Recipe Fantasies

Nobody wants to read about how I don’t have time to do all the things I want to do. Really, nobody has that kind of time, so I won’t waste the time that you do have with wailing and lamentations over all the recipes I have no time to try or posts I have no time to write or books I have no time to read. Instead, let us take a few moments to dream and imagine, whet our appetites with wishes of new, delicious dishes.

I’m missing rhubarb season so I’m dreaming of rhubarb recipes daily. This recipe for Rhubarb Buckle with Ginger Crumb at Oui Chef is sure to satisfy all my rhubarb desires. Of course, just about all the rhubarb recipes I’ve posted to The Messy Apron could stand to be revisited. And there’s my ridiculously massive “recipes to try” collection, which contains more than enough rhubarb recipes to last a lifetime (…cheesecake, waffles, pavlova, oh my!)

The spring vegetable season is still lagging in my neck of the woods, so I’m still waiting (impatiently) for peas. I planted both English peas and sugar snap peas in my garden this year, and they’re all blossoming now, so, with any luck, pea recipes are just days away. In the meantime, I hope to try a recipe for a green pea hummus that can be made with frozen peas and tell you about it soon.

Lettuces are still coming into the farmer’s market and I have visions of green goddess dressing this year. There are so many different versions – anchovies or no, avocado or just herbs, lighter or positively decadent – that it should be fun comparing them. Of course, there are plenty of other salad dressings to fall back on, and I’ve got a jar (actually, the Oxo brand dressing shaker I mentioned here) of Sweet Asian Dressing waiting for me to buy some more greens or even cook some noodles.

And I can’t deny that grilling season is upon us. I grill potatoes to go with just about anything all summer long, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some fresh green beans to grill, too. Of course I’d like to make these turkey burgers again, perhaps with this homemade vegan mayonnaise, but my lack of time and energy have made simple turkey burgers grilled and slathered with barbecue sauce about all I can get around to making. They’re good, however, so I make no apologies.

Of course, my summer stand-bys are simple pasta dishes with vegetables and herbs and stir frys with whatever I happen to have around (recently, it was radishes and asparagus). I hope to write a little more about those pasta dishes soon. Wish me luck on applying fingertips to keyboard in that simple endeavor.

 …and then there are hundreds of fruit desserts and jams, a couple of almond butter cookie recipes I want to try, and then, who knows what will be showing up soon in the farmer’s market or even in my own garden. What can I say? I have a rich fantasy life….when it comes to recipes, anyway!