Roasted Peeps

I finally decided that my plan to build a fire pit out of discarded (or possibly still being used by someone??) bricks at the elementary school behind our house was a bad idea, so I broke down and bought one. And thanks to an Easter care package from my parents, we happened to have some peeps in the house. What to do? Clearly skewer and roast them. The granulated sugar on the outside caramelizes into a nice hard shell around the gooey center. Yum!!

Happy Easter!!!

Mango salad!

The sun is out, Matt is firing up the grill, and it's time for mango salad!

Ingredients:

1-2 champagne mangos, diced
2 pickling cucumbers, skinned and diced
1 avocado, cubed
1/2 red onion, diced
3-4 tablespoons (or one big handful) of cilantro, chopped
zest and juice from 2 limes
2-3 tbsp crushed peanuts
a few shakes of red pepper flakes

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients, top with crushed peanuts and a few leaves of cilantro.  Goes well with a frosty margarita and a sun-drenched afternoon.

Spicy Chickpea Stew

We tend to gravitate toward anything involving the chickpea, so when we saw this recipe, we had to give it a try.  We've added a few modifications to the original.

Spicy Chickpea Stew

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cans of diced tomatoes (we used Trader Joe's diced fire-roasted tomatoes for extra kick)

1/2 c barley
1/2 c wild rice

2 c low sodium vegetable broth

Boil 3 c. of water in a large sauce pan and add barley and wild rice, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 1 hour.  Drain and rinse, then set aside until the rest of the stew is ready.  Heat olive oil in a saucepan over med-high heat and add chopped onion.  Stir and cook about 5 mins or so, until onion begins to brown and soften.  Add the bell pepper and garlic and continue to cook on low heat for about 3-5 mins.  Drain the chickpeas and rinse well. Add vegetable broth, chickpeas, tomatoes, oregano, and thyme, then simmer for about 30-45 mins.   Add red pepper flakes and barley, simmer for another 5-10 mins.  Seaso with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a hunk of your favorite whole grain bread and a dollop of sour cream.

Weekend in pictures

Exploring the Marin headlands and finding the best views of the Golden Gate

Impromptu rock climbing at Castle Rock State Park

Spectacular views on a sunny Sunday

Spring gardening!

Last weekend Stacey and I started our vegetable garden.  We planted: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, miniature bell pepper (red, yellow, and purple), soybeans, fennel, dill, basil, and strawberries.  YUM!

Zucchini sprouting

Soybeans

Dill weed

Sam McDonald Park

Today we hiked in Sam McDonald park, a lesser-known preserve nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  We hiked about 5 miles, starting at Heritage Grove Trailhead to the Ranger's station, then over the Towne trail to the Sierra Club hiker's hut, then back to the trailhead.  The hike was filled with beautiful coastal redwoods, about 16 million banana slugs, wild turkeys, snakes, lizards, quail, deer, one coyote, lots of streams, and plenty of wild flowers (and a partridge in a pear tree).

Cherry blossoms in DC

This past weekend, I was in DC for a nanobiology conference, and I got to spend a few extra days with my parents. We took Saturday morning to walk down to the tidal basin and enjoy the peak of the cherry blossoms, which I haven't seen blooming in probably 6 or 7 years.  It was a beautiful day!

There were lots of people out taking in the cherry blossoms.  My favorite tourists of the day were these two little girls dressed in pink, who spent about 10 minutes under this bough vamping for the camera:

I got some cute shots of mom and dad, too:

More photos here.