Monday, February 28, 2011

CSN Giveaway! {closed}

As you know, I've been hard at work settling into a new house and a new job! Both of which I absolutely love!

With new homes come many opportunities for decorating... and shopping! Our furniture fits pretty well into our new house, but our home entertainment center doesn't quite fit the bill. So, we're of course on the prowl for an entertainment center. Because what we have works really well, we have been waiting for the perfect piece!

In my shopping for entertainment centers for flat screen TVs, I've found several that would be perfect in our home! Just to get the hubby to help pick! We need something with a narrow profile and contemporary with clean lines... something like this maybe!


In honor of reaching 100 posts (actually about 112), and in honor of moving into my new house, I'm please to announce a giveaway of $35 to CSN Stores!

The giveaway will be open for two weeks! I hope to see lots of fantastic entries! There are multiple ways you can win!

For each entry, you must leave a separate comment.

Open to US and Canada residents.

MANDATORY ENTRY: You must be a follower of EKat's Kitchen, using either Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs; you can join either using the links to the left of the screen. Once you've joined the site, leave a comment telling me what you have your eye on from CSN Stores.

Additional Entries:
  • Like EKat's Kitchen on Facebook.
  • Follow EKat's Kitchen on Twitter.
  • Subscribe to EKat's Kitchen via email, using the form to the left.
  • Post or tweet about this giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. One entry each; can be tweeted/facebooked daily.
Again, please note that each entry must be left as a separate comment.

Good luck!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sauteed Garlic Rainbow Chard over Red Wine Pesto Pasta

My first CSA box arrived last week -- from Glacier Valley CSA. I've been yammering on about it for almost a month. High time I got my act together. And, so far, I'm not disappointed!

I'm also trying a box from Full Circle next week... the experiment is on!
I picked up my bountiful box from a local business and unloaded it, drooling over the beautiful contents spread out on my kitchen counter.

Wouldn't you drool... mmm. The colors!

One of the things I find extremely necessary in an Alaska winter is to have fresh flowers in the house... all the time! What gets me here is not so much the dark (though I dislike it) but the lack of color as everything falls into a category of white, dark or some shade of gray betwixt the two.
Look at these babies.

This one is hot pink!!!

I adore the color pink. Especially hot pink. And, especially when it appears naturally!

What do you do when you know nothing about a particular food? Google it! Find inspiration. Mine came in the form of Food and Wine Magazine.

Although it's been said that I'm an adventurous eater (the only food I've found that I HATE is beets), I also am a firm believe in Plan B -- just ask my husband... he teases me about making contingencies for contingency plans (only half jokingly).

Interestingly enough, I learned that chard is related to beets, but somehow, it must be enough different that I like them. What this really means is that rainbow chard does not taste like dirt to me, as do most beets; something about a genetically recessive trait. Chard is also SUPER healthy: high in vitamins A, K and C, AND filled with minerals, dietary fiber and protein. Super good for you - a superfood?

When in doubt, make pasta.

Garlic Rainbow Chard over Red Wine Pesto Pasta


Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Garlic
modified from Food & Wine

Though the original recipe calls for lemon zest, I have no lemons to zest. It also calls for four pounds of chards, and I'm sure that I didn't use that much. I couldn't bear to use it all up.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced 
4 (?) pounds rainbow (or ruby) chard
salt and freshly ground pepper

Rinse the chard, discard the stems, and remove the internal ribs, chopping the ribs into 2" pieces.

Slice the leaves into 2" ribbons.

Place about half the olive oil in a good sized pan. Toss in the garlic cloves and cook until golden.

Next, add the leaves, a handful at a time, allowing each batch to wilt before adding more. Sautee until the liquid evaporates.

Set aside leaves and wipe out the pan.

Add the remaining oil and add sliced ribs to pan, cooking until crispy.

Red Wine Pesto Pasta
8 oz pasta (1/2 box), cooked
1 tbsp red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon pesto parmesan (one of my favorite discoveries from Savory)

After the pasta is cooked, toss together the other ingredients.

As it turns out, no back up was needed! Score!! However, since it was made... and so lovely, I opted to include it as part of the meal, just like it was the original plan. Er, it was the original plan, I swear!

Serve the sauteed greens over the pasta and and a few sprinkles of feta for texture!

Voila! Enjoy!

The verdict: Absolutely FABULOUS first experience with a CSA. Delicious. A keeper.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Friday Potluck #23

Friday Potluck #23

I totally spaced on Friday Potluck last week! Call it a blond episode... even though this past year, I've become a confirmed brunette.

Call it being highly distracted.


Anyway, earlier this week I posted a mini-tour of our new house. It shows you what darling hubby and I have been up to. A lot of it is what darling hubby has been up to and I have "supervised"... while unpacking countless amounts of boxes... I swear that at least a third of the weight of our HHG was packing paper.  Either way...Check it out. I'm proud of our accomplishments; and if I look at the pretty pictures, it makes it easier to ignore the giant stacks of boxes. Not that there are any... errr... right.


My goal this weekend is to dig through ALL of the boxes! :) And, at least get the closets packed away along with the office all set up. This girl will be working from home part time, and I have to totally love my office! I promise pictures soon. I can't wait to be able to run laundry during the day and start dinners. Not that I am excited about doing laundry, because it's my very least favorite chore! But I am excited about working in my jammies a few days a week!

OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE,
Do YOU want to win $35 to spend at CSN Stores? I'll be giving away a gift code... in honor of 100 posts (though I'm well over that now) and celebrating the move into my new house! Stay tuned for my giveaway next week, which will be posted on Tuesday and will run for two weeks, with the winner announced at Friday Potluck on the 18th! Get ready to rumble! :)

And now on to the Friday Potluck!

grab the code!




 You know the drill!

The rules:

1. Please link directly to your recipe (not your main blog).
2. Please only one recipe per blog.
3. Be sure, in the linked blog post, to link back here to Friday Potluck @ EKat's Kitchen using the button above or text.
4. Have fun, do some visiting and enjoy!

Friday Potluck is open for linking up Thursdays at 10pm Alaska time until Mondays at midnight!

Bring on the recipes, I can't wait to check them all out!



This linky list is now closed.

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