Living Without . . .

A lot of us have been cutting back in the last few months. Everywhere you turn there are tips on saving money - how to stretch a chicken to feed your family for a week, where to find good deals on wine, how to cook with dried beans, etc. It's almost become sort of chic not to spend a lot of money. And certainly loosing a good chunk of my income has meant I've had to learn to live without certain things and how to be smarter with the funds I do have. For Jon and I, this has meant we eat out less and try to stick to more affordable restaurants; I've become very serious about shopping for sales at the grocery and have spread my shopping out between 3 stores to get the best deals on things like beer and wine, produce, frozen and packaged foods; and I've tried to be better about timing both my shopping trips and eating out so that any leftovers don't go to waste. But perhaps our single most significant strategy to save money was our decision to cohabitate and combine our two homes into one. Since Jon owns and I didn't, this meant I moved into his place. Which, I'll note, is currently being renovated. Jon's been working on it pretty much since he moved in 2 1/2 years ago, and I've been helping atleast with the stuff that doesn't involve heavy lifting. He's painstakingly smoothed out the 1970's textured plaster on the walls and ceilings, repainted (multiple times), installed beautiful woven bamboo floors in place of the institutional looking carpet that came with the place, gutted and reconfigured the master suite so that the sink is now inside the bathroom, built out and tiled the fireplace, installed new lighting throughout. It's been both very trying and a lot of fun.

And after a year of browsing showrooms, home design magazines, and emailing photos and products to one another, we finally took the plunge and started demolition on the kitchen in late January. Which at the time seemed like a fine time to do it- we mostly cooked at my place anyway. Since we're doing the renovation ourselves at nights and on weekends, projects that would take professionals a few weeks drag on for months. And so in moving in I'm facing the reality of living without a kitchen, and probably for quite some time. A lot of people do it, I remember my sister teaching me how to make nacho cheese dip when she was renovating the kitchen in her first house - basically you dump some salsa into a microwave safe bowl with 2 kraft singles, microwave briefly and stir. It's surprisingly good.

We do have a make shift prep area with a microwave, coffee maker, and toaster, a closet that protects our pantry items from the overwhelming coating of drywall dust, and a beautiful new fridge that's actually plugged in and working (we have the range too, but umm, no power cord yet). I'd have to say the hard part of living without a kitchen is not the cooking, it's the cleaning. Not that I'm a huge fan of cleaning up in general, but having to wash dishes in a teeny bathroom sink definitely proves challenging. On the other hand, we're sacrificing a few short months of hardship for what I think will end up being a really beautiful and fun to cook in kitchen!



Our final (fingers crossed) materials pallet - Ikea cabinets in Nexus Brown (not to be confused with brown black, yellow brown, or medium brown) and a high gloss Abstrakt White, a backsplash of cottonwood Savoy mosaics from Ann Sacks (we're actually leaning toward the penny rounds, but they were out of the samples), caesarstone counters in nougat, and deep blue grey walls. We'll be using formica with metal trim to line the base of the garden window, and will continue the woven bamboo floors throughout.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

My first recollection of strawberry and rhubarb was at table full of handmade pies I spied while visiting Middlebury, Vermont with my grandmother and great aunt as a child. And each spring, the site of the first stalks of rhubarb take me back to the coolness of dewy grass across collegiate lawns, the soft warmth of the sun, and the delicious smell of newly baked fruit pies with their buttery crusts.

I love baking pies with their sweet-tart fruit fillings and crisp flavorful crust domed up above. But baking a pie and preparing a pie crust from scratch is a rather time consuming affair. While some turn to the ease of frozen pie crust, I just can't bring myself to stoop there. When you're accustomed to the buttery, flaky, flavorful homemade variety, grocery store crust just comes off tasting like chemicals. But I don't always have the time, and so there are 2 alternatives I often turn to. The first is to make a fruit crumble - it is simpler and faster than making a pie but still results in a crisp buttery crust that compliments the fruit perfectly. And the second, is even simpler, but does forgo the crust altogether. Though, paired with a scoop of ice cream or a crisp cookie, a fruit compote can be the perfect weeknight dessert.


Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

Serves 4

2 cups chopped rhubarb
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups hulled strawberries (frozen will work)

Combine rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium sauce pan. Warm over low heat until juices begin to release, then raise to a medium heat until juices begin to thicken and rhubarb is tender. Add strawberries and warm until heated through. If you like more distinct chunks of fruit you can take it off earlier, or if you'd prefer a more preserve like consistency continue to cook over a medium low heat until fruit begins to flake apart. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving.

Chicken Breast Rolls with Prosciutto and Taleggio

A lot of people are surprised that (a) I'm not offended by meat eaters, (b) I'm not opposed to cooking meat, and (c) I'm actually capable of seasoning and cooking meat properly without tasting it. The thing is, I consider my choice to be vegetarian a personal decision based on what I enjoy eating and while I want others to be respectful of my choice not to eat meat, I try to respect their dietary choices in return. And since I love cooking for my friends and family, and most of those people enjoy eating meat atleast once in a while, I very much wanted to learn to cook meat, atleast once in a while. And while I definitely taste as I cook while preparing a soup, sauce or similar dishes, even meat eaters don't actually slice off a hunk of meat while it's cooking to test for seasoning or doneness. Both are things that can very much be learned by reading and watching experienced cooks.

That said, I tend to prefer recipes that involve meat in a way that is quick to prepare and easy to swap out - a chicken breast, steak, pork chop, or burger all cook in a few minutes and can be paired with a variety of sides that go equally well with a tofu steak, veggie patties, or seitan, whereas something like beef stew or barbecue ribs involve a rather lengthy process that tends to overshadow the other items on the menu.

For this dinner, I served the chicken breast with pureed cauliflower (simply cook cauliflower until tender, puree in a food processor, add butter, herb, salt and pepper to taste and heat just before serving) and braised greens with shallots and white wine. And for my entree, I subbed a couple marinated tofu steaks.


Jon is a huge fan of chicken breast stuffed with cheese. This version has an italian influence with the basil, oregano, tallegio, and proscuitto, but feel free to vary the combination to suit your tastes.

Chicken Breast Rolls with Prosciutto and Taleggio

Makes one chicken breast

1 6-8 ounce chicken breast
1/2 tsp chopped oregano
1/2 tsp chopped basil
3 slices prosciutto
1 ounce taleggio, sliced into 1/8" pieces
1 tsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil

1 small shallot, finely minced
1 tsp chopped mixed herbs (such as basil and oregano)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Butterfly chicken breast by slicing in half lengthwise and opening like a book. Place between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap (or in a large plastic baggy). Pound out with a mallet, or in my case a wine bottle and metal coffee pot (anything heavy and flat bottomed will work), until about 1/4" thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap chicken and season both sides liberally with salt and pepper, then sprinkle one side with chopped herbs. Lay out prosciutto slices to cover chicken evenly. Then distribute cheese slices evenly over surface. Wrap tightly tucking in end pieces and secure with toothpicks. Lightly coat in flour.


Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken breast in skillet with toothpicks out to the side, allow to brown on one side and then the other, when somewhat firm, remove toothpicks and continue to brown on final side. Transfer to oven on a lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Meanwhile, add shallot and butter to skillet and allow to brown slightly on medium heat. Add wine and reduce to a thickened pan sauce. When chicken is cooked through, remove from oven and top with pan sauce, serve immediately.