better ingredients…

… better everything! (Not just pizza, Papa John’s! Although they are my preferred delivery brand)

I love summer. There are so many good plants around. What else do you need? (Well, yes, complete proteins, and I’ve been having them. But also LOTS AND LOTS OF PLANTS!)

I know I’ve been posting ridiculous amounts of meals consisting of leftovers yesterday, but I was so proud of myself over yesterday’s lunch because I DIDN’T DIRTY ANY NEW CONTAINERS! And finished two, thus allowing for a cleaner fridge! This is crazy exciting for me.

On the left is the last of the TJ’s plain nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit salad from breakfast on top. On the right, my leftover grilled shrimp, noodles, and veggies, bulked up with some beautiful organic yellow pepper from my mom’s coworker’s garden and a piece of my mom’s leftover tofu.

For dessert, CRAZY YUMMY taffy that was our hostess gift from Suzanne.

Strawberry and caramel. Mmm.

Dinner was on the wintry side, but who cares?

At the top of the plate is more farmstand corn (although actually, this was less sweet and delicious than in previous weeks, and when we went today we gave them a stern interrogation whether the corn they had today was the heavenly sweet white corn of weeks past or this sub-par two-toned corn, and they claimed it was back to the delicious one).

On the bottom is a specialty of my mother’s that always makes me feel warm and safe and young and comforted: baked pork chops and apples seasoned with orange zest and mace.

There are no words to describe how delicious those apples get, cooked under good ‘ol pork fat!

Mmm, pig.

On the subject of pig, check out the AWESOME bowl housing the salad I made for post-church brunch:

So cute! I made this salad just grabbing good looking vegetables we had and throwing them in, and it was perrrfeccccction.

- 2 ears of corn, cooked and scraped off the cob

- half a big gorgeous ripe tomato, diced

- 1/3 of an avocado, diced

- remains of the grilled eggplant- 5 thin slices or so, chopped up

I seasoned with chopped green onion (1 or 2 T?), salt and pepper, quick squeeze of lemon juice, and a bit of crushed red pepper flakes.

I had it with the remains of the scrambled eggs from yesterday (it is a testament to the deliciousness of double boiler scrambled eggs that though they were not life changingly great like yesterday, they were also not utterly ruined by microwaving the way most eggs are).

And another plain Greek yogurt and fruit salad. Perrrrfecccction.

All together, with iced tea.

I know this is on the smallish side for brunch, a meal that’s supposed to have the calories of two meals. Let me assure you, at church coffee hour, I had pita and zattar. I friggin’ love going to a church full of Lebanese people- it makes for AMAZING food. Zattar is a crazy flavorful mixture of thyme, sesame seeds, sumac, salt and pepper…??? I don’t know but on a pita it is amazing.

And dessert was another cinnamon roll :D