Grasshopper New Media Presents...

My week, in bullet points:

· I didn’t get any of the jobs I applied for. I was bummed out, I got over it, I decided to cook and write. Who needs government work! Bah!

· I made, or considered making: Lemon muffins, carrot muffins, Curried Chickpeas and Kale Soup, marinara (recipe below), scalloped potatoes (we need to dig the rest of the potatoes — must add to to-do list), gardenburgers, summer vegetable tart (note: add “buy cookbooks by Madeleine Kamman and CDs by Rodney Crowell to to-do list)

· Couldn’t find to-do list

· Made new to-do list. Lost it

· Wrote a bunch of political stuff, re: crazy racism in my neighborhood and city. Talked with my kids about race

· Gave myself a headache

· Went for acupuncture and talked about the war with my doctor. Our stance: Peace is good

· Went off coffee and black tea

· Gave myself another headache

· Took some Tylenol and went for more acupuncture

· Avoided phone calls

· Read my husband’s blog (more politics. And guess who’s calling us for interviews? The TV news stations and the newspapers. Neat! I tell them, “Go read my blog. You can quote from it.”)

· Realized that politics are intriguing, but extremely hard to write about. Wrote some more. Worked out some stuff. Watched “Big Love” and “Weeds” on DVD. Suddenly, politics seem not as complex

· Got the kids to school on time every day and remembered to pick them up! (Bonus points.) Took them out for cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa one day after school. (Bonus-bonus points.) Shelled out fourteen bucks for scrip movie tickets from the PTA for the fall movie matinees. Realized that between swim lessons and church we might make it to one movie. Hopefully it will not be “Shrek the Third,” which I really am not all that interested in. At any rate, one film = tickets will pay for themselves

· Forgot to post for GNMP.

· Posted for GNMP.

My husband came up with this recipe and it’s been my favorite for the past ten years. We freeze a large amount of it each fall, when the tomatoes, basil, and peppers in our garden ripen. We use it year-round over pasta, for pizza sauce and with polenta

Saute in olive oil and safflower oil:

2-3 onions
2-3 bulbs garlic

Carmelize a little.

Add:

2 stalks celery
1-2 bell peppers (green, red, yellow or combination)
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Saute vegetables until peppers are soft. Add six big cans of tomatoes (drain most of the liquid). Simmer at least two hours, stirring to prevent burning. Add two bunches of fresh basil, chopped, and one bunch fresh oregano, chopped. Blend with hand blender. Serve with pasta or use as pizza sauce. No-meat “meatballs” are great with this, and freshly grated parmesan is, too. Ditto sauteed mushrooms.

Bon appetit!

[tags]kids, children, parents, moms, dads, busy, headaches, family, love, comfort, politics, race, racism[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by katcat, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved