Day 44 - Parsnips and Green Beans

Parsnip or Root Vegetable Puree - pg. 315

Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon - pg. 292

Pan-Fried Turkey "Tenders" - pg.231

It was a good, productive day. By the time I hit the sack tonight, my studio will be just about completely unpacked. I'm going to add some wall shelves and cabinets as soon as possible (another trip to Ikea; isn't that a shame?). Until then, some of my Barbies and my own art dolls will stay in boxes, but they'll all neatly be in file storage boxes. Of course I'll be moving stuff around and reorganizing for the entire new year, but that's anticipated. And I have to get my 3 floor looms put together and up and running. But that will be fun, not drudgery. Otherwise today? A couple loads of laundry. A grocery expedition to Trader Joe's. We are currently very well stocked with veggies, fruit, and proteins. I also discovered that our local woodpeckers are using the vertical pine posts outside the garage as graineries. They're storing acorns in them. Well, it's better than the bats we had in our ceiling in Los Osos. The birds will poop elsewhere.

Back to cooking tonight! I LOVE parsnips and was thrilled to see 6 recipes for them in the current issue of Fine Cooking. I made their Mashed Parsnips with Lemon and Herbs which is a slightly gussied up version of Alice's root vegetable puree. This veggie puree thing is new to me, and now I'm excited to try pureeing a whole range of root vegetables. FC's parsnip version adds creme fraiche, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. And whatever chopped up green herbs you happen to have on hand. It was a major M.O. (mouth orgasm).

I also used the last of some green beans to make Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon, although I used pecans instead of almonds. Very tasty. Rounding out our plates were Pan-Fried Turkey "Tenders," whatever a tender is. I cut one tender in half horizontally to make 2 thin enough for pan frying.

Altogether, this was an excellent dinner, one I would serve guests. And I used my new warming drawer exactly the way I had planned. Instead of juggling 3 dishes simultaneously, I made the parsnips and put them in the drawer. Then I made the green beans and put them in the drawer. Then I made the turkey tenders. Everything was perfectly warm on the table simultaneously and I was cool as a cucumber.

28 recipes completed; 277 to go!