What's going on in my kitchen

Last week was Matt's spring break which means we were eating real meals at home quite a bit (we also were out of town some so we got to eat out at some great places, like Tupelo Honey Cafe, State Street Barbecue in Black Mountain, and La Pietra Cucina), so I was cooking more than usual, which I really enjoyed.

The salad above was part of my lunch today, and so good!  Lettuce and strawberries were straight out of my garden, with toasted almonds, shredded mozzarella, and balsamic vinagrette.  I've been eating a lot of salads from the garden.  My early vegetables have been hit or miss.  I think it got too warm too fast this year.  My peas seem to be doing well, as did the spinach and lettuce.  But for the radishes to get to a decent size, they had to stay in the ground way longer than they should have and were hot.  Like spicy.  Fine, but not what I had hoped for.  I think my cabbage and broccoli is giving up, and the jury is still out on the kale and carrots. 

Speaking of spinach, some of what I've harvested has made its way into green smoothies.  Matt is scared of them, but Cadence will suck them down like nobody's business.  Inspired by the recipe here, I've been using full fat plain yogurt with a few squirts of honey, because honestly, Cadence could use the extra fat and calories. 

I've tried out several new recipes I can recommend.  For Easter dinner, I made us a turkey breast in the crockpot, and I am never making a turkey in the oven now that I know how good (and easy) it is slow cooked!  My friend Susie told me that's how she did hers at Thanksgiving and she was so right.  I just salted and peppered the breast, plopped it in the crockpot, poured in a 1/4 cup apple juice and let it go on high for about 4 hours.  It was juicy and flavorful and falling off the bone. 

Some of my friends here have raved about the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and I thought this week was the perfect time to try it out.  Except I still haven't gotten the book, I followed the directions here.  I did it totally simple; I didn't buy any extra stuff, just baked the bread in a pyrex dish.  It. was. so. good.

And I just now tried out the chocolate peanut butter babies here, which sounded awesome having no added sugar and no baking!  When I saw dates were on sale at Ingles, I couldn't resist making these today.  I love me some chocolate.  Most days, I need me some chocolate.  They were delish and quick, which is kinda what I need since I'm attempting to do laundry, entertain Cadence, blog here, and wash dishes during Piper's nap.  Yikes, I have emails to reply to too.