We are moving into the house!!! Oh wait, no we are not, at least not for real, but we are thinking about setting up the tent and sleeping in the yard for a while. It's summer and it's been so freaking hot and why the hell not right?

And to prolong our move in date some more, the mr and I have decided to re-floor the entire downstairs. HA! We figured we kinda wanted to but weren't really sure if we should. And so we said screw it, lets just do it now and get it over with. So keep that in mind if you offer to help cause we might just take you up on it.

Other then house stuff, the week has been full of all the little littles, birthday parties, flowers, and tomatoes! The farm started dishing out the fattest, juiciest, most lovely tomatoes. I have found myself on a few occasions devouring whole tomatoes by accident, like i look at them and just need to eat them. (they take away my will power) Thinking I might have to make a cake with a few of the this week (if i don't eat them all) and frost them all twirly, whirly sparkly like the cupcakes that I made this week, (they looked so awesome) I think the mr would like that.

But for today, no baking. I would actually like to stay away from anything that creates heat (besides coffee) because it is finally not so hot and humid and my brain needs time to reform from the melt. We will probably just go floor shopping (blah) but that way I can ride with windows down and my head sticking out of the window like a dog. Fun fun.

Some stuff on the internet that isn't about pokemon (I still don't quite get it...)

-Slice, Dice, Chop Or Julienne: Does The Cut Change The Flavor?

-I want to turn a really old industrial building into a house.

-Nineteen of Roald Dahl’s Most Important Food Inventions

-This is one bad ass Nike ad. India's first Nike ad is gorgeous, sweaty, intimidating, and totally inspiring

-And this..A Modern Day "Green Acres": Family Home with Rustic Mid-C Trailers, Yurts & Cute Critters.. So cool. I oculd totally see doing something like this for the family. A compound of yurts. Ha

-Living Room Hammocks & Hanging Chairs.. Huh, thinking I might be needing one.

-Crazy, beautiful. OSSA: The Unwilling Dance Performance of a Deconstructed Puppet

- Not fair. Forget Beanbag Chairs. Amazon Is Giving Its Workers Treehouses.

-In love with these pieces from Henry Street Studio

-Whoa, that's a lot of people. PHOTOS: For #WorldPopulationDay, How Earth's 7 Billion Live

And some pictures from life this week.

Enjoy the day.

-C

Before we get to the fries, I just want to mention that yesterday was one of those fantastic winter days that reminds me why I love living in Vermont. Pretty white snow everywhere, the sun was out, and 20 degrees without a gust of wind. The trash dog an I were even able to go for a little hike. It was so nice and soooo sooo needed! Anyways, the other day as me, my sister and the mister where putting together one more piece of Ikea furniture, (I am the master at Ikea assembling!) a little runs into the room and presents the mister with a Dominos pizza. Yup, a whole pizza just for him. Why you might ask? Well I guess my sister was delivered the wrong pizza and the place didn't want it back and she didn't want it, so she gave it to him.

A whole pizza to himself. I didn't mind too much..he was just going to be eating it for lunch and dinner until it was out of the fridge. But for dinner I did want him to eat something of the vegetable matter that didn't come out of a box. I was going to make him a big salad, but then realized that would mean sharing the last of the greens that I had for MY dinner and I was not about to do that, so I made him parsnip and carrot fries instead. No biggy, just some slicing, a little tossing and a bit of time in the old oven. And I figured I might as well make a nice sauce for those fries because I be so very nice.

The biggest problem that I ran into when I made these fries was that I didn't make enough, so you should probably make twice as many as you think you will eat. If you end up not eating them all (which you probably will), well then you now have a great start for a soup or a nice addition to a salad. Either way, you will eat them because they are amazing and addicting… and as healthy as can be!

The carrots and the parsnips are all sliced up into big matchsticks and ready to be baked to crispy browned perfection. I added the oil to the pan to toss the fries in and then sprinkled with a fair amount of salt and pepper. If you don't have and or want to use a cast iron pan, a baking sheet works just the same.

Oh saucy sauce stuff. Tomato puree, sriracha, and yellow mustard. Add a little bit of honey to lighten it up (can use brown sugar if keeping it vegan), a splash of apple cider vinegar and a couple minced cloves of garlic. Topped off with the smokey delightful spice of cumin. I cold eat this on everything…and I kind of did.

All mixed up in an oven safe dish, I stuck it into the oven for a about 8 minutes until it got a little bubbly, just to let all the flavors fuse together…

Fries are done, Sauce is ready. Served in super cute tea cups.(from now on I want to serve everything in tea cups.) A perfect side dish, snack, or even a light meal. It lead the mister to ask the question...What pizza?

Happy Day!

-C

Parsnip and Carrot Fries with Smokey Sriracha Sauce

The Stuff

For the Fries

2 large parsnips
2 large carrot
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon oil

For the Sauce

1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoon tomato puree (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste and 1 tablespoon water)
2 cloves or garlic
1 teaspoon honey or brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin
a splash of apple cider vinegar
a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Wash and trim carrots and parsnips and cut into large matchsticks (any shape is good, just make them all uniform) Toss with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on cast iron pan or baking sheet and stick in oven for 30 or so minutes, and rotating after about 20. The fries are done when crispy and brown.

For the sauce. Mince garlic and add to all the sauce ingredients in an oven safe bowl. stick into oven for about 8 minutes until slightly bubbly and hot.

Dip fries in sauce