and chocolate dipping sauces and Chris had a milk shake shot (with Maker's Mark). OMG.  Save room for the donuts, people.  Save room for the donuts...

Now on to the theater we saw!  I saw 4 productions in 3 days.  What a whirlwind!
Saturday we saw a matinee of Rent, which Chris had never seen.  The show was alright...I remember seeing it in the 90's and it felt so edgy and exciting.  But now it feels a bit dated.

Saturday night, after our dinner with Julie and Scott ran a bit long, we literally jumped out of a cab in Times Square and ran into the first theater we saw to buy tickets.  That theater happened to be showing Chicago (ironic, I know).  It was a fun show and we only missed the first 5 minutes.  It's sort of an old school musical, which is fun.

Sunday we saw a matinee of "One Man, Two Guvnors" which was by far the best thing we saw that weekend.  This play is HYSTERICAL.  I can not recommend it enough!  (And later that night, the lead actor won the Tony for Best Male Lead in a Play!)

Monday night, after work, I walked from the Upper East Side to Midtown and bought a ticket to see Peter and the Star Catcher.  This was a creative, imaginative play about the Peter Pan story.  It was really impressive how they handled the stage and props and such.  And it was neat seeing the play on Monday, because the night before they swept the Tony's for all sorts of awards.  :)

New York twice in one year.  I'm a lucky girl!  Next up, Switzerland/Italy/France!  We fly out in two weeks.  I can't wait!

Turning up the Heat

I've spent the last year trying really hard to up my tolerance for heat in food.  Coming from Iowa, and raised in a Norwegian family, the only 'spices' we used growing up were sugar, maybe salt, and maybe a little pepper.  But rarely pepper.
I've always been a mild food eater, afraid to try anything that might have even the smallest amount of heat.
Then I realized that I was missing out on some incredible food all because of my wuss of a palate.  So about a year ago I started add a bit more heat to my food.  It started with my chili, which I spiced with some chili powder, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper.  I tend to eat my chili with cheese and sour cream, which helped cool my mouth between bites.  After a few months, I was able to tolerate a decent amount of heat and was ready to graduate into something heartier.
I took a cooking class at Flavour cooking school in Forest Park where we cooked with pablano peppers.  We grilled them and blended them with other ingredients to make a green salsa.  It was hot.  But I could handle it.
Friday night I cooked up some homemade creamed corn, which called for chipotle peppers in an adobo sauce.  They were nice and hot and smokey and they made the dish sing with flavor.  And I had a second helping!

So I'm not quite to the point where I'm chomping on jalapenos (jala-painfuls, as someone I once knew used to call them), but at least I'm working my way there!

Backyard Garden Update

I snapped this pic of my backyard garden so I can update you on all the goodies growing!  You can see in the back of the frame that my potatoes are getting HUGE!  It looks like one giant shrub.  :)
The back of the larger bed now houses 1 tomato plant and 2 bell pepper plants.  To the right side of the peppers are some yellow onions.  The turnips are getting large and my row of beets are coming in strong too!  You can see a small row of lettuce and arugula at the front of the bed and a few random bush green bean sprouts popping up here and there as well.
My snap peas (not pictured) are climbing strong up the trellis.  My one pole bean sprout was eaten by some critter so that's a lost cause.  My strawberry patch is growing strong and beginning to flower and my asparagus are tall and starting to fern out!
I also have two pots with herbs: basil, parsley, and thyme.  I was able to use the thyme this week in a recipe for a spicy cilantro lime marinade for skirt steak.  I love being able to step into the backyard and pick fresh herbs!
This weekend I want to plant another seed or two of bush beans and I will check in on my squash and watermelons at the community garden.  So far everything is coming up beautifully!

Corner Garden: Community Garden

Friday night we finished building the community garden.  We have 25 beds in total, one compost pile, a huge mound to grow a pumpkin patch on, and 2 larger member beds for high yield produce.  It was a lot of hard work but man am I excited about this project. 
I spent Sunday morning planting butternut squash and sugar baby watermelons in two of the garden beds.  My 'neighbors' in the garden are Tina (who is also planting squash) Melissa/Matt (who is planting a whole bunch of produce using the square footage gardening techniques) and Charles/Lisa (who are planting potatoes). 
I'll be sure to post photos throughout the summer as the garden fills with yummy produce!

Corner Garden

Chris and I spent part of the weekend helping build a community garden, "The Corner Garden", in Brookfield.  Our church, Compassion UMC, is organizing and overseeing the garden.  We're hoping the garden will bring people together, offer folks an organic space to grow vegetables, and help provide some food to our local food pantry (for those in our town who are hungry).
Friday night a group of about 12 of us got together and started on the project.  We built 20 raised beds out of cedar planks, I picked up two trash bags full of garbage off the lot (seriously people, stop littering!), and we picked up rocks to prepare the space for tilling.
Today my friend Karl is tilling the soil and tomorrow night we will lay out the beds and fill them with organic soil and compost.  Then it's time to plant!

I have taken on two of the twenty beds.  In one bed I want to plant butternut squash and in the second bed I want to  plant sugar baby watermelons.  I thought it best to grow these crops in the wide, open field of this community garden versus my back yard, because squash and watermelon like a lot of room to stretch their legs and I don't think Fred will take kindly to them stretching all over her lawn.

We will also have 2 large member beds where we will grow large yield crop.  Anyone who tends a small 4 x 4 bed, can pick any of the produce from the two larger member beds.  We plan to grow summer squash, cucumbers, basil, rosemary, tomatoes, and hot peppers. 

I'm really excited about this project.  It's a lot of work but this space is just an empty lot in Brookfield.  I feel good that we've picked up the trash and we're turning the space into something beautiful and useful.  :)

Garden - May update

Here is an updated photo of the raised beds in our backyard!  In the bed closest to the camera, you can see the potatoes have sprouted!  In the center bed you can see my thick row of turnips followed by a thinner row of beets.  And at the front of that bed are a few arugula sprouts.
And in the farthest bed you can see my strawberries are growing.

Not pictured are the asparagus that are growing tall and the snap peas that have begun trellising up some netting attached to our fence.  It's going to be a delicious summer.

Baking Bread

Some people are born bakers.  I am not one of them.  But, luckily, I surround myself with fabulous people and my friend Tina is for sure a born baker.  Every couple of weeks she whips together homemade bread for her and her hubby to enjoy.  Last weekend she allowed me to help bake the bread and she made it look so easy, and yet I know bread is a tricky, tricky business.  Here's her recipe:
4 T oil
4 T sugar/sweetener
2 T salt
1 c hot water
4 c room temp water
3 t or 2 packets instant dry yeast
1 bag bread flour

In large bowl mix oil, sugar, salt and hot water until salt and sugar is dissolved.
Add room temp water, the optimum temperature the mixture should be for yeast is 90-110 degrees, but cooler is better than hotter.
Add yeast, mix just enough to make sure all the yeast gets into the mixture, let sit for a few minutes until the yeast "blooms" if you do not mix the water, the yeast when it gets going will actually balloon up through the water, but as long as it look fuzzy and cloudy, it is ready.
Add three cups flour (if adding other kinds of flour, add some white, and some variant)
Mix until all flour is moistened
Repeat
Add three more cups white flour
At this point you should have a pretty thick batter, or very wet dough. If using a stand mixer, put half the dough in the mixer. Add one cup of bread flour and slowly work in. Mix for about a minute. Continue to add a little more flour to dough at intervals until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to the sides. Let machine knead dough for 7 min. Repeat with other half of dough
If kneading by hand, do the same, adding flour to the dough gradually and kneading it for 10 min, until dough is a smooth and firm, but not hard.

Set aside in an oiled bowl to rise for 30 min to 2 hrs, until doubled and when you poke it with a finger it deflates.


Dump out and knead lightly, divide and form 3-4 loaves. Put in oiled pans.

Set aside, after 10-15 min start preheating oven to 375. When the bread has risen (better to put in the oven too soon than too late), this is when you would take a straight sharp blade to split the tops, and put into the hot oven.

After 10 min, reduce oven temp to 350. Bake for 20, then check internal temp of loaves with meat thermometer, ideal is 180-190.  Remove from oven, cool slightly and enjoy!

Now those are Tina's instructions.  I think my instructions would be "Become friends with a born baker.  Enjoy her tasty creations."  :)

Chitting Potatoes

My raised garden beds are officially installed!! Wednesday night I planted lettuce and arugala seeds. Last night I planted strawberries and potatoes. I hope that this weekend, between thunderstorms, I can plant the Amish snap peas and Chiogga beets as well!
To prepare potatoes for planting, it helps to first do the process of "chitting". When you receive your potato seedlings in the mail, I ordered mine from an awesome company called Seed Savers Exchange that specializes in heirloom varieties, set them out in an old egg carton in a warm room with plenty of sunlight. I set mine on our kitchen island near the south facing window. Be sure to place the side with eyes facing up (one side of a potato has eyes and the other does not). Then wait and watch...
1 to 2 weeks later you will start to see sprouts coming out of the eyes of the potato! Feel free to cut up any larger potatoes into smaller sections, making sure there are at least 2 eyes per section. A good rule of thumb is, if it's larger than golf ball size then cut it up. Let the cut potatoes sit for a day or two until a thick callus forms over the exposed flesh (this will prevent them from rotting once planted).
Next dig a hole into the earth and place them sprout side up. Cover loosely with soil and water!

The potato variety that I purchased is called Mountain Rose. You can read about it here

Columbia, South Carolina

Chris and I flew down to Columbia, South Carolina for Easter weekend to spend the holiday with Chris' great-aunt Katie. She's turning 90 years old this year but my gosh she has more energy than most 40 year olds I know!
We had a blast spending time with her and she was the most excellent tour guide. We were in town for just a short while but I feel like I got a good sense of the town.
On our short visit we toured the Botanic Gardens, toured the historic Hampton-Preston house, got a driving tour of the university (where Katie's husband was a law professor), and got to explore some fun restaurants.
For lunch on Saturday we dined at a hip new restaurant called The Motor Supply Bistro. Katie had a veggie salad, Chris ordered a steak and I had a turkey sandwich. The food was really good but I found that they are very limited on their ingredients. When I asked to change the type of bread my sandwich was served on, they said I wasn't able to do that. I asked if I could change the cheese from Swiss to Cheddar and they hemmed and hawed and said "they would see". I did eventually get Cheddar cheese, but boy they made a big deal out of the request.
I would still recommend the place though. It had great food, a fun atmosphere, and all their ingredients are sourced locally and sustainably (which I always appreciate).
On Saturday night, one of Katie's dear friends Karen joined us for dinner. Karen is a judge in the appelate court in D.C. She's one of the judges overseeing the Guantanimo detainees. To say the least, she was one heck of a lady and it was wonderful having dinner with her.
Happy Easter!

Yoga!

April is my two year anniversary for practicing Ashtanga Yoga. It's been an incredible journey comprised of facing obstacles and slowly, with dedication and patience, overcoming those obstacles. The practice has given me flexibility and strength, no doubt about that, but it's also taught me patience, humor, humility, and joy. :) Here are some photos of my practice in the park last week.

Make the Potato Chips

This is about the easiest recipe I've ever done; thank you to my sister for telling me about it!

Recipe for homemade potato chips.
Slice up a potato on a mandoline (or slice thinly with a knife).
Spray a dinner plate with Pam.
Lay out potato chips in a single layer on the plate.
Spray tops of potatoes with Pam.
Sprinkle with salt.
Microwave for approx 4 minutes.
Repeat until all chips are nuked. YUM!!

Dig Right In

It's been a busy couple of weeks at Hein household! We hired my talented friend, Alida Coury, to design our master bedroom. She did a fantastic job but boy am I glad to be done with the project. Between paint fumes, wallpaper fumes, and assembling new furniture...we're ready to just enjoy the space the again!
But, because I'm always a list maker and a project do-er, I've got our next project in full swing. We've hired a local, green landscaping company called Dig Right In to landscape our front and back yard. My sister-in-law, Jenn, used them last year to put in her raised garden beds and paver's patio. She was very pleased with their work and I'm excited to have them work on our yard!
We already have a pretty big paver's patio in the back yard but we're asking them to put in some decorative shrubs and flowers along with 2 or 3 raised garden beds and trellises.
Raised beds should allow me to really grow my gardening skills and harvest a bountiful load of crop!
I'm posting some before photos of the back yard. They aren't that great of shots because they don't show the whole yard but you can see that we have lovely lilac bushes and a large crab apple tree that all bloom super fragrant! The landscapers are putting in flowers that will attract butterflies and bees to help pollinate the veggies in my garden. :)