easy, breezy recipes (and another pregnancy pic)

A couple months ago I heard an NPR special wherein the featured guest commented that when she was pregnant, her naked body gave the impression that she had had "an ill-advised affair with an elephant." I couldn't put it better myself. To spare you further rumination on that unsightly image, I am posting a photo from a couple days ago that shows how pregnancy week 27 looked:

On top of that (those) large bump(s), I often find myself layering about six thick layers of clothing because my winter coats no longer fit. Often I just borrow Abe's favorite coat--which happens to be very roomy and cozy--but there are some days when he tentatively asks if it would be okay for him to wear it, and then I reluctantly hand it back over for his (temporary) use.

Yesterday after I came home from the gym (a totally pointless form of weight management at this stage, but it still feels like the right thing to do), I asked Abe to drop me off at the other end of Hyde Park so that I would have to do all of my errands on foot. As I walked around, I would catch glimpses of myself in store windows and simply stare. All I could think about was the ill-advised-affair-with-an-elephant phrase...but I carried on, in spite of my bounteous form.

Three hours later, I waddled back home laden with all sorts of goodies, but foremost on my mind were the items that enabled me to make this:



What is that, you ask? Well, I shall tell you! Last year I discovered this lovely salad on Mark Bittman's website. It's an orange, tapenade, and fennel salad (I sometimes substitute thyme) based on the dish served at the Zucca Magica in Nice, France. For a picture of their salad, click here: http://content.markbittman.com/photos/the-orange-tapenade-and-fennel-salad-at-the-beloved-zucca-magica-in-nice

This is soooooooooo easy, and it is so yummy that I find myself dreaming about it. The other day I fixed it four times and then woke up at 2am to make it again. All you need are four ingredients:

one navel orange
pitted Kalamata olives
fennel seeds or fresh thyme
good olive oil

Cut away the pith of the orange, and slice your orange into rounds. Chop up the olives in a food processor and dollop on top. Sprinkle fennel or thyme on top, and drizzle it all with olive oil. That's it!

Last year I tried making a lot of this salad and saving it for later, but it doesn't keep well. The orange starts to taste too oily if left to sit in the mixture too long, so it's best just to prepare this whenever you're in the mood.

Why is this salad so yummy and addictive? I think it's because you get both sweet (from the oranges) and salty (from the olives). The fennel adds some complexity to the salty-sweet thing, and the oil keeps the dish from being too acidic and briny. It also adds some welcome fat to smooth all of the flavors together. So you end up with an absolutely perfect winter dish--and it's such a nice, healthy counterpart to all of the hot cocoa and cookies that otherwise dominate the season.

One more veggie-full dish that feels really good in winter: veggie lasagna with pesto. You might already have your own favorite veggie lasagna recipe, and if you do, I would love to have it! Email, message, or comment. I've tried a bunch of different recipes, and this improvised one is my favorite so far.

Just chop up a ton of whatever kind of veggies you enjoy running into when you take a bite of lasagna. We had a ton of the following on hand, so I used these:



Then put some sauce on the bottom of the pan. You can make your own with a couple cans of tomatoes, some garlic and spices, but I am lazy and just reach for a jar (usually Barilla or Newman's. I like Classico, but I can never get their lids off--does anyone else have that problem??).


Then put some no boil lasagna noodles on top:


Now for the yummy cheese mix.  I just dumped two big containers of ricotta in a bowl and mixed that with chopped and drained frozen spinach, a big dollop of pesto, and about a cup (I know! that's a lot, but it's so good!) of Parmesan.


Spoon this on top of your noodles, along with some fresh mozzarella and a little more sauce:

Add your veggies:


And repeat. Top off with some more sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. (For the last ten minutes remove foil.)

You end up with this:

And I even had enough veggies leftover to throw into a frittata for a later breakfast. For a frittata, simply saute a bunch of veggies (I used two onions on top of the other veggies) in an ovenproof skillet, and then pour an egg mixture on top. This egg mixture contained eggs, a little soy milk, basil, and some grated Swiss cheese. Cook on the stove for a couple minutes until the frittata looks set on the edges, and then pop it under the broiler until it's all puffy and golden. (It will deflate when you take it out of the pan). Slide it onto a board, and cut into wedges. Yum, yum!

 
It is once again time for me to make my pointless trek to the gym. I have been putting it off for three hours.  But I guess the good news is that when I come back, yummy things await! (Perhaps that's why these treks are so ineffective...hmmmm. I'll think more about that as I down my lunch later this afternoon.)