WIAW 67 – The End of May

OK, so it’s June, now… but this was Sunday. And so far (all two days…) June has been remarkably cold, after a hot May (after a cold April) so we’re all confused…

But this weekend I had asparagus, and salad, and a taste of food to come.

Breakfast – I’m still doing the tortilla/bean/egg thing – because it works. I feel great when I eat that, it’s pretty easy, we have a winner! This time, red beans… Not kidney beans, though quite similar, and good for all kinds of red beans and rice, peas and rice, Caribbean, Cajun and Latin American foods.

It is now salad season. I bought a big bag of several different kinds of baby lettuce from a farmer at Greenmarket – so I have red leaf, and frisee, and romaine… and scallions, radishes, and carrots. I added marinated black beans. I basically just put some drained beans in a container, and add a splash of vinegar – it adds flavor and keeps the beans from souring, if I end up keeping them for a few days… Then I added a little shredded cheese to increase both protein and flavor, and had some rice cakes on the side.

I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned – and should, given how often I eat them…  these are Lundberg rice cakes. They are brown, not white, rice, and have about twice as much actual rice as most other brands – and they’re the only kind I’ll eat. (I think the others taste like styrofoam… but these have actual flavor!) They’re becoming more widely available, to my delight – I used to buy them at health food stores and hoard them – now we pick them up every week with the groceries. I like the crunch – and when I went off gluten,. it turned out handy that a staple for me was already gluten free.

For dinner – no beans! Instead, the food blogger tradeoff – I was concentrating on cooking and photographing the asparagus, so I threw the rest of the meal together quickly – the last of the frozen leeks, some ham, cooked rice, all sauteed together with broth. The front was coming through, so I sat down, and Rich actually assembled and photographed the plate… so it’s all styled nicely.

I need to pay more attention to styling food – not just for pictures, but also because he likes it. He spend a few months in Japan in his teens, and I think some of the aesthetic rubbed off on him. My salads are tossed, his are arranged. I’m trying to learn.

So, I’m joining Jenn’s party, which has danced over from Peas and Crayons to Meghan’s Clean Eats, Fast Feets.   (And she’s discussing – and demonstrating – the difference between carefully styled Food Blogger meals, and normally served ones – when I just wrote about it – I love it!) Go on over!