use real butter

Ooh! Kell turned the artichoke dip recipe (hello everyone, I have to tell you that it isn’t MY recipe… I got it from the Etiquette Grrls web site a long time back) into PASTA. What a brilliant girl! She has inspired me to consider making something akin to a savory baklava, but more like spanikopita… I figure we’ll layer the phyllo dough the way you do in baklava (lots of layers) rather than the way you do in spanikopita (one giant filling in the middle). The filling will be coarsely ground artichokes, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic paste and…??? It may very well suck, but I doubt it.

This evening we reviewed Japango, a sushi bar in Boulder. Sushi is great in summer (it’s great anytime, really). There are a lot of sushi bars for the size of Boulder, which says something about the population here – they love sushi. The trick is filtering out which ones are lousy and which ones are great.

japango

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Ah, we finally got around to inviting Tom and Kellie over for dinner this coming week. Even though they live next door, we rarely bump into one another because 1) we all work real jobs 2) they go fishing in their spare time while we go hiking and 3) when they’re indoors they are recording music while we’re inside dorking out on computers.

So Tom will eat anything, and Kellie is flexitarian (eats fish and chicken). I’m brainstorming menu ideas…

appetizer: grilled coconut lime shrimp
main: grilled wild salmon with fresh dill and lemon
side: deadly mashers
side: edamame
side: wild greens salad with carrot-ginger dressing
dessert: chocolate-espresso crème brûlée

I made lasagne today with some of that awesome organic beef from Paidom Ranch. I like my lasagne loaded with vegetables too – so I mixed spinach with the ricotta, and added onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes to the beef and sauce, then layered sliced zucchini and mushrooms in between.

crunchy baked top

loaded lasagne

We had a very summery meal for dinner tonight. While I was preparing the food, I came to the conclusion that I not only like winter for the weather, the skiing, the warm covers, but also for the kind of cooking I can do – filling the house with warmth and good smells from the oven or the slow cooker or a pot of simmering chili… Summer meals involve more grilling, salads, and summer produce.

potato salad begins with potatoes, green onions…

…and ham, boiled eggs, and seasonings

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