kale-afornia

i go through strange phases when it comes to food. i'll often go months at a time eating the very same thing for breakfast every day....and then suddenly switch to something else for no apparent reason other than i just feel the need to move on. (please avoid psychoanalyzing that statement.)  

when i was an M.A. at Children's, i took 2 eggs, 2 tiny tortillas and two soy sausage patties for breakfast every. single. day. then i went through a snickers marathon bar kick.  (and that got $$.) there was also a long-standing oatmeal, nut & fruit phase. 

of course, peanut butter & banana sandwiches are on a frequent rotation. 

lately, my most favorite breakfast AND lunch has included this lovely new-to-me green, kale. 

for breakfast, it's a kale apple smoothie and for lunch, it's a kale salad. (not necessarily on the same day!)  yummmmmmm. 

this smoothie reminds me of the chunky green drink Rene Russo drinks in The Thomas Crown Affair. (one of the sexiest movies EVER.) it's oh-so-delicious. i must share. for one smoothie:  

combine 3/4 cup (or so) chopped kale with the ribs & thick stems removed

1 small stalk of chopped celery

1/2 banana

1/2 c apple juice (i'm usually anti-juice as D knows...but 1/2 c seems ok!)

1/2 c ice

1 TB fresh lemon juice

add some sort of protein on the side...and voila! breakfast on the go! 

the salad is uber simple as well. i copied it from a salad i frequently get at Whole Foods. you simply toss chopped kale, chopped tomatoes, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, a dash of kosher or sea salt and some almonds or pine nuts. (the whole foods version has dried cranberries, but i usually omit them.)

i have a serving of smoked salmon with a little spreadable cheese on the side. it's scrum-diddly-umptious, i tell ya! 

on a sidenote, we have only four weeks & 3 days until our california adventure. 

(but who is counting?!?!) 

in honor of sun & fun....and for your aural pleasure, here's a happy song: 

There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will. ~Robert Frost

i bought a new book this weekend.  i found it as dustin and i were running errands around the city. 

d was kind enough to drive as i focused all my attention on this new lovely hardback. i had at least half of it read before we made our way home. 

anyone who has known me for several years understands how remarkably strange this excitement is. when i graduated from college, i knew how to make 2 things- ramen noodles and baked potatoes. that's it. about three years ago, the universe shifted, the planets realigned....and i decided to teach myself how to cook. i had just moved to sayre to start my first year practicing as a PA. i suddenly had 

every. single. night. with. nothing. to. do. 

i had spent the previous 4 years devoting my free time wholly to studying. i had absolutely no interest in cooking. quite frankly, i couldn't understand why people would want to spend so much time on creating something that would (hopefully) quickly disappear. 

then in my first spring back in Western Oklahoma, my book club chose Animal, Vegetable, Miracle  for our selection. not to sound trite, but it changed my perception about food & cooking. i slowly started to experiment with recipes. i started making meals FROM SCRATCH. what a foreign concept! i laugh now at how little i knew about cooking in those first few months. with my parents only 2 blocks up the street, bless their hearts, i shared my bounty....good and bad. (boy, were there some atrocious ones!)

now i'm far from a chef, but i feel much more comfortable in the kitchen. to my own shock, i actually find pleasure in creating a meal from a long list of ingredients. i have a food processor now. and a very sharp knife. i rarely used pre-packaged foods these days. although, i still crave ramen noodles from time to time. i can easily spend hours hovering over cookbooks & sorting through recipes. now i know the difference between sage & tarragon. i grow my own basil. 

and i learned the hard way that soup should always be cooled before you put in in the blender....unless you'd like to paint your entire kitchen with butternut squash. 

now that i live in chicago, life is infinitely more hectic. evening routines are stuffed with exercise, commutes, dog-walks & social schedules. however, we try our best to be thrifty & eat at home most nights despite the crazy schedules.  mr. rocke is a trooper & he will spend as much time in the kitchen as it takes to finish cooking....but it is admittedly not his favorite hobby. so one of our most cherished meals is a very simple one....

it's a smorgasbord of flavors, a cornucopia of deliciousness, a hodge podge of morsels. 

the line-up changes frequently, but idea is the same...eat whatever you like. 

cleaning your plate is never required to leave the table.

the tradition started a couple of years ago when we were dating long distance. dustin and i would stop by the market for cheese & wine & fruit & crackers and call it 'staying in.' we'd be more than satisfied with this picnic menu. this custom has continued through our first year of cohabitation.  for d's birthday, we threw in some banana bread, granola bites & chocolate covered cherries. last weekend, we nixed the wine for a beer. just this week, it was cheese & kale chips & deviled eggs & hummus with pita with a big glass of milk. it's always interesting to see what kind of concoctions we come up with. it's nice to nibble & chat & share a bottle of wine unhurriedly. plus, the clean-up is always minimal. bonus. 

word to your mother.

the following is based on a true story. 

thirty-two years ago candace e. howard celebrated her first mother's day with a 3 month old baby girl. she was a very young woman...a girl really. this brave woman had trudged through a tremendously difficult pregnancy, a vast majority of the time on crutches with a broken femur. and yet still worked. she had nearly lost her own life in labor, giving her own for mine.  

over the next 3 decades, she overcame circumstances that most would crumble beneath. my mother stood tall...and persevered...and dedicated her life to this baby girl when she was a child herself. raising me was far from easy. she made unimaginable sacrifices to give me this life, but i do not remember seeing my mother feel sorry herself ever. 

never. ever. 

so when it came time to purchase my mother's day card this year, every single one seemed remarkably inadequate. there's no card about gardening or baking or shopping that encompasses ms. howard. 

she's a gem. 

a hero. 

a thoughtful & tender soul. 

an open mind, constantly devouring books & stories. 

she is a quietly but fiercely competitive. 

a loyal advocate. a renown listener. 

an always-there-for-you-even-when-you-are-wrong-kind-of-friend. 

so here's my hug from 974 miles away, mom. 

i love you dearly. 

thank you. 

some people say i've done all right for a girl.

i have been all over the place lately. 

believe it or not, i've spent at least two hours attempting to write a blog over the past two days....and i've scrapped them all. after i wait for several weeks between updates, i tend to lose my stride. i feel rusty & tongue tied. so we'll keep this simple today. 

and random. very, very random: 

 despite dustin's embarrassment, i've really been considering buying me some new wheels. 

aren't these purty?!?! i'm fairly convinced i could rock these down the lake trail this summer! 

and no! i'm not kidding. i used to love skating. i read something recently that mentioned how you played as a kid can often be how you 'play' as an adult. i actually taught myself to skate inside my house as a child. i came across my mom's wheels & would skate from room to room on the carpet. i finally got brave enough to venture outside after a while. then i eventually begged my mom to take me to a real skating rink. i would spend hours & hours skating in circles in a tiny metal building in a nearby town. (god bless my mom for taking me! she must have been bored out of her mind!)

so in honor of this newfound idea, i've got a little song for you: