Just Another Meatless Monday #16

Well I've been missing for a while. I needed to get my balance back and make peace with myself. I think it's going rather well. I am forging connections with myself, centering myself, bringing myself in and the peace I feel is overwhelming. I need this every once in a while, like chocolate, like hibernating. The stages of life must be met, acknowledged and lived through. And when I derail I need to step back and realign my priorities. Husband, family, self and a bajillion other things all need attention and when I scatter and over balance and of course eventually collapse, I must rebuild.

And that's where I've been.

We had a wonderful and busy weekend celebrating Colony Days, the 75th anniversary of the Matanuska Colony. The who and the what? The Matanuska Colony was part of the New Deal. It was designed to get people out of the lower 48 and get them to Alaska where they could start again. The 202 families came from the mid-west and lived in tents the first summer. Each family was given a 40 acre parcel of land, a home, a barn, a chicken coop and a well house. Well they weren't given all of those at one time, first the land was cleared, then homes were built and each year one new outbuilding was built. Many families failed to make a home here, left and were replaced with new families.

And so we spent our weekend celebrating the tough hearty families who pushed the reset button, came north and changed there lives for the better. It felt right to spend a day in my home town where so many came to recenter their lives while I was attempting to recenter mine. Often through the day I looked up and cherished the mountain views that haven't changed in 75 years. I draw strength from the mountains, I wonder if the colonists did.

I admit I have strayed from our meal plan simply because I packed our picnic lunch for Saturday on Friday and took it to the farmers market for lunch with my husband. I've also gone off the 'plan' because I forgot the Rule of Laura: we need to eat that now!! But I made bread this week and banana bread so I am finding balance. Dinner tonight was just simply fantastic, we had potato, portabello and mustard hash with hard boiled eggs over the top. Fresh grilled corn, a very small trout caught by my 4 year old in a local lake and broiled tomatoes. Fresh, local, organic, simple and delicious.

 I'm going to share my recipe for broiled tomatoes because when the fresh local tomatoes hit you are going to need every recipe in your arsenal to use them up! These would be so awesome as appetizers.  I made them as a side dish and could hardly stop eating them to save my husband any, heh.

Broiled Tomatoes
4 large heirloom tomatoes, of course regular are fine too
1/3 cup of dry grated parmesean
16 walnut halves

turn broiler on
while it's heating
wash and dry tomatoes
slice each in to 4 slices, removing the stem area carefully from tomato
place the slices on a baking sheet
sprinkle each tomato slice with a teaspoon of parmeasean cheese
top with a walnut half
place under broiler for 2-4 minutes until the cheese is slightly brown and the walnut is toasted
these are best eaten hot but even when cooled they are good

Last week I was the worst hostess and I hope you all will forgive me! I was just not with it but I will be by to visit, comment and support you. As you all do for me.





Peace and Love-