Sunday Driver

pineapple ....FYI Melissa, I hope to plant it soon!

It was supposed to be a busy weekend and it did start off that way.  We got some errands done and then celebrated the first birthday of a friend's daughter. After that, I walked away from my phone for almost 24 hours and drank a lot of coffee while enjoying and making use of the extra hour we got this weekend.

I was up early and turned on my DVR'd episode of Ringer.  Kris has half-heartedly been watching but I am in, hook, line & sinker.  At one point I had to pause to fill him in on a few things and as I excitedly explained who, why, and how, his eyes glazed over and I realized that explaining it this show to him was the equivalent of him explaining football to me.

Once we were caught up on Siobhan/ Bridget's ordeals, Kris made French Toast while I cleaned all of the veggies from the farm.  I hate letting things go to waste so I decided that we needed to get roasting!  It still amazes me that you can take a bitter, starchy root of a plant and make it edible.  Just by cooking process alone, you can transform something into a multitude of different things and that's what I did Sunday. 

Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), whole & sliced w/ EVOO, S &P

We got sunchokes 2 weeks in a row from the farm so I took all of them and roasted them.  I did a little reading afterword and found that I could have used them raw in salad but this really brought out a wonderfully nutty flavor,  They get really soft and a bit sticky and chewy where the sugar is most concentrated but they are a nice way to break away from the standard potato. 

Jerusalem artichokes~after roasting

acorn squash before & after

Do I need to even tell you how amazing roasted squash is?  I do it differently each time and this time, I really wanted a little coriander to sprinkle on top but I apparently ran out so just EVOO, salt, pepper and a bit of brown sugar were used.

beets & turnips, before & after

If you don't know by now, beets are one of my very favorite root veggies.  They are pretty and they taste good so many ways. Anyone that has only had canned beets needs to try them roasted.  I promise, you will never look at beets the same way again! Just used the standard EVOO, Salt & pepper again.  Realized after that I had fresh thyme that I should have used.

beets & turnips ~after roasting

Roasting, cleaning, laundry and coffee drinking. Who knew I would turn down a sunny day out of the house for this? It has been a while since I got to have ME time and get things done at the same time.  We were all home but busy doing our own things and it felt good.


Giada has really started to play on her own un-prompted.  She goes from dancing and singing to racing cars around the living room and building 'houses' with her Legos in her room.  I could leave her uninterrupted for hours and she would find things to do and still manage to clean it all up before you got a chance to ask.

around the house

I got to be a 'Sunday Driver' in my own world this weekend and stopped to smell the roses a bit.  I can say all I want that you need to appreciate the small things but doing it is another.  My camera, my friends, family  and this blog help me to do that so to all that read this, I thank you and I hope you find time do do the same this week. Cheers.

around the house