Morrocan-spiced Lentils and Beef

Remember when this blog was actually about just me posting my recipes that seemed to work? That was probably like 5 years ago. Let's start that again because I don't have any witty stories or pictures, but this was tasty and Ramona ate it, which is important.

evoo, s + p
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
2 T tomato paste
1/2 t Ras el Hanout
garlic of some sort
1 1/2 c french lentils, rinsed
28 oz whole or diced tomatoes
2 c chicken stock

Heat a dutch oven and add olive oil until shimmery. Sweat onions + pinch of salt until tender. Brown ground beef and season with salt + pepper. Add in tomato paste, Ras el Hanout, and whatever form of garlic you're using and stir until fragrant (~1 minute). Add in tomatoes and break with a spoon if they're whole. Add lentils and chicken stock as well and then cook for another ~45 minutes - 1 hour until the lentils are tender.

cold brewed coffee

Welp. That photography challenge came and went. Oops. I did take a lot of photos, though, while we were in Michigan and right after we came back home and hadn't downloaded the pictures to our computer.

Om nom nom lake perch from Scalawags. Because they don't have this in Texas.

Mostly, I'm here because I wanted to use this blog how it was intended, for a recipe. For me. Not for anyone else, although you're welcomed to use it, but I can never remember this by myself.

Cold Brewed Coffee
6 c cold water
4.5 oz ground coffee

combine, put in the refrigerator for some amount of time between 12-24 hours. Filter through cheesecloth and then a coffee filter. Dilute in half when serving.

30 Day Photography Challenge: Something you wore

We took Ramona to a splash pad yesterday to see if she'd like it. There were a ton of kids there, which scared her and the water features were a bit... aggressive. I carried her around to see the less violent features and got soaking wet in the process. Mostly, I dried off rather quickly, but not my shoes, which though waterproof, remained squishy for the next couple hours while I walked through Central Market.

Also, these shoes are giving me the most ridiculous tan lines.

30 Day Photography Challenge: Self-portrait

I miss blogging. I miss the food blogging community here in Austin too. I just don't think I have the time to do it on the regular yet, and I'm doubtful that I will until I graduate; however, I did find something that I think I can do and will let me satisfy that blogging urge I get now and again.

The 30 Day Photography Challenge at White Peach is doable, I think. I'm not going to join their forums, but I will post to this blog. Hopefully daily, but if not, I'll be taking daily pictures. So here's my first picture, a self-portrait. We took it at St. Theresa's in Austin right after Ramona's baptism. And since I'm in this picture and I'm never in pictures, I'm going to call this close enough.

thank you! thank you! thank you!

Austin Bakes for West was a resounding success. Bakers, baked-good aficionados, and online donors raised $19,377! This was well over the $15,000 goal. Thank you so much if you came out to the sale or donated your time, money, or goods! A super special thank you to Kathryn of Austin Gastronomist for organizing this and all of the site leaders as well. Megan of Stetted and Steff of The Kitchen Trials were the site leaders at Stiles Switch BBQ and they helped us have a fun, productive sale! Also greatly deserving of credit is Stiles Switch BBQ for making tray-upon-tray of delicious sausage kolaches, letting the bake sale run late, and being a great party host to boot!

If you missed the bake sale, the online donation form is still open here.

I would totally post pictures, but in the interest of actually getting a post up, here's a link to some pictures and the wrap up post over at Austin Bakes.

Austin Bakes for West

Another interruption in my silence here.

If you've paid attention to any Texas news, you already know about the devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas that left 14 people dead and up to another 200 injured. West, Texas is a tiny town along I-35 and anyone who's made the drive from Austin to Dallas has gone through West. What makes it so well-known is its close-knit Czech community and the bakeries, like the Czech Stop, within that served up delicious kolaches.

The Austin Bakes team is getting together again to host another city-wide bake sale on May 4th from 10 AM - 2 PM to support the people of West. There will be eight locations and delicious treats at each! All proceeds will be donated to AmeriCares.

So what can you do to help? If you're in the Austin area and have some time, donate baked goods or volunteer to work at the bake sale. If you're pressed for time, but still in Austin, come out to the bake sale and get some tasty goodies for your monetary donations. If you're not in the Austin area, or you simply can't wait to help, you can donate in the name of Austin Bakes to AmeriCares via the FirstGiving page.

Colby, Ramona, and I will be at the Stiles Switch BBQ location. We're planning on bringing strawberry lemonade cupcakes and mojito kits, and maybe some other goodies, if we can get our act together. So come out and visit us on the 4th to help out some people in need!

I'm still here, lurking somewhere on the internets.

The last time I posted for reals was on my birthday and my extended absence is probably going to get longer, but I wanted to post something that wasn't just random code (THAT HAS A SEG FAULT IN IT. GRR). So... here's a picture of Ramona "taking" a selfie.