Evidently I'm a Slacker

I have a seasonal problem: every year when it starts to get unbearably hot & humid & sticky & gross I lose ALL motivation to stand in my typically tiny kitchen over a hot stove or with the oven pre-heating. Hence my meal 1-3 times a day for the past few weeks has been: cereal.

Not the most terribly exciting food to blog about, ya hear? Though since I've been on break the past week I have been pretty much eating my way through vacation ...

Friday: after a few post-final drinks I dragged 2 classmates to Mozarelli's for GF pizza & cookies
Saturday: my dear, dear, lovely friend Alisa is in town! we brunch at Friedman's Lunch in Chelsea Market, over-stuff at Babycakes GF, vegan bakery in LES, and grill up some veggies on my buddy Seth's roof deck (current obsession = platanos)
Sunday: brunch at Peters' (UES), Alisa departs, dinner with some of my bestest at Caracas (still in the honeymoon phase of this love)
Monday: S'MAC for lunch with a friend (the Parisienne - total foodgasm), guacamole with my sweetie of a roommate, Brittney, on our stoop for dinner
Tuesday: quick trip to Boston! dinner with dad at Wagamama in Harvard Square
Wednesday: new frozen GF pizza from Whole Foods for breakfast (the brand escapes me), Poe's kitchen at Rattlesnake for lunch (gave my friend and head chef, Brian Poe, his gift of Szechuan peppercorns from Beijing), drinks with a classmate also from Boston at Lord Hobo
Thursday: back to NYC, made dinner for friends - spiced pecans, saag paneer, avocado salad (recipes below)
Friday: grilling for the World Cup opening! I make everyone scrambled eggs with various condiments for breakfast and offer up GF pancakes for lunch, still too full for dinner.

now my mum is in town and we are ready to rock it like nobody's business!

Spiced Pecans
4 c. pecan halves (or whatever, just not chopped)
2 Tbsp oil (veg, canola, olive, your preference)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme (worth it!)
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (also worth it!)
1/2 tsp bl. pepper
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/4 c. melted butter (or fake vegan butter)

preheat to 400F, toss all the ingredients well, spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet, roast 8 minutes, DIE because your taste buds are so overwhelmed with awesome (recipe courtesy of my best friend's mother-in-law)

Paneer
1/2 gallon whole milk (or more, if you want more)
acid (acetic, citric)

easiest thing ever: boil milk (watch the heavy saucepan, as soon as milk boils it will immediately try to froth its way out of the pot!), as soon as boiling starts remove from heat, add 2+ Tbsp of your acid, stir a bit, let sit 15-20 minutes. the acid will precipitate the curds from the whey. strain through 2 layers of cheesecloth. store in either a ball or squish flat on a plate to make those cute paneer cubes. should sit for ~1 day.

Saag
ack! left my recipe at Laura & Tim's place. you can obviously use your favorite saag recipes. I personally don't add yogurt or tomatoes and cook with oil, not ghee.

Avocado Salad
this one I made up while I was in the grocery store ...

bunch of arugula, washed & torn to bite-sized
head of Bibb lettuce, do the same
2 avocados, cubed
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 Valencia orange, cut to bite-sized (I'd have preferred Mandarin but oh well)

Lemon Shallot Dressing
3/4 c. oil (I used evoo)
3+ Tbsp lemon juice (depends on your level of lemon, I like more, especially if it doesn't have time to integrate)
1 minced shallot
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

shake it up!

there you go, and we're off to breakfast at Cafeteria.