Tangy Honey-Mustard Green Beans

My fiance and I have been doing a lot of experiments with making our own dressings. I've always been picky about buying all natural salad dressings from the store, but it's a fun challenge to make up your own. This honey-mustard dressing took a number of attempts, but I like the final product. It's got a lot of zing! You can tone it down by just adding less to your green beans, or you can sweeten it up with some extra honey.

The green beans and tomatoes at farmers markets are perfect right now! There was no better combo to put my new honey-mustard dressing on.


Tangy Honey-Mustard Green Beans

4 cups green beans, blanched
1/2 cup leeks, sliced thinly
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons fresh dill
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or any other white vinegar)
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons olive oil

Blanch the green beans by cooking them in boiling water for three minutes then rinsing them in cold water. When you add the green beans to the pot of water, do not wait for the water to start boiling again, start the timer right away.

While you are waiting for the water to boil, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Saute the leeks until they are soft, add the tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of the fresh dill. Cook until the tomatoes are just coming out of their skins.

For the dressing whisk together the rice vinegar, mustard powder, honey, salt, and olive oil. Taste and tweak as you see fit. Remember it will not taste as strong when it's spread out over the green beans.

Mix the sauteed veggies, the green beans, and the dress. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of fresh dill onto the dish and enjoy!


Serves 4
125 Calories, 9g fat, 5g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein

What I do with an Anthropology catalog

Catalogs are always fun to flip through, especially ones as colorful and well produced as Anthropology. What is even more fun is cutting them apart and turning them into something else!

After an exciting and exhausting weekend away, I settled down on my couch to relax and play with paper. What really sets this catalog apart from others is the great details and quirks that Anthrolopy puts into each photo. Little deer are hidden under a bed, a cool vase is set in the shadows of bookshelf, among many other treasures. What's more, the textures and colors of their goods are rich and interesting on their own. There was so much content I decided to cover both sides of an old notebook. That said, I did need to go to a different magazine for a couple of images to round out my design. While I used decoupage glue to hold the paper onto the slick notebook cover, I decided I wanted to leave the collage mat rather than lacquer it with coats of decoupage on top as well. I also added some fun sayings I've collected off of Yogi Tea bags. Here is my new notebook! Can anyone figure out which three images are not from the "Anthro" catalog?

The front cover.

The back cover.

Inside the front cover.

It's been a busy month!

Hi Readers,

I am so sorry that I have not been writing this month. I miss blogging, but I have been very busy getting ready for my wedding! If you want to see what I've been up to check out my wedding blog.

I hope to be writing more cooking, crafting, and running posts soon.

Thanks for reading!

Leah

Here is the paper for my wedding invitations. Look for my handmade invitations in an upcoming post on my wedding blog.

Back to Morning Running

For most of my decade of running, I have run in the morning. At first it was simply the most convenient time, but eventually, it became part of the pattern of my life. Running happens in the morning. There have been exceptions to that rule, however, including this past winter. I was under employed for a few months, giving me extra time in the afternoons to run. I was able to completely change my schedule and run during the warmest part of the day.

It was a shock to my system when I switched back to morning runs at the end of March. It had not crossed my mind that I would need to adjust to my old (now new) schedule. Well I did. But the change could not come at a better time. With the humidity settling in, 6 am is becoming the best part of the day for running after all.

The tail end of sunrise this morning on my run

I also forgot how much I like running early in the morning. I love the atmosphere and community in the morning. I get to see the sunrise and the mist rising off the fields. The air feels crisp and fresh and I come across a lot more wildlife than in other parts of the day. I even saw a beaver! There is also a whole community of people out early, even more so than in the afternoon when most people are at work. I see the same neighbors each morning walking their dogs or jogging. We smile at each other, say hello, and encourage each other. I didn't realize how much I missed being part of that community. Not only is it nice to see them, but I feel safe knowing that friendly people are around. While I miss the flexibility of open afternoons, I am glad to be back in the swing of my morning runs.

REPOSTED: The Crafty Runner goes to Craft Shows

So, this post was deleted when Blogger.com had a glitchy day. I am attempting to rewrite it:

One of my favorite sources of inspiration is the handy work or others. I love going to craft shows and art galleries where the artist is there to talk about their work. In the past couple months I went to two great shows. The Smithsonian National Craft Show and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Both were a lot of fun and had beautiful and inspiring works.

After having taken the pottery class, I found the craft fairs to be much more educational than ever before. I had a great time talking with artists about types of clay, firing heat, and chemical reactions in glazes. There was one artist who made the same sculpture out of different clays and fired them at different temperatures. She took me through each one explaining how the piece acted differently. It was great!

As a closing note, what would a crafts blog post be without a picture. Here is one of my favorites from the New Orleans Jazzfest. It's by A.me and Mitch Alamag:

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

I did it! At last I made a rice flour waffle that tastes like a waffle and doesn't totally crumble! The secret ingredient? Apple Sauce! I have been working on this recipe for months, so I hope you like it. It is not the healthiest recipe out there, but the extra egg and the oil help keep the waffles moist and cakey.

For those of you who are not bound to a gluten free diet, use whatever flour you want, half the apple sauce, one egg, and no oil. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

1 3/4 cups rice flour (I use a combination of white and brown rice flours)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup apple sauce
water, added 1/4 cup at a time
cinnamon, honey, vanilla, or almond extract

Preheat your waffle maker to your favorite setting.

Mix the rice flour, baking powders, salt, and cinnamon if using it. Add in the apple sauce, egg, and oil. At this time, add any honey or extracts you want. Mix thoroughly, adding a 1/4 cup of water at a time until the batter is smooth and the consistency of pancake batter.

Pour the batter 2 cups and a time into the waffle iron, cook, and enjoy!

Serving: 1 waffle, 1/4 cup of batter
227 Calories, 8g fat, 1g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein

First Time Potter: The Finished Products

Tah-Dah! Here is the bottle from my previous post as well as a few of my other favorites:

1) Here is the finished bottle. At the last minute of glazing I thought it would be fun to poor some blue into it. I'm glad I did. I like the subtle blue tint at the mouth of the bottle. I also really like the interaction of the shiny bottom glaze and the mat white top.

2) This was one of the first successful bowls I made. It's actually pretty even and centered! I did a double glaze on this one, doing a dark glaze with a white glaze over it. It's hard to see the resulting iridescent sheen in this picture, but it's there (a little).


3) I have a lot of chopsticks (as you can see) so I thought it would be fun to make something to keep them in. I did not take seriously enough the instructors warning that pottery shrinks in the firing process. So my chopstick vase is a little small. I like it none the less. I also wanted to make a spoon rest for my kitchen, so naturally I thought the two should match. I think overall, the glaze has more depth on the spoon rest than the chopstick vase, but they still make a nice pair for my kitchen counter.
Overall, I came home with about 15 pieces of pottery. Some are great, some are ok, and a couple are just terrible. The class was challenging and fun, I can't wait to take another one and hopefully bring home a few more stellar pieces.