You should know that we have made a point not to play kiddie music around Ryan. No Wiggles or any of the other kid musical acts, the idea being that if he never hears it, he will instead grow to love classic rock and the like, like Mason and I. Even in the womb, we played him The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and other stuff we liked. Brilliant planning, if I do say so myself.

Well, the best laid plans…yeah. Tonight Ryan repeatedly made his Fisher Price piggy bank sing its song. Over and over again. I know he was purposefully playing the song because the pig does multiple things when you hit its nose, including sneeze, oink, and sing. Every time, he would hit it quickly so it would get to the song, then kick his feet and grin. When I danced to the song, the grin progressed to laughing. Oh, it was incredibly cute. The only thing is that now I foresee these lyrics being stuck in my head for quite some time:

Oh-oh I’m a piggy bank

With coins big and small

There’s lots of colors, you can learn them all

We’ve got red and yellow, we’ve got orange and blue

It’s your favorite colors, we’ve got green ones too.

Let’s count the coins from one to ten

When we’re all done, we’ll count again!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven

Eight, nine, ten!

Oh, Ryan. You got mommy and daddy good.

One of the many things I love about Texas is that while most of the country is slipping into winter right about now, we are still getting a bounty of summer vegetables mixed in with some fall/winter crops. This week, we got Corno di Toro sweet peppers, red onion, yellow beans, gala apples, turnips, dill, red potatoes, bibb lettuce, white mushrooms, radishes, and a winter squash I thought was a globe eggplant at first. I’m making:

Summer vegetable cianfotta — with several substitutions. I used my unidentifiable squash in place of the eggplant, red potatoes instead of the Yukon golds, and added mushrooms.

Acorn squash and chicken stew (I know she calls it chili, but I don’t think so.)

Marinated London broil

Honey-roasted root vegetables

Stuffed pepper casserole — adapted from my friend Jess’s recipe. I used all the Corno di Toro peppers plus two green peppers and a red pepper from last week, seeded and chopped. Brown 1 lb of ground beef or lamb and season with salt and pepper. While meat is browning, boil two bags of Uncle Ben’s whole grain boil-in-bag rice. Mix rice with 16 oz of tomato sauce, and season with Italian seasoning. Preheat oven to 350. In a casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray, layer half the rice mixture, the peppers, the other half of the rice mixture, and top with 1 cup of Italian-blend cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and continue baking another 15 minutes until cheese is browned.

Ever had one of those days during football season when there’s a big game on and you  eat way too much crap, maybe an entire large pizza over the course of the day, and drink too much beer, and you realize at the end of the day that the your actions have just capped off a month-long trend of eating too much crap and drinking too much beer, and your guilt and general feelings of grossness over the whole thing have you tumbling rapidly down a pit of self-loathing and despair?

No? Me either…but hypothetically, if this were to happen to me, I would want to remedy the situation. The situation being me barely able to button my pants.

Anywho, for reasons totally not what I just described in the above hypothetical situation, I embarked on the South Beach Diet (SBD) on Sunday. Many of you know I lost about 50 pounds on Weight Watchers in the 9 months or so after having Ryan and I have a few more to go. I was getting tired of counting points and had pretty much abandoned that method anyway. I was successful on SBD in my weight-loss efforts before my wedding, so I figured I’d give it a go again. So far so good!

Which brings me to this week’s menu. Phase 1 of SBD is restrictive in some ways, but it welcomes most produce (minus fruit). With a little recipe-searching I came up with some good, SBD-friendly ways to use this week’s box, which contained cherry tomatoes, Meyer lemons, broccoli microgreens, Bibb lettuce, cucumber, globe eggplants, Gala apples, pears, a mix of green and dragon tongue beans, okra, red onions, persimmons, and takuchoy. (As an aside, the sheet I get in my box every week that lists out the produce described takuchoy as a “plate-like vegetable,” which made absolutely no sense until I clicked the above link.) I’m saving the apples and pears until two weeks from now, when I can eat fruit again (they stay good in the fridge for a few weeks), and I’ll peel and freeze the persimmons for later use.

Here’s what I’m eating this week.

Herb-roasted turkey breast (using some leftover herbs from previous Greenling boxes)

Lunch salads with cherry tomatoes, red onion, microgreens, Bibb lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, boiled egg, roasted turkey breast, and Meyer lemon vinaigrette

Shrimp in lettuce leaves with mint-serrano sauce – using Bibb lettuce and subbing Splenda for the sugar. I’ve made this before and the sauce is delicious but runny, so there’s always a ton left over. To use it up, I made a side salad of chopped takuchoy and cherry tomatoes. For the dressing, I whisked a few tablespoons of sauce with some canola oil. Voila! Mint-serrano dressing. Delicious.

Sirloin steak with sauteed garlicky green and dragon tongue beans – for the beans, I just heated some chopped garlic over medium heat in some olive oil, added the beans and some salt and pepper, covered the pan and cooked until done.

Spaghetti squash with pasta sauce and eggplant sauteed with fennel seed

Spicy oregano chicken – made with chicken breasts instead of thighs, since that’s what’s in my freezer.

We’re not sure how (daycare, maybe?) but today we realized that Ryan can point to his bellybutton on command. Observe:

Pretty cute, huh?

So, I haven’t seen my camera since Labor Day. I usually like to augment Ryan posts with pictures so I’ve been putting off posting about him till I find it, but since I have no idea when that will be I thought I’d just throw in a few bits and pieces here (thanks to Jen for that term).

• He says about 11 words now. The one we hear most often is “kitty cat?” Always said with that questioning inflection at the end, and often repeated over and over again while glancing at Mason and I and pointing to confirm that Atticus is, indeed, a kitty cat. Maybe by the time he’s in kindergarden he’ll be sure.
• His second-favorite word is “ball.” Although when he says it it sounds like “ba.” He has about five balls he likes to play with, including one that is actually not a ball, but a bath toy shaped like a pufferfish. But it’s round and bounces when you throw it, so I suppose to a toddler it still functions as a ball.
• He has progressed past mere walking to climbing. Once I caught him trying to use a diaper box as a step stool to get on the couch. How he was planning to get down, I don’t know. I should probably pick up the living room more often, but who has time to clean these days?
• Wait, I do know how he was planning to get down. Probably the same way he uses to BACK DOWN THE STAIRS. Oh, that’s right. Baby gate, thou art my best friend.
• He loves tomatoes. Last weekend he ate an entire beefsteak tomato by himself.
• He has two comfort objects, both Gymboree blankets. He drags one of them behind him at all times, much like Linus, and frequently plays with his toys while sucking on the blanket. I don’t know why the blanket-sucking is part of the process, but hey, to each his own.

I’m finally caught up! Produce arrived Friday and I grocery shop on Sunday, so I just finished making my menu for the week. My box contained zucchini, okra, grape tomatoes, baby bella mushrooms, garlic, radishes, red potatoes, persimmons, meyer lemons, bibb lettuce, pears, green peppers, and rosemary. I’m making:

Summer squash gratin

Braised pork with persimmons (I’m adding pears since that’s what I have and I don’t have 1.5 lbs persimmons)

Asian chicken lettuce wraps

Butter lettuce and radish salad with lemon-garlic vinaigrette

Poached pears (I liked them so much a few weeks ago I’m doing it again.)

Fideos with chorizo and mussels

Bucatini with mushrooms

What about the tomatoes, you ask? Well, apparently tomatoes are THE BEST FOOD EVER to my child. He begs for them when he sees them on the counter. So I’ll probably just let him eat them all raw.

No menu last week because I was in New York, but this week (ok, last Friday — I’m a bit behind), I got a box with baby eggplant, summer squash, beefsteak tomatoes, purslane, corn, serrano peppers, green chile peppers, bibb lettuce, arugula, and radishes. Here’s what’s on the menu.

Turkey sandwiches with last week’s pepper jelly, cheese, Bibb lettuce, and beefsteak tomato slices

Salad with cucumbers, Bibb lettuce, radishes, and tomato

Spaghetti with pasta sauce and eggplant (just saute the eggplant with salt, pepper, and a bit of fennel seed, stir in pasta sauce, heat, and serve over spaghetti)

Middle-Eastern stuffed zucchini (I modified the recipe slightly by cutting the zucchini into 3-4 inch chunks before I cored them. I also finely chopped the zucchini innards and added them to the lamb mixture.)

Cucumber salad with shallots, purslane and a lemon vinaigrette (Don’t know what purslane is? I didn’t either!)

Greek burgers (Without the aioli. Because mayo tastes like feet.)

Corn salad with peppers, cilantro, and a lime vinaigrette (Combine cooked corn with chopped peppers and cilantro. Whisk together lime juice, canola oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of honey and pour over salad. Can add diced red bell pepper if you have it.)

Shrimp and pine nut spaghetti with arugula (A Cooking Light October recipe, which isn’t online yet. I’ll link to it as soon as it’s posted.)

I’m just eating the pears out of hand, as they are juicy and delicious. Happy eating!

Every week I get a box of local produce from Greenling. It’s a fun challenge to try to find out what to make with the contents, so I figured I’d document what I come up with here in case anyone’s looking for new recipes. This week I got fresh edamame, black-eyed peas, oriental pears, shallots, eggplant, assorted hot peppers, okra, basil, lettuce, long beans, and green onions. Sadly, I forgot to refrigerate the peas so they are lost, but here’s what I plan to do with the rest of the produce.

Boiled edamame (boil pods for 10 minutes, then salt)

Quinoa and edamame salad (I’ll probably make it with bulgur, since that’s what I have.)

Brandy-flamed peppercorn steak (I used rum instead of brandy and served with roasted potatoes and long beans.)

Hot-pepper jelly (using all hot peppers instead of half hot and half red and green bell)

Pesto

Thai burgers with lettuce

Champagne-poached pears (instead of champagne, I used 1.5 bottles of Fall Creek chenin blanc)

Pickled okra (One of my favorite snacks ever. I made 3 pint jars of okra and processed them for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. They’ll be ready to eat in about 6 weeks, and since they’ve been processed, they can stay in the pantry, not the fridge.)

Spaghetti w/sauteed eggplant, shallots, and pasta sauce (I like many of the Classico varieties.)

I realize I haven’t blogged since NIWeek. I spend so much time at the computer during work that sometimes I just need a break. Anyway, carnitas bring me back to the blog.

Carnitas literally means “little meats” and usually refers to braised, shredded pork. I’ve made Homesick Texan’s version many times, but wanted to find a way to make this during the week. Enter the crockpot.

I usually reserve the crock for things like stews, where everything is all mixed together. My concern with crockpot carnitas was that the meat would taste steamed instead of nice and crunchy. I managed to devise a way to get around this problem, by letting the meat cook in the crock till it’s done, then finishing it on the stovetop. The liquid cooks away and leaves you with deliciously tender meat with a crisp exterior. Mmmm.

Crockpot Carnitas

3 lb pork butt, cut into 2-in cubes
1 tsp salt
1 cup orange juice

Season pork w/salt and place in crock. Pour in juice (it helps the meat caramelize). Cook on low 10 hours.

Dump contents of crock (including juices) into a dutch oven and turn the burner on low. Let it simmer until most of the liquid is gone. I serve on tortillas with cilantro and tomatillo salsa.

There’s tired. And then there’s NIWeek tired. It was a great week, but I feel for everyone whose kids regularly wake up before 6 a.m. Because I was out of the house before 6:30 every day (wearing makeup, with fixed hair, and looking overall decent — shut up, it adds prep time) and after three days of this I am so wiped that I fell asleep on my couch this afternoon. Sitting up. With my 14-month-old banging on my legs.

So now I’m enjoying a glass of tempranillo and watching 30 Rock, which just got even better in my book because they included a To Kill a Mockingbird reference that I must have missed the first time around. A great way to end a long week.