Suppertime: Eggplant Gyros

My good friend Debbie Burgess (The Hungry Fox), sent me a link to this recipe on Cuisine Recipes and I was immediately sucked in by the gorgeous photo. This is my own shot, which I'm sorry to say is not quite as nice.

Anyway, our yogafarm produced some very fine cucumbers this week, which immediately made me think of tzatziki, which then made me think of gyros, which then reminded me of this recipe.

That's how my mind works.

The recipe on this site calls for a sauce made of yogurt and feta. I'm sure that is quite good, if not a little bland. Homemade tzatziki has that tangy zip of fresh garlic, which I think is needed in this recipe.

And now I'm going to see what how the leftover eggplant stuff tastes on an omelet.
Footnote: Eggplant stuff VERY GOOD on scrambled eggs. Think of it as eggplant pico de gallo. Scramble a couple of eggs and then drop some of the eggplant mixture on top. Mix in with the hot eggs to take some of the refrigerator chill off. Sea salt finishes it off!

34th Regiment: Always Forward

Riley is in the 34th Regiment at For Jackson. Apparently "Always Forward" is their motto. Riley is proving himself to be always forward. At least in my mind.

His girlfriend said he got a cut on his forehead and suffered a concussion on the "Victory Tower." He went to the infirmary and they told him he may have to take 3 weeks of Basic over again. He said "no way," and went back to his platoon. That's rough.

He's struggling. I've been ok with him being gone. Ok with him being in Basic. But now I'm starting to be a little anxious. His letter yesterday said he was awaiting word on his punishment for a weapons violation. Apparently he shot his (it was loaded with blanks) prematurely during a training exercise. His buddies said they'd help him cover it up, but he elected to tell his drill sergeant about it instead.

He's lonely and usually has a lot of friends around him. He doesn't know many of the guys and I think he'll start to feel better as he gains friendships.

I'm proud of him. And praying for him. I hope you will too.

Suppertime: Shiitake and Sweet Pea Risotto

Last night Taylor grilled burgers for himself and Nate while Liz and I enjoyed this recipe from Cooking Light. I didn't take my own photo of it this time. Too hungry. And you know? Mine was not quite as appetizing-looking as theirs. Because my risotto was a darker brown color. I think it must have been because of the very rich vegetable stock I used instead of the recipe's chicken stock. But boy! Was it delicious! We accompanied it with roasted and sauteed golden beets. I love to do that: roast the beets in the oven, slip the skin off, slice and then saute in butter.

I visited the chickens again this morning before work. I usually don't do that, but I had some very bland cherry tomatoes that needed to be disposed up. Chickens love juicy, seedy things. So I sliced them in half and took them over to the yogafarm. I was there at 6:15, when the sun was just starting to think about coming up. Obviously the chickens thought I was out of my mind for being up so early. None of them came down from their roosts. They just sat up there an murmured at me. I did feed them this time, since I received instruction from YogiLiz. I'll take some videos of the birds when Bob comes back with the camera.

Giant, Hairless Raccoon

That's what the chickens may think I am.
I went to Liz's and let them out this morning. But I could not figure out where their feeder is, so I didn't feed them (Liz was home, just not up yet). They followed me around, glaring at me and bwaawk bwaawking at me...getting all up in wing at me.
Then I took the one egg they'd laid and left.