Back to the cold section of the grocery store

It's summer. My oven is broken. I've been feeling low. Cookies seem to have lost their medicinal properties.

TIME TO EAT PLANTS I GUESS.

Sometimes that's just what time it is, guys. The Mason Jar of Pens doesn't lie.

It's been quite a while since I sat down and pored over a no-nonsense cookbook and I have to say, it was surprisingly motivating in a way that antique farmhouse feasts were not. I don't know, it's almost as though I've spent the past month putting pie and crackers where the nutrients are supposed to go.

Now I can put croutons there!

That's some Tomato and Hard-Cooked Egg Salad under those croutons. Thought it would be best to start things off with a pile of eggs in a bowl, and I was right. I'm almost always right about that.

Then, Black Beans with White Rice, Spanish Style because I thought it would be best to continue things with beans and rice and GUESS WHAT.

Yep.

For the record, I'm not cracking down on meat-eating or anything, just attempting to get the percentage of produce in our overall diet up over 2% or so. Still, I've noticed some quiet protests around the house.

This one was particularly trenchant.

 Anyway, we'll see how long this keeps up, tomorrow is Erica Eats Her Annual Hot Dog day, after all. In the meantime, I have discovered the secret to getting through summer and it is keeping a focused routine.

10:15, like clockwork.

Looks like Anna wants a new pet for her birthday

Just because I was at the beach all weekend doesn't mean I didn't eat well! I think I covered every food group that involves cardboard packaging.

Those wheat thins were soooooooo stoned.

I won't bombard you with a million children-in-the-ocean pictures, but just know that they mastered the sea.

Until they were done.

Slightly past done.

Also, if you ever doubt that my daughters are related, put a hermit crab in their hands and behold.

The glittering of SSFL

One last Farmer Boy-ish supper before I return to my lazy, modern ways: chicken pot (chicken pot chicken pot) pie.

I mean, I might have snuck some lazy, modern ways into this one. Just to eeeeeeease back into the present.

You would feel bad if I pulled something jumping back into the hectic pace of today with cold muscles.

Did you guys know that both of my children will sit still and eat reasonable helpings of chicken pot pie? At the table? Around dinnertime? I didn't! Sometimes these meal planning projects yield fascinating results.

So obviously I didn't do Farmer Boy justice, AT ALL, because it is completely amazing in terms of energy intake/output and I am…not. I'm more of a "but I don't want to pickle beets" / "oatmeal seems like dinner" kind of girl these days. Like, if confronted with a live crustacean, I'm not even 100% certain I would kill it at this point. Where is all my energy going? Can't say for sure, but a good chunk of it is allocated toward…

…wearing embarrassing makeup in public!

In the sunlight, my lips were YELLOW. I looked like a failed Bond girl. Like, really super failed.

YES, welcome to dazzling Gold Month at the Super Social Food and Makeup League of Austin. I have to say, the pictures cannot to justice to what goobers we looked like this round.

Gooooooldeyelids

All I can tell you is, this was the first time we got to the front door of a restaurant and hesitated. For a while. We even attempted to make an immediate online reservation via phone in order to add some legitimacy to our dinner-seeking claim. After several minutes of milling around on the sidewalk, flashing brightly in the evening sun, we finally charged forward into the sea of professional-looking adults, where we were rewarded with one of the best bowls of soup I have ever had.

Kale, white beans, magic fairy salt

There was also fresh pasta.

And egg-topped pizza.

And strawberry crostata.

And this perfect, perfect dollop of panna cotta.

This thing jiggled right out of my dreams.

I definitely got off easier this month, since the gold lips were gone about halfway through the soup but Regan's lids shimmered strong all night. Don't feel bad for her. I already have my assignments for the next two months and they are intense. Stay tuned!

Speaking of intense, Anna has discovered puns and is running the gamut of typical pun-related emotions.

Time to go! We're headed to the beach today! Ivy is the only one packed!

…and the blogging is lazy

I don't know about you all, but I personally celebrated the summer solstice with some hearty nineteenth century midwinter fare, as is my way. Some apple pie, for starters:

GET WITH THE AUTHENTICITY

A mighty stack of griddle cakes, with butter and brown sugar in between each layer because that's how Almanzo ate them and if I take one thing away from Farmer Boy it will be the glorious image of stacked pancakes:

And, obviously, a tiny bit of homemade beef stock:

For those long, hot summer nights.

On Friday I will tell you about last night's Super Social Food and Makeup League outing, which I believe involved the fanciest place we have makeup-bombed so far. It was shiny. Very shiny.

Summertime, guys! Yeah!

I am also doing fewer chores, somehow

Guys, I'm not entirely sure how I managed to twist "Farmer Boy-inspired cooking" into "being a lot lazier about dinner," but here we are, and good luck ever getting me to eat oatmeal without heavy cream and nutmeg again.

Good luck getting me to eat ANYTHING without heavy cream and nutmeg.

Anna has been at camp at the children's museum all week, where she continues her rigorous costume-based academic training.

I don't know why anyone bothers trying to learn without a hat on.

In the meantime, Ivy and I have become very close with all of the cement pigs outside of the museum. Do y'all know how many cement pigs there are? We do.

Sharing is caring

STRICTLY GOOD THINGS TODAY, here we go:

Dan and I made our semi-annual child-free escape to exotic Fort Worth this past weekend, which is extremely good for our marriage in that we can hear each other speaking for more than 15 uninterrupted seconds at a time and also that I am reminded how pleasant it is to order a giant plate of salad...

...and still get to eat some of his donut holes.

#teamwork

Likewise, I can ORDER a plate of pancakes yet END UP WITH half a plate of pancakes and half a plate of farmer's market omelet with fruit. So much better.

I just think this is the sort of thing that commitmentphobes might want to note.

Dan wasn't really involved in the following plate of food beyond sitting across from it, I just wanted to show you this intensely green sandwich before I move on to the decidedly ungreen tray of Farmer Boy food coming up.

Remember what good decisions I was making in this moment.

I decided it was time to get authentic with my Famer Boying, so I hit up my girl Fannie Farmer for some guidelines on making rye bread.

There were…some. Some guidelines. "Shape into loaves and bake" type of stuff.

The best thing about using a 19th century recipe is that you can claim it was supposed to look like that, it's just rustic, obviously, get with the authenticity everyone. The second best thing is that you can call "bread, sausage, cheese, and apples" a meal.

GET WITH THE AUTHENTICITY

Anyway, we're all pretty excited about summer here, yes we know it isn't really summer yet, thanks, just getting super pumped in advance.

I think my lifestyle brand has been pretty well established

Sorry for the crankiness earlier this week, I feel like I let you guys down by failing to follow my own motto in life, "Nothing can leave a bad taste in your mouth as long as you keep stuffing Oreos in there." Onward!

The summer sun has turned it up a notch this week, so it's obviously time for some Farmer Boy grub. Spareribs and mashed potatoes, molasses baked beans:

Of course, the Wilder family would have eaten those three items on one plate, along with ham, turkey, dressing, creamed carrots, succotash, beet pickles, two kinds of bread and six kinds of pie. And I doubt Responsibility Broccoli featured prominently in the rotation. But they got up at five in the morning to work in fields and muck out stables and work looms and such and we've been getting up around eight to play Monopoly and see how close we can stand to the television.

Anyway, I've got my sights set on a couple of those pies, so we'll over be here revving up our appetites.