Oy, these past few days. My back has been killing me.

I suppose that somewhere in my regimen of walking, Pilates and yoga, I have unfortunately pulled something. So it’s been a cranky achy time here in my head and body and for some reason I want to take it out on my least favorite food: mushrooms. A food that has so many recipes going for it and yet, despite the attempts I continually make, I just can’t get behind it.

But here I go again: using them for Saturday night’s dinner dish.

This is a cream-sauced based recipe, which to me equals YUM. But while the LSC really liked it—and even he’s not much of a mushroom fan—I was iffy on it. It was a nice try because I diced the mushrooms as small as I could so as to find them more palatable. It just didn’t work. And I really didn’t want to eat the leftovers last night but ate them I did. I don’t want to give up on the mushroom but I have yet to find a recipe that will convert me.

Chicken with Asparagus, Mushrooms and Thyme

1 tsp. reduced-sodium seasoned salt

4 (5- or 6- oz.) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tbl. olive oil, divided

8 oz. asparagus, cut diagonally into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup sliced baby bella or crimini mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tbl. cornstarch

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

3/4 cup fat-free chicken broth

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half

Sprinkle seasoned salt on chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes per side or until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from skillet; cover and keep warm. Heat remaining oil. Add asparagus, mushrooms and onion; cook and stir 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix cornstarch and thyme in a small bowl. Stir in broth and wine. Add to skillet, stirring constantly, and cook 2 to 3 minutes or slightly thickened. Stir in half-and-half. Cook until heated through. Serve over chicken.

This entry could also be called “ANOTHER deviled egg recipe?!” contribution. What can I say, I have a set of various deviled egg recipes to go through. This is the third and we have three more to go.

The deviled egg recipe for this week comes from one of my favorite Atlanta chefs, Richard Blais. Aside from the opinion that I totally think he should have won the season of Top Chef he was on, I like Blais’ inventive take on any sort of cuisine. For the LSC’s birthday—and another former blog entry—we ate at Flip and it was spot-on delicious.

The recipe is brimming with fresh herbs, some citrus and a few bog standard ingredients for this kind of treat. Now, not all of my newly planted herbs are usable just yet so I had to augment here and there with some dried, but I don’t think it takes away from the flavor. Also, Blais uses smoke powder and the substitute called for is smoked salt, but I think that if you have any liquid smoke, you could easily use that. Just be careful with it as too much could overwhelm the delicacy of the herbs.

Another thing is that eggs are topped with a mixture of sauteed mushrooms and ginger. Given my feelings towards mushrooms (not one of niceness or enjoyment), I went ahead and used the mushrooms anyway. The recipe also calls for sauteeing said mixture in truffle oil  but if you’re anything like me, you find it hard to justify buying a small bottle of truffle oil if you don’t have any other immediate uses for it. I really would like to purchase a bottle of said oil but a price of $18 or higher prevents me from doing so.

To sub for said costly truffle oil, I just used a nice fruity EVOO (shut up, I don’t like Rachael Ray either). These are definitely uptown eggies, I tell you what.

Oh, and “I’m already tired” part? It’s just because I’ve been going since seven a.m., heading to yard sales, and I didn’t sleep so hot last night.

Deviled Duck or Chicken Eggs with Smoked Mayonnaise and Mushroom

12 duck or chicken eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sweet pickles, chopped

1/4 cup chopped dill

1/4 cup chopped basil

1/4 cup chopped chives

1/4 cup chopped cilantro stems

2 tbl. capers

1 tbl. chopped tarragon

3 good splashes Tabasco

zest and juice of 1 lime, divided

1 tiny pinch smoked salt

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbl. truffle oil

1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms

2 tbl. grated ginger

Submerge eggs in boiling water and cook for 11 to 12 minutes. Remove and place in ice water until cooled; peel.

Cut eggs in half, reserving whites. Place yolks in food processor and puree. Add mayonnaise, pickles, dill, basil, chives, cilantro, capers, tarragon, Tabasco, lime zest and smoked salt and process to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a skillet, add truffle oil. Saute’ mushrooms and ginger for about 3 minutes. Spoon the smoked yolk mixture in the whites and top with the mushrooms, then a squeeze of lime juice. Serve immediately.

…try, try again. Yesterday was my attempt at making that most ancient of all foods: bread. I suppose it was the cockiness from the tender piecrust of last week which set me like Icarus towards the sun. Okay, okay, I didn’t fall that far, but still. I wasn’t pleased as I wanted to be. I wasn’t “whoo-hooing” for joy or nothing.

Discussing the problems with this bread, I told the LSC it could’ve been a number of things. First off, the recipe calls for bread flour but considering all makers of bread from time immemorial might NOT have had bread flour, I used the whole-wheat flour that we had around the house. I figured, “Six of one, half of a dozen of the other,” right? Well, the recipe—which I followed to the letter—called for bread flour so I wonder if the passable loaves that my oven turned out last night might have been too dense because of the whole-wheat flour. The LSC agreed, citing the higher fiber content or some such. Of course, I will try to make bread again at some point because dammit, I will not be denied. Maybe next time I’ll actually get the proper flour. On the other hand, the house did smell delicious while it was baking.

Egg Harbor Bread

adapted from “Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads” by Bernard Clayton Jr. (Simon & Schuster)

3 tbl. granulated sugar

1 tbl. salt

2 1/2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees)

2 tbl. margarine, room temperature

2 packages active dry yeast

5 to 6 cups bread flour, divided

optional: 1/2 cup raisins added to half the dough

butter or oil for greasing bowls and pans

1 egg beaten, mixed with 1 tbl. milk

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot water in a small bowl. Stir in the margarine and set aside.

Add yeast to 3 cups flour in a large mixing bowl and blend. Slowly stir in the liquid, stirring with a large spoon to blend. Beat by hand for 100 strokes or 2 minutes. Add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough forms a rough heavy mass. Transfer to a floured work surface. Knead for 10 minutes until it is elastic and can be stretched without breaking apart.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Lift plastic cover and punch down the dough with extended fingers. Re-cover and let it rise for 15 minutes. Punch it down again and repeat the process three more times at 15-minute intervals. (Total rising time: 90 minutes.)

Turn dough out of bowl and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Separate into 2 balls and form into loaves. Place loaves in greased 9-by 5-inch bread pans and cover with greased wax or parchment paper, or a clean towel. Let rise for at least 50 minutes, or until the dough is about 2 inches above the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg-milk wash and bake until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Wacky Wednesday is the day in our house where the LSC and I sit down after dinner, go through our budget and figure where to cut corners or where to pat ourselves on the back. Usually we can keep the food budget in check; we don’t have caviar wishes or champagne dreams or anything like that. But this week’s food budget went well over the limit and we sat agape at the pile of receipts around us. “We’re eating vegetarian all next week,” the LSC declared.

I have no problem with eating vegetarian. The LSC, on the other hand, does like having his meat. But until we can get a car and get a Costco membership, meat will have to be scarce. Still, cooking vegetarian is fun and inventive and I have no doubt we’ll both through. That said, I already have a chicken dish planned for Saturday anyway.

Tomato Stew with Chickpeas

adapted from Southern Living magazine

1 tbl. olive oil

1 medium chopped onion

2 minced garlic cloves

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes (I used the same volume can of whole tomatoes I had in the pantry)

1 15- to 19-0z can rinsed garbanzo beans (I used some dried chickpeas that I reconstituted overnight)

1 14 1/2 oz. can vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)

2 tbl. tomato paste

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. Greek seasoning

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

6 oz. fresh baby spinach leaves

2 tbl. chopped parsley

crumbled feta cheese for garnish

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high until hot. Add onion and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until softened.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, beans, broth, tomato paste, rosemary, oregano, Greek seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Stir in spinach and parsley; cook 5 minutes. Garnish with cheese. Serve immediately.

And lastly, this week’s batch of granola came from Molly’s recipe here.

I think I can state this quite clearly: the weather up here has been freakin’ INSANE. Spring is a different creature in this part of Canada. Whereas back home temps have reached comfy levels—uppers 60s, lower 70s—the temperature zigzags like a drunken grandmother behind the wheel. March was miserable and cold; April started out miserable and cold then mellowed. May started rainy and cool and stayed that way. In fact, as I write this, it’s June 2nd and you know how warm it is here? 50-effing-degrees. My husband constantly reassures me that this is anomalous weather but I’m saying if it’s like this next spring, we are definitely going to consider moving.

In the previous two pictures are an example of how freaky weather is here. The LSC and I walked down to the store on Sunday to pick up some sundries (read: snacks and beer) for Gaming Sunday (read: he and his friends play board game all afternoon) and it was comfortable out, warm but not too warm, nearly ideal. On our way home however, there was a thunderstorm that was very reminsicent of home: lightning, thunder, and as you can see, hail. Sadly after that awe-inspiring display of nature, the temperature dropped about twenty degrees and it was miserable all over again.

At least that morning—when it was still temperatures resembling normal out—The LSC made me breakfast again. On our adventures of the previous day, we picked up some veggie bacon. It’s not that it’s incredibly hard to find veggie meat products here, it’s that it’s hard to fake meat analogues. The LSC knows that I prefer this form of breakfast “meat” so I am a grateful girlie that he was game to have some, too. Of course, he didn’t care for it.

“Hmm…you can have the Play-Doh bacon and I’ll have normal bacon next time,” he remarked.

On Saturday—before the crazy hailstorm and the craptastic weather—the LSC and I explored the city. We went to various markets, had a lunch at a Lebanese grocery, bought comics, ordered comics, bought chocolates. It was a perfect day.

We tallied up the length of our walking that day and it came out to about seven or six miles. (The LSC, being Canadian and metric, thinks in kilometers.) And since our dogs were barking when we arrived home, my awesome spouse mixed us up a couple of mojitos.

Our dinner that night was some scrumptious honey-garlic sausages—not made of Play-Doh, I’ll add—and a super easy and super tasty vegetable salad. In fact, this recipe has an incredible amount of vegetables. Ideally, they should be locally sourced from your nearby farmer’s market, but barring that, the produce section of your local grocer. And if you can’t find a couple of the veggies yet, frozen is acceptable in a pinch; canned is NOT.

Variations on this one? Only a couple. The recipe calls for feta but I used a brilliant bleu cheese we brought back from Atwater Market in Montreal. Instead of a balsamic vinaigrette, I used the maple/dijon vinaigrette also brought back from our weekend out of town.

I hope you dig the recipe; if you’re a vegetarian, I know you will. Stick around for the slow-roasted tomatoes after the info.

Farmers Market Vegetable Salad

8 oz. fresh green beans, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

2 medium ears fresh corn, kernels cut from cob

1/3 cup fresh shelled peas

1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes

4 medium thinly sliced radishes

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1/4 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1/4 cup reduced-fat crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinaigrette

4 cups salad greens

Fill a medium pan with 2 inches of water and place a steamer insert inside. Bring to a boil and add beans. Steam, covered, for 3 minutes. Add corn and peas and steam, covered, 2 more minutes. Let cool. In a large bowl, combine beans, corn and peas with tomatoes, radishes, shallot, almonds and feta. Toss with vinaigrette. Spread salad greens on a serving platter. Spoon vegetable mixture on greens.

Everyday I am starting to realize more and more how important food is to me. The making of it, the reading about it, especially the reading about other people’s relationships to it.

One of my presents from the LSC was a copy of A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, author of Orangette, probably one of my all-time favorite food blogs. I devoured the book in its entirety over the course of three days, fascinated, drawn and humbled by the stories she told and the recipes she shared.

One of them was for slow-roasted tomatoes. I was antsy for a food project yesterday afternoon and I knew we had a whole bowlful of tomatoes that might go bad before the end of the week…so you can see where the thought process went. Why not, I thought happily as I chopped and tossed and slid them in the oven.

Alternately chewy and sweet, I look forward to eating these on a baguette slathered with butter.