food fit for the weekend

I've been picking lots of hot
peppers and tomatillos at the
farm each week, but not
using them. They were really
starting to mount up, so it
was time to get my hands
burning and cook up some
salsa, hot sauce, and tomatillo
salsa. Salsa is pretty self-
explanatory, and hot sauce
hardly qualifies as a recipe. But I find many people wonder what to do with tomatillos. A salsa verde is simple and quick, and is great with chips, over burritos, even on some rice.

Smooth Salsa Verde

8 large tomatillos
2-3 green or yellow hot
peppers
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
2 T. cilantro

Remove husks from toma-
tillos and give them a quick
rinse. Quarter them and
place in a pot. Add the salt.

Halve the hot peppers and
remove the seeds and ribs.
Slice and put in pot. Roughly
chop the garlic and add to pot. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15-20 minutes. Cool a bit, then move all ingredients minus half the liquid to a blender or food processor (I use a large slotted spoon, then pour in half the remained liquid). Add the cilantro. Puree until no more chunks remain.

More grownup food...amazing mushrooms on toast, vegan version of Jamie Oliver's Mushroom Bruschetta. Sooooo goooooood...
It really pays to get a good variety of mushrooms. I bought these, until like Jamie, because I can only identify one kind of wild mushrooms reliably. I really want to learn more, and there was an awesome "wild edibles" hike at our CSA last summer, but unfortunately I had just given birth and missed it. I hope they do it again one of these years.

Sometimes on the weekends I like to make feeding the kids breakfast easy on myself. So I just make up a serving platter of items and they take what they like...
Above: banana; bread with peanut butter; bread with Earth Balance; apple slices; roasted almonds.

Below: bread with raspberry jam; husked ground cherries; raisins; mini zucchini muffins; banana slices; dried apricots; peanuts.