Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Archives for May 2017

greek relish (quick cheap & easy)

Do you ever crave something that’s cold and salty, tangy and juicy, something with a bite to it but also some delicateness, maybe a grassy freshness, something that will fill you up but not bring along a thousand calories? And while you could always use more veggies, you have already eaten enough actual salads that day, so how about something different?

Me too. Frequently. And I have a suggestion for you.

I realize this barely counts as a recipe. It’s just an excellent combination of average ingredients, really, and likely not too original. But I stumbled on this edible pleasure last Friday and wanted to share. I also want to document it for myself so that on some hungry, salt-craving, fresh-food needing summer afternoon this “recipe” might pop up and make me happy all over again.

Let’s call it “Greek Relish” or maybe “Grain-Free Tabloueh” or just “Olive Salad,” whatever you fancy.

It’s just green and black olives mixed with tomatoes and cucumber, a couple of flavor helpers (garlic, black pepper, oregano, and fresh parsley), all chopped up and refrigerated for a while. Easy peasy.

I ate mine greedily stuffed inside whole wheat pita bread, and it was perfect. Had it been diced more finely it would have made a really great dipping salsa for those tortilla chips.

I didn’t add any oils or dressings, just drizzled some of the green olives’ juice into the bowl (the black olives were drained).

All you need, just combine and chill:

  • 1 medium can black olives, drained & chopped
  • 1 similar sized jar of green olives, juice retained, chopped
  • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cucumber, chopped
  • half bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
  • oregano, black pepper to taste

This was fast and easy, delicious, satisfying, and inexpensive! Surely you could get a bit fancier and use kalmatta olives, sun-dried tomatoes, maybe feta cheese and grilled chicken breast, etcetera, but I love having pantry staple ideas like this in my back pocket. Craving killers that do not require trips to the grocery store.

I served this at an impromptu bonfire party we hosted last Friday and everyone who tried it loved it. I can’t wait to make this again.

Welcome to warm weather, cold food, easy eating, healthy season!!

Over and out!
XOXOXOXO

 

monday may first

How fun to begin a fresh, new month on a Monday. And what a gift that our Oklahoma skies are (at least temporarily) clear and blue, warm and friendly. This has been an auspicious beginning.

I spent most of today setting up for the rest of the week. It’s an easy-rhythm thing around the farm, every Monday, and I like it. Plenty from my list of good intentions remains unfinished, but I feel content and even a little drunk on tiny pleasures.

Honeybees exploring tomato blossoms near the kitchen door. Pacino chittering to the wild songbirds. Klaus, black and shining, panting, catching his breath after several exhaustive romps with Meh.

Our pond is higher than we’ve ever seen it, rippled by the stout afternoon breeze and glittering, really truly glittering and navy blue instead of muddied by clay It’s a welcome sight, as are the rolling green hills and soft, lush pine trees. 

Having neglected to collect eggs yesterday, today I found twenty-six! They are scrubbed clean and drying now on a thick towel on the kitchen counter. The smell of soap. I have this ever-expanding vision of supplying fresh edibles at a local market. A detail of this vision is inviting people to select their own eggs, taking home only the shell colors they like best. I have a large powder-coated basket and stack of empty cartons perfect for this fun. Until then I mix them up, tan and green and dark brown. ($3 per dozen, locals!)

As Handsome was driving home from the City, I sat on the kitchen patio and wrote and played some easy fetch with Klaus. The breeze was mostly cool, but sitting still in the afternoon sun baked my jeans against my shins and melted away some tension. Like a massage for my bones and my emotions. I stood up, stretched, and planted a new rose bush he had gifted me before bedtime last night.

I feel full and empty all at once, and I have stories stacking up inside me like hurried, disgruntled train passengers desperate to disembark at the perfect destination, heck any destination; but I can’t slow the train to let them exit safely.

Things I hope to tell you wonderful people this week:

  • All about the Listen to Your Mother event on Sunday. Wow. 
  • Some exciting running accomplishments from a few of my favorite humans.
  • The easiest non-recipe I have ever shared. I made it by accident last Friday.
  • My own running lately and a plan for May and June
  • Two books I read recently that you just might LOVE. Or hate. Your choice.
  • Bliss Lists!!
  • Even more about LTYM because I just had no idea what it would really be like. 

As we go about the first few days of this gorgeous new month, let’s urge each other to be grateful for the gifts we have and gentle to everyone who crosses our path. Let’s work really hard at our goals (more focus, smarter ingenuity) but also rest more often and luxuriate in what we have already accomplished. Best of all let’s take time (and help me remember this ok?) to sometimes not even think about those things. Just love our men and our dogs and our horses and gardens. Once in a while that has to be enough. And, because life is truly magical, it will make us stronger for the things we can’t do much about, after all.

See you soon, magical hard-working people.
XOXOXOXO