Green Things: Nepitella and Gremolata

Uh, what? We've been ordering from Naturally to Your Door for about three months now. The green things that come in the box have been pretty standard: kale, arugula, bok choy, celery, butter lettuce, spinach, green garlic, rosemary, thyme and basil. 

This week we received a little surprise gift just for being a customer: a small package of Nepitella. I had never heard of this herb, so the attached description was quite useful. It is something of a cross between mint and oregano and grows wild in Italy. One suggestion was to serve it with mushrooms, so I tossed it in with this black bean and millet bowl recipe with maitake mushrooms, instead of the shiitake ones the recipe called for. Nepitella has a great fresh flavor, definitely more mint than oregano.

Some other green things that come in my produce box, that I usually discard, are bunches of carrot tops. Each week I get something like five medium-sized carrots, but the green tops are about two feet long and take up so much space in the box. The company suggests storing root veggies like carrots and beets in a bowl of water in the fridge, which means I usually have to trim off all the excess greenery so the carrots will fit in my fridge. Well, the other day I came across this recipe for carrot top gremolata. Follow this link, and I'll let sb&gb explain...

Naturally to Your Door: Local San Diego Produce

I may have mentioned farmers' markets once or twice on this blog, and I love going to them, but I'm a bit too lazy (i.e. not willing to commit to a Saturday or Sunday morning) to really visit any of them regularly enough to depend on them for produce. That's where Naturally to Your Door comes in. 

Their selection is not as wide and varied as Whole Foods market or online shop Organic to You, but their prices are a bit better, and it's convenient to get a delivery of green goodies midweek. I've been very pleased with all the produce we've purchased from them so far. Here's to more healthy eating delivered straight to my door!

Purple Carrots: I partially peel the carrots to leave a dash of purple, which reveals some lovely colors underneath, as well!

Celery that's actually GREEN!

Easter Meal with Dietary Restrictions

Got to use my vintage Pyrex dishes!

Since cutting out soy, gluten, dairy, refined sugar, etcetera, I've only had to endure two holiday meals: Christmas and Easter. Christmas wasn't that bad because our family serves tamales, which are gluten-free, and other finger foods, so the only thing I had to steer clear of was the dessert table.

This year for Easter, we kept it to a small gathering which meant we had a lot more control over the foods on offer. My mom is following a diet similar to mine to help her rheumatoid arthritis and my sister has been watching what she eats in general. The guys, well, they don't seem to mind all the health-nut stuff we've been feeding them. At least not too much :)

Here was our Easter menu, buffet-style:

We ate the Easter Bunny!

Conejo en Salsa de Chocolate (Rabbit in Chocolate Sauce -- the rabbit was Isaiah's idea! Twisted?) **The "sauce" didn't turn into the gravy we thought it would. It was more like a brothy gravy, still good, but we need to work on thickening it up next time. (We didn't follow the recipe exactly.)

Big Sur, California: Jade Cove

After a morning spent hiking the trails at our campsite, Isaiah and I explore the area around Jade Cove, so called for its supposed nuggets of jade sprinkled about the shoreline. A trail that leads to the edge of the nearby cliffs winds us through poppies and other vegetation, with an occasional visit from a Monarch butterfly or two. It's the off-season (our preferred time of travel), so we're alone on the trail. It feels like ours. All ours.

We make our way down to the cove and I watch Isaiah dig around for the green pearls. He could stay here all day, and I could watch him all day as I sun myself on a rock, like the elephant seals that occupy these parts. Our stay here is short, but it's the mini-vacation we've both needed.

Stay tuned for more about our campsite! And excuse the photos... the lens on Isaiah's phone was smudged so there's an undesired cloudy effect.

Searching for jade...

Sneak Peak at Our Weekend in Big Sur, CA

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary (March 25th!) this weekend by taking a little road trip to Big Sur, California. The plan was to stay up there 3 nights and drive back on Sunday, but we got rained out on Saturday, so we headed back early. Nonetheless, it was a memorable time in one of the most beautiful places this state has to offer. Stay tuned for more from our trip!

Sadly, we forgot our camera at home, but thank goodness I had my iPad with me and snapped these shots using Instagram...

view from our campsite

another view from our spot, this time facing east

picnic off nacimiento road

California Poppies