Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

I need to write about lots of library stuff! But, until I do that, I thought I'd share my new morning ritual drink: The Green Monster (this came out of me feeling like I wasn't eating enough veggies): Throw all of this in the blender: 2 handfuls of washed baby spinach 1/4 cup OJ 1/4 cup cold water a handful of frozen peaches (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries work fine too) a banana Did I mention that my awesome staff bought me a Ninja for Christmas and I use it every day for my smoothie ?!

Yesterday morning after hours and hours of watching Twin Peaks late into the night before and then again first thing that morning, I was ravenous and wanted pancakes. Though I had eggs in the fridge there was no milk, so I googled vegan pancake recipes, chose one that sounded ok and then modified it a little. The recipe I came up with is this: Vegan Pancakes: 1 ¼ c flour 3 Tbsp white sugar 2 tsp baking pwdr. ½ tsp salt 1 ¼ c water 1 Tbsp oil 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar  * Mix everything together, DON'T over whisk, and pour on a very hot, greased pan. *the apple cider vinegar and baking pwdr. help the pancakes rise Upon finishing the pancake batter I realized that I was out of maple syrup  A few expletives later I decided to make a sauce with some blackberries I found in the freezer. Blackberry Sauce: 1 ½ C of blackberries (any berries would do) I Tbsp vanilla ½ c powdered sugar ¼ water splash lemon juice Combine all things in a saucepan ...

Beef, bean, and local Sticks corn chili I love this colder weather and the food that comes with it! I made an enormous pot of chili, chock full of beef, black beans, kidneys beans, and local Sticks corn this weekend! Delicious! Here's how I make my chili, don't have measurements of spices, as I just eyeball things: Chop two yellow onions and mince 4 cloves of garlic, saute both in olive oil in a pot Brown 1lb beef in separate pan Chop green pepper, toss into onion/garlic pot once the onions have been cooking for a few minutes While veggies saute, sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, chipotle pepper (love that smokey flavor!)  Add now browned and drained beef, 1can drained and rinsed black beans, 1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans, 1-15 oz can stewed tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes that have been blanched and had skins and cores removed) Add 1 can tomato paste (15oz can)  Throw in corn (I threw in about 3-4 cups (frozen, which added more liquid) Dump in a about 4-5 c...

Do yourself a favor and make this bad boy: Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos. Wash and cube a sweet potato Toss the sweet potato cubes in olive oil, salt, dash of chili powder, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cumin Roast sweet potato for an hour at 350F, until the sweet potatoes are soft 10 minutes before the sweet potatoes are done, mix in drained and rinsed black beans Warm tortillas for 5 minutes Fill your tortilla shell with beans and sweet potatoes, top with cheddar cheese, salsa, and green onions (and whatever other toppings you like) Enjoy! Maybe I'm going to be having this for breakfast... All this burrito love deserves a theme song .

Horseradish...or maybe mandrakes...? Soaking off any excess dirt after the initial scrub. The finished product! On Saturday afternoon B2 and I were down in my garden plot putting up the cucumber trellis--the thing advertises that it's sturdy enough to hold up to 60 pounds...guess we'll see. After we drove 7 foot long wooden stakes into the ground, nearly 2 feet deep, and attached the nylon trellis across said stakes, I stepped back and admired B2's work (all I really did was hold the stakes as he pounded them into the ground; "don't look up," his only instructions as he swung the flat side of the shovel down onto the stakes, driving them into the ground, sending seismic waves through my body. Around the time we finished JL, a fellow farmer, showed up and somehow the three of us got to talking about and then digging up horseradish. And never having made, much less seen fresh horseradish, I volunteered to take the ginger-root-looking-thingys and make ...

The Kitchen here at the Farm sees so much bounty during the summer when our gardeners are harvesting vegetables and fruits from our very own gardens. Earlier in the spring we were eating leeks, green onions and asparagus; now we find ourselves preparing, serving and enjoying: spinach, salad greens, bok choi, radishes and arugala. Radishes are in my head and stomach these days. I am positively having a love affair with radishes. Here is a recipe that our community loves. Roasted Radishes with Basalmic Vinegar : 1. Steam the radishes until you can poke through the biggest one. 2. Toss the radishes in olive oil, basalmic vinegar and salt & pepper. 3. Roast the radishes in an oven at around 375-400 degrees Farenheit for about 15 minutes.. 4. Check on radishes after the first 15 minutes are up, you may need to add more vinegar or oil. Roast the radishes a little longer until the they are a golden brown and slightly carmelized on the outside. * I do...