Uniforms

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Yesterday I ordered Archer's school uniforms for kindergarten. I was a mess of emotions and not just because "my baby's all grown up." I never thought I'd be the kind of parent who sent my kid to a school where uniforms were mandatory. (Archer will be attending a uniform-enforced public elementary school in the Fall.)

I won't lie. It was the uniforms that originally attracted us to the school. And by us, I mean Hal. Hal is a huge proponent for uniforms in schools. Most likely because of an article he read one time in The Atlantic. Just kidding. Kind of. (Hal LOVES talking about all the articles he reads in The Atlantic. Hal LOOOOOOOOOVES The Atlantic. Wants to MAAAAARRRRRRRY The Atlantic.)

I for one was always skeptical but willing to keep an open mind.

And that I did.

The Ironic Momstache

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Several weeks ago my car had a near-death experience after months of questionable behavior and thousands of dollars in repairs and maintenance. (Three volkswagens later, I have come to recognize a certain pattern involving the number 70,000 miles. I'll give you a hint: everything falls apart.)

Overnight, much like with my (silver with phat rims!) Jetta and (white with cow-print cover seats!) convertible Cabriolet, lemon trees began growing from the dashboard of my Passat Wagon.

Long story short (no, really. I swear) after finding myself hysterical and stranded on the mean streets of Beverly Hills, 90211, c/o engine issues, I made a promise to myself to get me a new car within the year! Within the year, by Joe!

That night, after having my car towed to our local mechanic, (who is amazing, LA drivers. Highly recommended) Hal and I spent the evening browser-window shopping for new cars. Our criteria?

A. A bigger car with an extra row of seats just in case we plan on maybe having a baby in the next year or so.
B. A car that won't make me feel like a total vagina.
C. A car that isn't a squillion dollars.

"Why don't you just get a minivan? Who cares?"

"NO! I can't get a minivan! I can't and I won't! I'd rather drive the kids around in a bike with two sidecars!"

And I wasn't joking.

The minivan talk was nothing new for us. My car has experienced some major angst in the last year and I'm totally over dishing out hundreds of dollars a month of maintenance. Might as well be a car payment! Am I right? Am I right?

I recently tweeted about minivans. Specifically:

"I think the time has come for a minivan. Hold me."

The responses ranged from "Do it! Minivans are awesome!" to "DON'T YOU DARE, YOU WHORE" with a few "Soccer mom" digs and a dozen links to the Swagger Wagon spots Toyota did for their new Sienna. (Remember 'Yo GGC Raps from back in the day? Heyyyyaaaa!)

Mostly people asked, "...but why?"

The minivan to me has always represented all that is over and done with in terms of sexuality and "fun" ... Head-turner, minivans are not, let's be honest and although becoming obsolete is indefinite, nothing says "the selfless endeavors of the sacrificial woman" or, if you will, "mom jeans, womp-womp" like a minivan full of babes.

...I mean, my MOTHER drove a minivan! For a thousand years, actually. (She drove a 90' Toyota Previa until last year when she finally bought a Prius, obviously. Duh. She owns composting worms new car.) But ME? Sha! I'm so sure! I would NEVER allow for the same khakification...

Dunt, dunt, duuuuuuuunt!


I'm not going to lie. I'm image-conscious. I care what I'm wearing. How I might be perceived by friends, strangers. Hell, I live in Hollywood! Where people share studio apartments so they can afford to drive Ferraris down Sunset Blvd on the weekends, windows rolled, Joop cologne blasting...

And even though Hal and I drive a green station wagon (with a George Orwell quotation/Moveon.org bumper stickers) and a heavily dented Honda Civic (with gang signs carved in its steering wheel leftover from when Hal was carjacked in front of Paramount studios on Archer's 2nd birthday) respectively, we still adhere to the Los Angeles code of perception when and where we can.

Okay, so I do. Hal could give two fucks.

Anyway. Back on track: It wasn't until I did some serious thinking that I had an epiphany:

All these years I've wanted so desperately to rebel against "motherhood" in all its Khaki-panted, Zales #1 Mom pendent wearing ways. Motherhood with its minivans and its "get whites whiter!" commercials and its PTAs... which is just so... obvious, you know? I mean... how many new mothers want to rebel against the cliches of parenthood? The need for rebellion against what it means to be "mom" might just be a bigger cliche than motherhood itself!

Rebellion. Sweet, adorable little rebellion. Rebellion is the obvious choice... At least it was when I was twenty-three.

These days I'm starting to realize that the ultimate rebellion is REBELLING against ones own rebellion! In other words: IRONY.

My lightbulb moment lead me to self-suggest that the minivan may very well become the ironic mustache of automobiles as far as moms are concerned and why not jump on the bandwagon before it's even been built! Cutting edge!

Because, let's be real, people. The minivan's no Maserati but it's certainly cheaper and a whole lot more practical. I mean... the side doors open FOR YOU. I don't know about you but I'd gladly strap on a pair of high-waisted khaks to experience that kind of craziness.

At least that's what I keep telling myself in between admitting the following truths:

1. I'm almost thirty. I'm no longer "too young" for a minivan.
2. I do fancy my whites whiter, which means, in a way, I kind of am that mom.
3. I'm confident enough in my almost-thirty-mother-of-two-maybe-more-someday skin to rock the shit out of a minivan.
4. Maybe?

Not that we're committing to a minivan just yet. But considering the purchase of one? Indeed we are.

I mean... at the end of the day, I am a mom.

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WTF-ever if I look like one sometimes.

GGC

Eat Well: Quinoa(n)core = Bok + Wok + Teriyak

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Okay. So! Here ye, here ye: one more quinoa recipe aka "quinoa(n)core" for those who asked for more quinoan (I don't think that's a word) recipes. Quinoa deserves all the love and recognition it can get and I'm absolutely LOVING everyone's quinoa enthusiasm. Let's start a revolution! Quinonward!

This week I have another quinoa quickie, ideal for quick dinners for the whole fam. It's super simple, easy, fast and delish. I call it: The Bok-wok-teriyak.

Tempeh fans? Can I get a show of hands?

To Fu.

(That was supposed to sound like Fo Sho. Kind of a stretch, I kno.)

For this recipe you will need:

1. Fresh Greens: Whatever you're into stir fry wise. For me (this week) I went with Bok Choy, Baby Broccoli greens and green onions from the farmers market.
2. Teriyaki Sauce - I always cook stir-fries with (Veri Veri) Soy Vey, which you can find pretty much anywhere.
3. Olive Oil
4. Tofu (firm)
6. Quinoa of course! *which, if you're new here, please see here, here and here and DON'T FORGET TO RINSE/SOAK YOUR QUINOA before cooking. (In veggie broth or organic chicken broth if you eat meat.)
***
1. Chop onions and baby broccoli and throw them into a Wok with the Bok and heat on high.
2. Chop Tofu and Tempeh into even rectangles and place on (lightly) oiled pan. Cook over medium heat for ten-minutes or until brown.
3. Drizzle veggies lightly with teriyaki sauce and a pinch of olive oil as you stir. (Don't want to overdo with the teriyaki or else it will get soupy and weird.)

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veggies, including bok in the wok with teriyok

4. When tofu and tempeh look fully cooked (light brown) go ahead and drizzle a pinch more teriyaki over the tofu and tempeh.
5. Same goes for fully cooked veggies. (Drizzle a pinch more teriyaki over the cooked veggies in the Wok.)
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6. Serve Stir-fried veggies and teriyaki'd tempeh + tofu over fresh (steaming!) quinoa and serve to loved ones with a smile.
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What's awesome about this dish is its next-day-deliciousness. Refrigerate whatever you have left over and serve cold the next day. Or the day after. Or even the day after that.
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Enjoy!

***

Quinoa note that has nothing to do with this recipe: You can deliciously substitute quinoa for any and all pastas, rices, etc. It's delicious topped with marinara sauce and veggies, curried tofu, etc. A great way to cut white-flour carbs and eliminate gluten.

(ED: There will be more Eat Well featuring both tofu and tempeh in the future. Stay tuned!)

GGC

58/100

When I was about Archer's age, my brother and I were obsessed with a certain Sesame Street musical number. Crazy obsessed. So obsessed we made "WWW" sit with us through Sesame Street, hand on VCR, waiting to press record, until finally (hallelujah!) we had ourselves a recording we could watch on repeat for days at a time. Sure the first five seconds were missing, but in the days of VCR-ing, that was par for the course. We watched and watched and...

"That's enough TV!"

"One more time!"

"Fine! ONE!"

... watched ten more times.

It got to the point where we were so addicted, my parents had to pry us away from our beloved tape - reserving it for special occasions only so we didn't spend our every day zoned out for hours on end. Playing. Rewinding. Playing. Rewinding. Playing and singing and rewinding and...

I hadn't thought about "Put Down the Duckie" in a hundred years until last week, when Archer was parading around the house with the blow-up saxophone he got at the dentist and suddenly, out of nowhere I started humming... "put down the duckieeeeeee..."

...Which of course brought me to google which brought me to youtube which ended in five days x many-dozens of views of this:


Much like my brother and I couldn't get enough of Ernie and his shenanigans, neither have Archer and Fable been able to step away from Danny, Rhea, Pee-wee and the crew. Yesterday, I found Fable climbing up onto my desk chair trying to sneak-attack my computer for just one more glimpse at "Duckie! Duckiiiiieeeeeeee! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Whoops.

It's the circle of life. And it moves us all.

***

58. Put Down the Duckie, by: Hoots the Owl and Ernie

GGC

Monday, 7:05pm, Window

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Sometimes Hal comes home from work early. Six-thirty. Seven O'clock...
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Other nights he's out well past the kids' bedtime.
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Sometimes even past mine.
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Doesn't mean we can't still wait by the window...
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...just in case
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GGC

Gone Style: Summer Beauty for Face and Head

*ED: Updated with winner, below*

Ugh. The heat. Am I right? Am I right? What's a girl to do with her sanity when it's 673893 degrees outside. Hair? Makeup? What the fuck, sun! What. The. Fuck. Sometimes the best way to fight fire? Is with fire, baby! Bomp-chicka-wow-wow...

...So let's talk summer must-haves and quick tips for staying hot hot (in-the) heat.

First. Bangs. Ugh, you guys. As someone who has had bangs for most of her twenty-nine years, I must tell you, bangs and summer? Not a great mix. Sticky bangs are not cute and it's sort of impossible to avoid their cement-sweat-yuck when it's 102 degrees. Or even 89.

So? Unless you plan on carrying dry shampoo on your person all day long...

Which brings me to summer must have #1: Dry Shampoo! I've written about dry shampoo before complete with before and after photos. I use Klorane, which came recommended via the lovely Liz and has since changed my life. I wash my hair, at most, twice a week but work out at least three times a week so dry shampoo is mas importante. Helps me control the grease monkeys that live in my locks.

I digress. Back to bangs. (That's what she said.)

I have bangs.
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Hello, bangs.

But in the summer, they disappear:
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Goodbye, bangs.

Bobby pins are my friend and I take advantage of their loyalty to my scalp by utilizing them on the daily. Headbands, too. Which brings me to my next summer must-have: #2. Bobby Pins. A three-dollar pack will last you all summer. Just pull bangs back and pin voila.
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But not before you... #3. Flat Iron!

I was never a huge flat iron fan until I was recently introduced via Nancy O'Dell/Momversation who offered to send me the Rusk w8less flat iron + blow dryer a few months back. I am now obsessed and the flat iron (I blow dry my hair once in a blue never. Don't have the patience for it.) and have ordered everyone I know to snag themselves one. To be fair, before giving the Rusk a whirl I had only ever used to same straightener since high school, which could very well have been expired/broken. Regardless, this babe is solid. I totally recommend. (See above pics for post flat-ironed awesome.)
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(For reference, this is what my hair looks like when I wake up after sleeping on it wet. Pardon my early-am, pre-coffee man-face.)
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Poodle-riffic.

And speaking of faces that look less mannish with a bit of makeup...

Makeup in the summer is a subtle art. Waterproof mascara is disasterville - will break your eyelashes off within a week and for what? No one's looking at your eyes in the pool, anyway. They're looking at your boobs. In my case they're looking at my boobs and then promptly looking away. Two breast reductions and two babies have fucked my shit clear up but it doesn't really matter anyway because I'm married. April fools, Hal! Forever April fools!

Seriously, though. If I'm going anywhere near a pool or body of water, I stay away from eye-makeup completely and wear chap stick, tinted-SPF and bronzer. Mainly, for day to day, I go for light, barely-there makeup so people don't think I'm a dude.

BEFORE MAKEUP (ED: AND UTILIZING THE #2 BOBBY PINS!):
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For summer, besides #4 - A Good Facial SPF. I carry Neutrogena's oil-free sunblock stick on me at all times. I use it on the kids, too.

The following are my summer everyday makeup must-haves:

#5. Concealer - for pimples, under-eyes et al. My two favorities are this one by MAC and this by Josie Maran Cosmetics.
#6. Bronzer - been obsessed with the "10" bronzer from Benefit for years now. It's pricey but will last you two years. (Apply with lighter shade up to define cheekbones.)
#7. Neapolitan (shades of) Eyeshadow - (ED: think strawberry, vanilla, chocolate when choosing your three summer shades and then applying them to your eyelids one shade after the other.) In the below photos I'm wearing Josie Maran's "pinkalicious" on inner corner, followed by "sand" and "pewter" on the ends.
#8. A good, light mascara: I'm currently experimenting with Maybelline's Lash Stiletto.
#9. Burts Bees lip shimmer in Watermelon. For pale complexions such as mine, this shade is tops but all Burts shades are awesome and will flatter any skin-tone. Fine one that works for you and buy ten of them. (If you're anything like me, you will lose one every few days.)

AFTER MAKEUP (ED: NEED AN EYEBROW WAX):
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Yeah right. Like anyone can comfortably wear their hair down in the summer. Not me, anyway. My hair sticks to my neck and my skin starts itching and ew. Hair up, por favor.

Enter #9: The messy bun.

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This is how I typically wear my hair in the summer. Unless I know I'm going to be spending the day in an air-conditioned space. Here also is a better view of eye-makeup in three shades.
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Oh and sorry about the pimples. I don't know how to airbrush.

I wasn't thinking very far ahead when I took these pictures this morning. If there's any confusion with the makeup application, please let me know and I'll do a summer-makeup tutorial vid re-cap type situation.

In the meantime, here's a birds-eye view of the messy bun. An ideal nest for birds to rest their weary wings/comfortable and casual way to wear long hair in the summer.
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Annnnnnnnnnd... now that you survived all that...

This week I have two majorly exciting giveaways:

1. Rusk W8les str8-iron + blow-dryer c/o Rusk (thanks, Rusk!)
2. Josie Maran Cosmetics summer makeup basket c/o Josie Maran Cosmetics (thanks Josie and Polly!) which includes tinted moisturizer w/ SPF, cream blush in "sunkissed," pressed powder, lipstick in Dyani + black mascara. (ED: Get 25% off at JM check-out using the code "dailycandy.")

To win? Tell me your summer beauty must-haves. Winner to be picked next Tuesday PM via random.org. Good luck!

GGC

*I'm super excited to announce that my friend Christopher Collins (you may remember him from this giveaway last year!) will be appearing on the new season of Project Runway, debuting next THURSDAY (July 29th) which is very exciting round these parts. (My cousin Erica is Christopher's business partner + my mom's entire wardrobe is CC. Exhibit A: my mom's white coat pictured at the bottom of this post.) Check him out here and here and follow Christopher Collins Collection on twitter! The dude is one of the nicest, most ambitious/talented/interesting humans in existence and I'm so SO proud of him (and Erica). So sososososo proud.

** Congratulations to #284 Edensky for your new Rusk hair products and #36, LC for your Josie Maran makeup basket! And thank you everyone for participating in the giveaway! Will be doing more amazing giveaways soon! You're awesome!

After School Special

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I wasn't looking forward to summer. I've never been a fan. The heat gives me migraines, not to mention rashes and bacne but beyond the superficial obvious, I only just recently mastered the art of time/life/family/work management and was worried this summer business might just fuck it all up.

I had a routine. We all did. A routine that looked a little something like this.

Archer = School Monday- Fridays 8:30-2:30 (all other hours with me.)
Fable = Mommy alone time: Monday & Tuesday 8:30-2:30. Francisca (our part-time nanny, full-time hero) time: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9:30-2:30pm
Me = Take Archer to school in the mornings. Spend Monday & Tuesday with Fable. Wednesday, Thursday & Friday with work. Pick Archer up from school every day at 2:30 and spend afternoons with kids. Go back to work after kids are asleep.

This schedule has been a win for everyone involved. Fable and I get alone time two days a week - go to music class, have playdates, take walks around the 'hood... and every day I get to pick Archer up from school. Some days we have after-school activities. Other days, we just come home and hang here, and every now and then, Francisca stays later and I take Archer out for ice cream or some such other after-school treat. Tre fab.
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And even though our new summer schedule wouldn't be SO different, I was still a litte "eh" on the prospect of changing up what we had going on for the last two years.

The only thing that's changed, of course are our Mondays and Tuesdays which now include Archer home with us and HOLYSHIT has it been fun.
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Sure, we've had our moments of OMGNOOOOOOO... markers on faces and fighting over books and "Mommy! Fable broke my Lego castle!" But most of the time? It's been a total chillfest of awesome.


Between having a backyard and (for the first time in ten years) central air-conditioning (we had a heat wave last weekend well into the 100s. Brutal.) this summer has been totally lovely.
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...There's magic, here. In this house. I really do think so. And where, last summer I spent every day schlepping the kids from one activity to the next, museums and parks and indoor playspaces OH MY, this summer we've spent all our time at the house - playing games and coloring pictures and sprawling all over the floor in piles of blankets and broken toys and doing... well...

Eat Well: WWW says, "Eat your veggies!"

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When Rebecca was twelve, she burst into the house after school one day and announced dramatically that she would “Never eat meat again!!” I wasn’t all that surprised, really. She had been an animal lover since she was small, secretly rescuing snails I had bagged and thrown into the garbage and placing them back onto my plants. This fateful day, however, her Foods teacher had shown the class a movie called “Diet for a New America,” the first movie to my knowledge that exposed the atrocities of the Factory Farm, or the CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) as they are called by the government. She told me in graphic detail what she had learned but I put my fingers in my ears and didn’t want to hear the message. Although my most beloved cookbook was Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, the cult vegetarian cookbook of the 70’s, I still thought of meat as the main course and would plan my meals around what meat or fish I had bought for the night. I accepted and supported Rebecca’s decision, but I wasn’t going to make the same choice for the rest of the family. I also reasoned that the meat from the factory farms must be the really cheap meat, the fifty-nine cents a pound chickens and inferior grades of meat. I had driven across the country and had seen cattle grazing so I falsely assumed that those cattle were the ones WE were eating. Little did I know that those cows, too, were destined for the factory farm.

My decision to stop eating meat a couple of years ago was based on several simultaneous occurrences. An undiagnosed auto-immune condition lead me to several doctors of alternative medicine, and although they had different remedies, the one constant in their prescribed therapies was their recommendation to cut down or discontinue meat and dairy consumption. At the same time I was trudging from doctor to doctor, I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and then The China Study. Between Michael Pollen’s descriptions of The Factory Farm and T Collin Campbell’s overwhelming evidence that animal protein acts as fertilizer for Western diseases, something clicked in my brain and I no longer could eat meat. This was a huge life change for me, especially since my favorite two foods since I had been little were lamb chops and rare roast beef. Larry sweetly decided to join me in my new diet as he had never particularly loved eating meat, anyway--but mostly, because he's the most supportive husband a girl could ever have. I jumped into our new life with a mixture of excitement and fear and over the past two years have developed a philosophy about how to enjoy, and prefer, a meatless existence, especially as a carnivore. (For those of you who eat meat and dairy but are looking for humanely raised sources, I suggest this website.)

I hope these tips will be helpful to those of you who might be thinking of taking the plunge into the wonderful world of a meatless diet:

1. Be authentic: Let the vegetables and whole grains take center stage and resist using processed meat or dairy substitutes. These pretenders don’t taste good and are highly processed. Vegetables, beans and grains, when cooked correctly, are amazing in their own right. Learn how to cook them so they shine!

2. Eat from the rainbow: By this I mean all different colors and types of vegetables, grains and beans, trying new ones and serving several at each meal. We don’t need protein, we need amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and by eating many different whole foods, you get all the amino acids you need to build your proteins. It is actually more efficient to make protein this way…when you eat meat, your body has to break down the protein into its individual amino acids in order to digest them. That’s why you get sleepy after a big meat-laden dinner!! I like belonging to a CSA--community supported agriculture--where you get a box of vegetables every week from a local farm. Many people don’t like the idea of getting a random box of vegetables because you don’t know what you are getting from week to week, but this is the very reason I love my CSA—I am forced to try new vegetables and stimulates me to be a more creative cook. (I will talk more about this in a future post).
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3. Don’t replace meat with carbs. Instead, cook more vegetables and serve carbs as a side dish.

4. Go through your cookbooks that you already have and mark which recipes work for you or that can be modified.

5. Buy a couple of great vegetarian cookbooks. Two of my favorite authors are Molly Katzen and Deborah Madison.

6. Use the internet as a source for new recipes. (Hello!)

7. Add umami to your meals and use foods high in umami to satisfy your meat cravings. Umami is the 5th taste and is the essence that we crave in meat. Foods high in Umami are seaweed, mushrooms (dark such as portabella, crimini, porcini, or shitaki), potatoes and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, parmesan cheese (and other aged cheeses), green tea, cornmeal, carrots, vinegar, eggs, fish sauce, miso, soy sauce or liquid Braggs, ketchup, truffle oil, red wine, buttermilk, peas, asparagus, capers, beans, red peppers, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, goat milk and goat milk products, and winter squashes. (More on this, too, in the future!)

Roasting elevates a vegetable to a level of ecstacy not experienced by any other cooking method, magically creating robust flavor, even in the most humble of vegetables. Adding parmesan cheese, goat cheese, or balsamic vinegar after they are roasted further increases the savory richness (umami) and satisfies all of my meat cravings.

When roasting vegetables, it is VERY IMPORTANT not to crowd the pan. Make sure they are in a single layer or else they will steam, not roast. You can use two pans if needed.
Also, cut the veggies into uniformly sized pieces so they cook evenly.

Here are some of my favorite roasted vegetable recipes:

***
Crispy Kale

One of our favorite before dinner snacks. Kids love these...they are crunchy and you would never know they are made from kale! You can also fry the kale but it uses more oil (Here is a funny article in the NY Times about cooking fried kale with a 4 year old!)

4-6 cups kale, shredded and thick stems removed (I like curly kale best. See below.)
2 T olive oil
Sea salt
Optional shredded parmesan cheese
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curly kale

Preheat oven to 350. Wash kale and spin in a salad spinner until dry. Roll in towels to get completely dry (crispness depends on this!)
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Remember to dry well before drizzling oil.

Cut out thick stems and tear into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle oil over kale in a bowl and toss with your fingers until coated. Spread out on parchment lined cookie sheet (don’t bunch up) and bake for 12-20 minutes or until crisp.
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remember not to crowd kale.

Watch that these don’t brown as they can get bitter (although, I like them like that, too!) Keep checking to make sure they are crisp (you can squeeze the leaves with a pair of tongs to check). When they are crisp, take out and sprinkle with salt and/or Parmesan cheese. Serve as a snack or sprinkle on other dishes to add a wonderful flavor and crunch.
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For variation, toss with your favorite seasonings after they are crisp, or even a little sugar with the salt can be scrumptious! Yum!

***
Roasted Green Beans
1 pound green beans
1 onion, thinly sliced
1-2 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
the zest of one lemon
freshly grated parmesan cheese (buy a good quality aged parmesan to increase umami)
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Preheat oven to 450. Cut beans into 2 inch pieces. Put in a pan with sliced onions and toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper. (Make sure the vegetables aren’t crowded and are in a single layer).

Roast for 10-15 minutes, or until the beans start to shrivel and the onions are getting crisp. Sprinkle with lemon zest and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. These go GREAT with Persian eggs and actually, any dish.
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zest!

You can substitute alone or combined, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, or broccoli. You can also substitute goat cheese or feta for the Parmesan cheese and toss with walnuts, pine nuts, or almonds. Great herbs to be added with the oil at coking time are thyme or rosemary. Once you start getting in the habit of roasting vegetables, it is fun to come up with different combinations.

(For those of you who don’t like cooked cauliflower, try roasting them! I have served these to cauliflower haters and converted them to lovers!)
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***
Roasted root vegetables
Any combination of the following: carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and winter squash cut into 1-2 inch pieces.
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1-2 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
optional: garlic salt or dried herbs of your choice (I like thyme)
Coat vegetables with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in single layer in pan and roast at 450 for 20- 25 minutes, turning once with spatula.
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Serve plain or sprinkle with any aged cheese
(yummy with blue, especially if using sweet potatoes!!)
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***
The Most Delicious Potatoes Ever

Any potatoes (including sweet) or a combo of them (cut the potatoes one inch pieces)
½ onion, finely chopped
1 pepper finely chopped (I like Anaheim)
Toss with oil and salt and pepper. Cook until brown at 500 degrees, about 10 minutes.

Any vegetable is amazing roasted! Try them all and be creative. Turnips and radishes are delicious. Try something new such as celeriac or Jeruselum artichokes (sun choke--these are amazing, by the way!!) Parsnips are like ambrosia roasted…can’t get enough of them. A heaping pile of roasted vegetables served with a grain and a salad is one of our favorite and simple meals. Add Balsamic vinegar after roasting
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Ok…must go now… My mouth is watering so much, I need to roast me some vegetables!

WWW for GGC

57/100

This is one of my favorite songs right now via one of my favorite bands since always. I've never heard a Fruit Bats song I didn't love -- one of the few bands out there whose every tune is well worth purchasing and I dare you not to fall in love with Eric D the moment he burts into song.


57. Singing Joy to the World by: Fruit Bats

GGC

Tuesday, 1:30pm, Dining Room

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Without his even knowing, he takes me with him...
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into his world where nothing exists beyond the table...
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beyond the castles he builds and the stories he whispers and his "guys"...
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More than anywhere I've ever visited, this is my favorite place.
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There are so many stories in my boy, I have a hard time putting him down.
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GGC