The Little Cook That Could: A Fig Tree for the Blog's Birthday

The blog turns one today...I feel awful that it's taken me more than two months to write again but I can't believe how crazy busy I've been and how time really flies when you're having fun. So for a few updates and then a very quick recipe or two that I can't really call recipes at all, more so than guidelines to really good and really fast not-deep fried (most of the time) food.

The Garden:

Enough said.

The new fig tree:

And you say to yourself, who actually eats figs? I said that too until we were standing around at the family reunion at about 11:00 at night absolutely starving after eating what they called chicken for dinner in the dining hall. Maybe it's like having a cup of ramen noodles at 3am when you're in college, or warm cookies and milk as a preschooler, but slices of french bread with brie and fig jam is probably my newest obsession and the greatest thing that more than a few of us experienced that weekend:

Grocery shopping:

Yeaaaa not going that great either (can't say I bought 2/3 of those items either but I am fortunate enough to have a very loving, understanding family including a boyfriend who just shakes his head, goes to the store so we don't starve, and says we are going to add it to the "things to work on" list of goals along with vacuuming which I hate because of the dreadful noise-still waiting on that Swiffer btw ;) ).

I think it's pretty safe to say that all of the rest of my successful time spent is devoted to work, so I'm trying to develop something similar to Sandra Lee's Round 2 recipes where food can be repurposed so you're not eating just plain old leftovers. This past weekend, I made grilled Asian pork tenderloin, broccoli slaw pasta salad, and grilled vegetable salad. In a hurry before work yesterday, I threw together a pork stir fry that tasted incredible and it only took about 15 minutes. So to celebrate the blog's birthday, and getting back to cooking that fits within a crazy busy work schedule, that's what shall be featured! Enjoy.

Recipe of the day #1: Grilled vegetable salad

Whatever vegetables you'd like: (I went with onions, red peppers, green peppers, asparagus, and zucchini)
Ken's Creamy Balsamic Dressing (feel free to make your own, but you don't have to)

Preheat the grill to about 300. Place pieces of aluminum foil over the grill grates to cover. Slice all of the vegetables in half-don't cut them in the shape you see above until the very end or they will be too difficult to flip over. Place the vegetables on top of the aluminum foil on the grill and cook until the vegetables have charred edges and they are soft enough to tear with your hands. Remove from the grill and allow to cool in a bowl in the refrigerator. Cut into equal sizes and serve with dinner!

Repurposed recipe: Pork stir fry

leftovers from grilled pork tenderloin (if you have leftovers of another protein, go with what you have), cut into bite sized pieces
leftovers from grilled vegetable salad
1/2 pound spaghetti, boiled and drained and sprinkled with sesame oil to prevent sticking
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup chicken broth

Place the pork and vegetables into a hot skillet. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and chicken broth and stir until pork and vegetables are heated through.