Retrieving Joy

I slept poorly and felt sorely from the spontaneous hacking away at the huge green bush that obscures my view of the ridge, the mesa, the lightening storms, the action!  Realized early today that if I were to retrieve some joy,  I must do things that were fun.  No forced or burdensome activities.   Took a hot shower that assuaged the soreness, went to the park with my doggie, did a crossword puzzle!  Then, I decided to cook and use all the veggies that were ripening too fast, to waste not, to give this food purpose!  Orange, yellow, and red tomatoes: cherry, Roma, and heirloom.  Calabasita, a pale green sweet zucchini-like squash from Mexico.  And the leaves of spinach that were still dark green and firm from a too-large box the rest of which was going bad. Six Baby Bella mushrooms.

I put out a large skillet and swirled it a couple of times with extra-virgen olive oil and put the fire on low.  Then, I chopped three cloves of garlic and, after the oil was gently heated, added them to the pan, cooking on low for two minutes to golden only. Having cut up the tomatoes, in half for the cherries, in quarters for the medium-sized; the mushrooms in quarters, I added them to the pan and sauteed them on low, stirring frequently.

At first, I thought I would add the calabasita and spinach to the tomato-mushroom mixture, but it all looked so beautiful: yellow, orange, red with a splash of the earthy mushrooms, that I decided not corrupt it!  So, I put out a medium sized skillet, oiled and gently heated as above and added three more cloves of chopped garlic, cooked on low for two minutes.  Then, I added the sliced in quarters calabasita and sauteed, stirring frequently.    Added the stemmed spinach leaves in the last two or three minutes and folded in until cooked.

The time for sauteeing will be determined by your preference, from a snappy al dente to a tender with a crunchy skin, to a well-blended and softer form of texture and taste.  I vacillate among these, but today I was definitely in the mood for well-blended and softer, so about 45 minutes for the tomatoes and mushrooms, 20-25 for the calabasita, then only a few for the spinach.  Besides, the perfume filling the house was so intoxicating that I wanted to savor it as long as possible.

When the veggies were cooked to my taste, I toasted a couple of slices of French bread that I had in the house, lay them on a plate and ladled the tomato mixture on one, the green mixture on the other.  A sprinkle of kosher salt on each to taste, a glass of  Santa Julia Malbec from Argentina, and lunch was moaning good!  I will get a fresh loaf of crusty and superb Rosemary Sea Salt bread from the Wildflower Bakery later today and have the veggies again for dinner (yes, it tasted THAT good!) with this best of all breads!

And, now I am energized, pain-free, well-fed with healthy food, and sharing it all with you!  Gotta love that.

So, when you need to eschew the forced and burdensome do something creative, be it cooking or something else, that is fun and nourishing to your body and soul.

Love,

Susan

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