Finish Line: Roasted Chickpea & Cauliflower Tacos

You guys!  I did it!  The manuscript and photographs for my first ever cookbook are now at the publisher’s and I’m still kinda in shock that hey, I just wrote a cookbook.  No big whoop.  Except of course, it is.  A very big whoop.  I’m still kinda processing the whole experience, really.  When people ask what it was like, all I can say is that I loved it.  So much.  Even the parts where I had to wash dishes until midnight, only remembering then that I never even brushed my teeth that day.  Such was the life!  I want to talk more about it later, after I’ve kinda calmed down a bit, but today, I’m spilling the beans on these really, really good tacos I made my mom went I went to visit her last week.  

Black Bean Tostadas

Time is flying by, isn’t it?  We’re already well into March, and spring is definitely in the air given the amount of melting going on around here.  My cookbook manuscript and photographs are due on April 1st, so you can well imagine what I’ve been up to.  I’m almost done the recipes - just 10 left to shoot - and my testers are hard at work making sure everything is turning out the way it’s supposed to.  Let me tell you, having all these sweets in the house sounds pretty dreamy, and for the most part it is, but holy smokes, I’m having to run across the street with a dozen cream puffs for my neighbours, or calling up friends asking them to take away a cake.  I figure I’ll need a month of green smoothies to detox from the sugar and butter I’ve accumulated in my system over the past 7 months, but oh my, the treats coming out of my little green kitchen are impressive.  I made French honey crullers the other day, and oh lord, I swooned.  Needless to say, meals around here have to be relatively easy and healthy - I don’t have much energy to feed myself after a long day of baking, photographing and writing.  That’s where pulses come in - they are quick, tasty, economical and good for me.  Now if only someone could wash the dishes and give me back rubs…

For the Gardener: Chipotle Spiced Lamb & Kale Tostadas

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

You can't see me right now but I'm totally doing a little happy dance.  Well, little wiggles in my chair, but that still counts.  Nope, not drunk (though I did have the best mango margarita this afternoon), but insanely happy that I've officially started gardening.  I busted out the garden gloves and the trowels and got friendly with some dirt today.  It felt good.  After what seemed like the longest winter in the history of the universe, I never thought I'd be so happy to uproot dandelions.  Just watching earthworms slither along the freshly turned over soil made me smile.  I'm a total weirdo, but after the winter I've had, you'd do the same thing.  I'm also super happy to have my post-surgery strength back, which means I don't have to be so paranoid about lifting anything over 10 pounds.  (Um, my cats are fat over ten pounds so I can finally squish them to bits.  I think this pleases me more than them).  Being strong again means all I want to do is make my yard pretty.  Which kinda means less time is spent in the kitchen, so food has to be quick and dirty.  And that's why today we are talkin' tostadas.
 

The Distraction: Chicken, Lime & Tortilla Soup

Whenever I'm in need of a distraction; something to occupy my mind other than anxiety, I head to my kitchen.  And lately I've been in the kitchen a lot.  You see, tomorrow morning, I check myself into the local hospital for a minor day surgery.  Well, that's what the physicians call it.  I call it ohmygodyouaretakingmygallbladderoutofmybody day.  I've known for quite some time that the surgery was impending, but given that I've never even had a tooth pulled, tomorrow holds a whole bunch of unknowns for me, and I'm kinda sorta freaking out a lot.  Don't get me wrong, I know I'm terribly lucky to have never before needed an extended hospital stay.  In my almost 40 years of life I've only sprained ankles, had the occupational cuts and burns and bruises, a couple of root canals and a broken heart.  Oh, if only there was a bandage for the latter.  I've gone through life fairly unscathed, and tomorrow that record is up.  Tomorrow I get an IV and anaesthetic for the first time.  That alone is giving me the heeby jeebies.  The procedure itself sounds short and simple and I can kind of wrap my brain around that bit.  But then there is the recovery and the pain and reduced mobility for awhile.  I have no idea what to expect from this whole situation and for a control freak like me, it's scary as all heck.  I've been tempering my fear with bouts of yoga and cooking, and find both processes meditative and soothing - something to steal my brain away from worst-case-scenario-land. But if you've ever had a gall bladder attack, you know of which sweet hell I speak.  Having that knife-stabbing pain gone for good is going to be quite awesome.  I just have to get through the next several days and my over-thinking ways.  And now I'm rhyming.  Let's move on to the soup!