CK and I are really enjoying our weekly Boston Organics deliveries. We even purchased a cooler to leave in the lobby for the nice delivery man to transfer our yummy fruits and veggies into for safe keeping until one of us wanders home from work.  I had to revive my lettuce a few too many times before I realized…oh duh…maybe this stuff needs a better home than a green plastic tote for eight hours.

So all in all it’s going very well.  Except for the avocados.  Over the last five weeks I’ve thrown out five avocados.  How horrible is that!  I feel guilty every time I have to toss the poor guys into the trash, but I just haven’t been able to think of a anything to do with them other than possibly make guacamole.  The thing is…I sort of hate guacamole and until Sunday morning I sort of disliked avocados.  I’d eat it if you put it in front of me, or you wrapped it up in sushi, but I’d never go out of my way to buy or use them.  But then CK shared a post on Google Reader about making Avocado Toast, and our friend Anna chimed in with a resounding email response of, “This is totes my favorite snack!!!!”  It appeared imminent that avocado and I would be forced to meet once again, and meet we did — spread on warm toast with a simple concoction of spices. It was a phenomenally good time!  From now on I promise that CK and I will be fighting over the avocados in our house and I vow to never throw one out ever again.

Avocado Toast (Based on Dani’s original recipe at Messy Cookin via Projectionist)
Makes 3 slices of delicious avocado topped bread

1 avocado
3 slices of bread (Note: I used Arnold Country White.  When I’m “bad” I’m very very bad).
Red Pepper Flakes
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Olive Oil

Toast the bread.  Slice the avocado in half, remove the flesh and place into a small bowl.  Mash the avocado with a fork and spread onto the toasted bread.

Sprinkle the toast with Red Pepper Flakes, salt and pepper, and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

In some ways the above treats are reminiscent of a lot of gifts I’ve given my mother over the years on Mother’s Day.  I was always the kid in Sunday School who couldn’t get their Dixie cups packed with Marigold seeds to grow and I’d end up bringing home my mom a cup of dirt for Mother’s Day.

Teacher’s everywhere seem to think that plants are the way to go at this time of year, so in second grade, my teacher Mrs. Eastman, helped us take care of mini Spider Plants.  This time I thought I was home free.  My plant wasn’t growing from a seed, you simply placed your transplanted piece in the dirt, watered it, and kept your growing journal neat and tidy.  Well over the course of the lesson plan my plant got sicker and sicker until it resembled what I can only describe as burnt, limp, french fries.  To make matters worse, some punk in my class thought it would be cute to tie my sad little plant to another kid’s plant.  The next time my classmate went to collect his pot they both went tumbling to the ground.  I probably wanted to cry, or actually did cry.  I certainly hope the brat who committed “plant-icide” got his name on the board.  In a perfect world he would have been kept in for recess too which as I’m sure you’re all aware is the ultimate in childhood punishments.

These marshmallow treats complete with ragged edges and a slightly indecipherable shape are my virtual gift to my Mom today.  I hope that she appreciates the fact that I’m not actually going to make her eat them, and that she enjoys the real gifts that are currently hurtling their way to her in a big brown UPS truck.  I cross my heart and promise that the box does not contain a dead plant!

Happy Mother’s Day Wummy!  Thanks for always cleaning up after those crazy messes I made in the kitchen and for not yelling at me too much when I’d get into the spice cupboard and make “potions” with the oregano, mustard, and bouillon cubes.

Fruity Butterfly Treats (Based on the Fabulous Original Rice Krispie Treats recipe located at RiceKrispies.com)

3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 (10 oz.) package regular marshmallows
6 cups Fruity Cheerios

Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.  Add the Fruity Cheerios. Stir until coated.

Using a buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Note: It wont fill the whole pan. I spread mine out to about half the width of the pan. Allow the gooey mess to cool completely.

Using a cookie cutter (Butterfly or otherwise) cut the mixture into shapes. Feed the leftover edges to a dog, your husband, or other boy/man in your life. Butterfly treats are for “Girl’s Only!”

Last night I had a craving for a soft and chewy bakery style sugar cookie. While googling for a recipe, a link to a particular cookie on the Cooks Illustrated website caught my eye. Unfortunately, as many of you have probably already discovered, the full version of the meticulous Cooks Illustrated recipes are only available if you subscribe to their online service. I do subscribe to the Cooks Illustrated monthly magazine so I found it quite annoying that access to the website wasn’t included in this fee.

And then I remembered a blog post CK had shared with me via google reader that suggested subscribing to the online version of Cooks Illustrated was not only a way to lower costs, but the author also made a great point about the site being searchable. Honestly, if I have a craving for a certain food, or I want to make something using a limited number of ingredients I almost exclusively rely on the internet. My numerous cookbooks and glossy magazines are all collecting dust, but not so much the search box in my FireFox browser. So I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf. I wont be renewing any of my numerous magazine subscriptions this year. Real Simple, Rachael Ray, Cooking Light etc… all have online databases with recipes that you can search and print for free. In addition, Cooks Illustrated online has an incredible wealth of tried and true recipes, techniques, and tips covering 14 years of back issues. The site also allows you to save favorite recipes, create menus, and print grocery lists. I’d highly recommend at least testing it out. There’s a 14 day free trial available. A full subscription costs $24.95 a year or if you already subscribe to the print edition the price drops to $19.95. PS: The cookies were seriously to die for!

One of my favorite actresses, Gwyneth Paltrow, is going to be shooting a cooking show with Mario Batali. Apparently the duo will travel around Spain this Fall while being filmed by PBS. How much do you want to bet that program ends up premiering during one of those pledge drives…

Have you tried the Bear Naked Trail Mix yet? I have no fewer than four kinds of their granola in my cupboard so I’m already a huge fan, but seriously Brendan and Kelly have out done themselves this time. The trail mix is absolutely delicious. I picked up a huge bag at Costco and I can’t stop picking at it. I keep putting it on progressively higher and higher shelves hoping to discourage my snacking but it just isn’t working. Yes, it’s that good! Definitely an office drawer must have for those 3 o’clock blues when you can’t focus on spreadsheets for one minute longer (and the potato chips in the vending machine are calling your name). Just remember to snack in moderation. 1/4 cup of nutty goodness has 140 calories.

Has anyone been able to find the new Heavenly Chocolate Granola yet? I keep hoping it will turn up at Whole Foods, but no luck yet.

I’ve been on a bit of a popcorn bender lately. It all started innocently enough. One evening a few weeks ago I was settling in for the night, all snuggled up in my cozy comfy bed, when I came across an Alton Brown episode about popcorn. And then I started craving it. The only problem was that I’d never made popcorn the “old fashioned” stove top way. We had one of those air poppers when I was a kid that made something resembling the texture of fluffy cardboard, and I distinctly remember an alarming incident at my grandmother’s where we attempted to make popcorn in the fireplace with a fancy contraption from LL. Bean. My mother somehow managed to catch it on fire and melt off the little knob that served as the lid handle. And of course I’ve consumed my weight in the microwave brand, but there was something incredibly intimidating to me about making popcorn on top of my stove.

Fear of the unknown forced me to do what any clueless girl would. I polled all my girlfriends via mass email asking them to assuage my fears and impart on me all of the “knowledge and wisdom” I would need to make a yummy batch of popcorn (and not catch my kitchen on fire). These brilliant ladies all agreed with Alton Brown that the keys to great popcorn were lots of salt and good oil (but not too much). After a tentative start, and a few searing hot kernel burns (do not remove the pot lid too hastily) I did manage to make a pretty yummy first batch of popcorn and I didn’t even need to use any butter.

I definitely don’t recommend using a heavy pan to make popcorn. I practically gave myself carpel tunnel trying to shake one of my All-Clad saucepans. I switched to an old lightweight college cast off after that. It’s now become the official popcorn pan. I’m completely juvenile and really enjoy the fact that it has a see-through lid. I admit it. I totally dig being able to watch the corn popping.

On my way home from Crane Beach one weekend I even branched out a bit and bought some fancy “Crimson Jewel” dark colored popcorn kernels at Russell Farms (a local farm stand / winery). The popping of this corn finally allowed me to answer a nagging childhood question that was brought about by countless marathon readings of Tomie dePaola’s The Popcorn Book. Of course I’ve always known deep down that all popcorn pops into snowy white kernels, but the five-year-old Erin that still exists somewhere inside of me was a bit skeptical. Fortunately grown-up Erin now has delicious proof.

Simple Ingredients

Big Fluffy Results