It's getting to that time again.
Cool nights.  School meetings.  Dance class registration.  Pens and Pencils.  Getting the lunch kits ready for use.  Earlier evenings. The freezer is getting more and more full - green beans, pesto, corn, peas.  The fruit is frozen and waiting for me to turn it into perfect little jars of jam.  And tomatoes... that's how I really know.  The tomatoes.  I've got 3 bushels ready to go.  I feel a little scared each year that I do it but it's so worth it afterwards.  In the middle of the winter when I'm pulling out a jar of my own sauce or my own diced tomatoes... it's so worth it.  So, fall is upon us.


With everything else going on in the kitchen right now I'm finding myself a little uninspired about getting meals together.  The lovely thing about fresh summer veg is that it does so well on it's own.  It doesn't ask to be fiddled too much with to taste fantastic.  We've had our fair share of meals consisting of corn cobs and mashed potatoes. Doused in butter and sprinkled lightly with salt it's hard to imagine anything better.  You can only get along with just corn for so long before the troops start to protest.  Fortunately for the all of us my hand was forced.  I had to use up some meat.


Derek has this terrible habit of taking meat out of the freezer and then not using it.  Granted, he does it with the best of intentions.  He just gets busy and then the next thing he knows it's 4 days later and the meat hasn't been cooked and has gone bad.  We've had to keep a stricter eye on things since we are spending more on meat to get good quality, grass fed stuff.  So the meat that he took out had to get used up and this dish was born.


It's kind of a throw-in-whatever-you've-got-kind-of-thing.  It's one of those things where the finished product is much much better than the sum of it's parts.  It's very forgiving but some small details will make all the difference.  The roasting is nice so using vegetables that you can roast it will taste infinitely better.  If I had even more time (or inclination) then I would have grilled the veggies - that would be the best.  Either way, the corn is crunchy and sweet, the pork is perfect and the tomato is divine.  I used a cheese that contained black peppercorns and it definitely added a nice kick.


Corn, Roasted Tomato and Zucchini Pasta (I made this one up... I swear)
serves 6

1 med. leek (or 1/2 cup onion), thinly sliced
1 med. zucchini, thickly sliced
2 1/2 cups (or about 3 med sized) tomato, thickly sliced
1 ears of fresh corn or about 2 cups of kernels
1 lb ground pork or 5 about slices of bacon finely chopped
1/4 cup mixed herbs, chopped
1 veggie boullion cube
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 cup semi soft cheese (brie, brick etc), cubed
4 cups penne pasta cooked to al dente

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
Place the sliced zucchini and tomato onto the baking sheet.  Brush lightly with oil or fat.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and roast for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the zucchini is looking soft and well browned.
Meanwhile in a wok or large pan heat a little oil and add in the sliced leeks.  Cook for about 3 minutes or so.  Add in the corn kernels and cook together for about 8 - 9 minutes.  Add a little more oil or fat if necessary.
Add in the ground pork.  Cook together and stir regularly.  After the meat browns add in the veggie boullion, Worcestershire Sauce, honey and salt.  Continue to cook for another few minutes.  Add in the roasted zucchini and tomato.  Toss together.
Add in the cooked pasta and toss to combine.
Top with the cubed cheese.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

I really wanted this to be amazing.  I wanted to give you a fantastic recipe to use up all that zucchini.  This recipe, however, sounded better than it was.  I would make some changes... but we'll come to that.
As I've settled back into the last week of summer vacation and come down from my five days in a place where the air is clear and the water tastes amazing, I've found myself ever so slightly depressed.  What's funny is that I'm not feeling depressed about going back to work... that's cool and I'm looking forward to being in the swing of things again.  I'm not really feeling depressed about summer going either (well, maybe just a little bit if I'm honest).  What I'm feeling depressed about it our way of life.  How we live, how limited our choices are and how damaged everything is because of it.
I found myself feeling depressed driving back into Ontario - the highway was so bright.  Lights are everywhere.  It's like Peter Jackson's film rendition of Shelob's Liar (Lord of the Rings - Tolkein), even the dark is light.  Additionally, all the reading I've done this summer has brought my to a new place and to some new decisions.  I don't think that I've done a very good job of communicating what I've been learning and how it has affected me.  I feel like I need to take some time here on this blog to express how deeply I feel about this issues we face as a society around our food.


Last year  - give or take 6 months - was about committing to local and seasonal vegetables.  I did that both through the food box (which tells me where my food is coming from) and through local farmer's markets. This year has been about going deeper than just my vegetables.
I really do feel sick when I read about the way factory farms treat animals... any animal.  It makes me sick because it represents to me that even the human animal has no real value anymore outside of the profits that we can provide.  I've been slowly moving us away from factory farmed meats.  However, it's not enough for me and I've pledged to myself to make further changes.  So...
I need to buy a small chest freezer.
I need to finally contact the beef farm that my friend C recommended (she's friends with the farmers... doesn't get any better than that)
Additionally, I'm not feeling bad about eating butter, cream, lard and bacon anymore.  I'm beginning to comprehend more deeply how important these foods are to us humans.  We need fat.  Whether we like it or not we're eating it and I'm going to choose to eat it in the forms that help my body (Yeah - I said 'help' as in 'are good for me') in the form form of butter, cream, lard and bacon rather than the forms that  are hidden from me and hurt my body in the form of corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil and the like. That means goodbye to processed foods.


In this recipe I've added sausage and cream (I wish to goodness that I could get raw milk) and if you wish to adapt then please do.  As I stated at the beginning of this post, this recipe sounded better than it tasted.  I like the idea though and I want to tinker with it some more.  I found it too much bread so you might want to play around with putting into the bottom of a larger roaster or something.  Better yet, save half the dough and freeze it and use the other half in a pie plate.  I would also tinker with some stronger flavours... smoked paprika, chipotle or even more pizza'ish'... something a little bolder.  Last but not least - do not scrimp on the zucchini.  I had two very large zucchini's and only used 1 1/2 because I thought that it would be too much.  It wouldn't have been.



Yeasted Zucchini and Sausage Pie adapted from 'Simply in Season'
makes 1 9x13 pie (serves about 6)

Crust:
1/2 cup warm water
pinch of sugar or tsp of honey
1 tbsp dry yeast
1/4 cup + 1tbsp milk
1 tbsp oil or melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose or bread flour

Filling:
8 cups zucchini, thickly sliced
3/4 pound sausage of choice
oil or melted butter to brush
3 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup fresh basil and oregano, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
5 lg eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
pinch of cayenne or pepper sauce
2 cups (or so) cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Crust:
Combine the warm water, sugar and dry yeast.  Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast dissolved and begins to get foamy.
Combine the milk, oil and lightly beaten egg.  Mix well and add to the yeast mixture.
Combine the whole wheat/red fife flour, shredded parmesan, salt and all purpose flour.  Mix and form a well in the middle.  Pour the milk milk mixture into the well.  Stir to combine and until it forms a smooth but very sticky dough.
Place in a lightly greased bowl and turn so that all sides of the dough ball are greased.  Cover with a clean cloth and set aside in a warm, dry spot.
Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and lightly butter.  Set aside.
Filling:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the sliced zucchini strips and the sausage on a baking sheet.  Lightly brush the zucchini with oil or melted butter.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  Roast for about 20 minutes or until the zucchini is soft and just beginning to brown.
In the meantime, combine the eggs, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, dijon, Worcestershire and cayenne.  Mix well.

Pie:
Place the lightly risen dough (mine rose for about 35 - 40 minutes at the most) in the greased baking pan.  Spread out evenly making sure that the dough goes well up the sides.  Sprinkle a little bit of the cheddar on the bottom of the crush.
Place a layer of zucchini strips on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle with some sausage. A little more cheese and so on until the zucchini is all used up.
Pour the egg mixture over everything and sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese over the top.  Bake for about 25 minutes or so until the pie is golden on the edges and the centre of the pie is firm to the touch.
Cool for a good 15 - 20 minutes before serving.

As you know I've been away.
During my time away from home I've discovered some new things in life that are in fact favourite things (that just might have ruined me).
1.  Well Water.  I didn't even realise that treated water tasted different because honestly I can't tell the difference between Toronto tap water and bottled water.  However when we were here I freaked out when I tasted the water straight out of the tap.  Now that I'm back in T.O. I'm having trouble re-adjusting.
2.  Beef Jerky.  Apparently we're all sold.  I never ever thought that kid #2 would go near the stuff but he did and even he loves it.


3. Beer.  Thank you Vermont.  'Nuff said.


4. The awesome results of zucchini plant fertility treatments... with a paint brush.


5. Unexpectedly seeing a field being plowed by two horses and a rear plow... in upper New York State(!)  Wish I could have taken a picture but we were on the Highway and it was gone before I could've gotten the camera out and shutter bugging.

6.  The taste of real campfire S'mores really cannot be overstated.


7.  THE Best Lunch EVER.


7.  Needing to go back.  This is not a proper kind of favourite thing but now I discover that I've got to go back to Vermont in order to continue on my beer tasting journey and to discover the joys of raw milk cheese.
I'm going to get on the blogging recipe train just now but in the meantime just give me a little time to bask in the post vacation glow.  It's coming soon though because I have some mondo zucchini and tomatoes that need attending to.


Just an FYI, if you find yourself in Stowe, Vermont then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a visit to 'Laughing Moon Chocolates'.  Some amazing chocolates, great local crafts, an amazing mission statement and if you are there when Amelia happens to be working tell her 'Wanda from Toronto' (with the cute kids) sent you.  She'll treat you right.

And just like that we decide that we're not just going to talk about taking a road trip to Vermont.  We decide that tomorrow we're getting in the car and doing it.  That's the way we roll.  Planning schmanning.  Within and hour D has contacted 3 potential places for lodging and we've mapped a course.
This is the first year since we've been together (and it's been more than a few) that we can road trip absolutely anywhere we want because it's the first year that D has his Canadian Citizenship.  Worth it's weight in gold.  So with an address and probably the world's worst map (which happened to be the only one I could find in Toronto on short notice) we headed out the door and down our street.
We ended up here.  This place is gorgeous.  I can't get you a proper picture of the countryside that we are nestled in right now because a camera quite simply can't do it justice.  Suffice it to say, when we arrived late in the night we had a moment where we both stopped talking and just looked at each other. The only sounds - ONLY SOUNDS - were the crickets going crazy.  Once the kids were in bed (yeah, we did bring them) and we were outside we were astounded once again.  The sky was alive.  I've never seen the big dipper so clearly.  We could actually see the Milky Way.  There are no lights here.  Just none.  Fortunately there is internet access though so I can write about it.


Let me break it down for ya.  In the last 20 hours we have driven across one province and two states, eaten two bags of chips (in transit), 8 homemade cookies, 7 homemade crackers with hummus, listened to way too much music, had the easiest border crossing experience ever, seen the galaxy, woken up to a wonderland of mountains and trees and quiet, eaten breakfast at the weirdest/awesomest restaurant, bought beer,  taken a short hike, gotten in the hottub, spent time in the hammock and met two very awesome lodging owners.  If you are looking for a spot to spend some time that is quiet and charming and beautiful then these are your people.


What we haven't gotten to eating yet are these buns.  But we haven't yet had our bbq which D is threatening to get underway in a very short time.  I suspect that D's burgers will be what goes in between these awesome buns.  I wasn't sure how they would come out but just went for it.  I got nervous because they hardly rose at all for the first rise but by the time they got to the bun-shaped-second-rise stage it was looking much better.  In my opinion they are the perfect size for burgers but I'm a small bun/big burger kinda gal.  Please don't take that in anything but the literal kind of way.


So I'm off to get something happening with these ingredients and I'll keep you updated on the state of my time in Vermont.  I'm hoping to get to a farmer's market within the next day or two and believe my I'm more excited about that than I am anything else.
Enjoy these last beautiful bits of summer as much as you can.


Red Fife Egg Buns adapted from here
makes 6 - 7 medium sized buns

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup red fife flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature or just a little warm
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 tsp yeast
1 lg egg, lightly beaten

Mix together the flours and the salt.  Set aside.
Combine the milk, sugar and yeast.  Mix well and set aside for about 4 - 5 minutes.  Add in the egg and butter.  Mix well until the butter is melted in.
Add about 1 1/2 cups of the flour mixture.  Mix well and add in the rest of the flour until it forms enough of a dough ball to turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead on the floured surface for about 5 - 8 minutes until the dough is silky and smooth to the touch.  Try not to add any more flour if you can at all get away with it.
Place the dough ball into a lightly buttered bowl.  Cover with a clean cloth and place in a draft free spot to rise for about an hour or until doubled.
Place the dough onto the lightly floured surface (honestly, I didn't even need to flour it again) and knead for another couple of minutes.  Divide the dough into 6 or 7 equal portions.  Knead slightly and form into flatish kind of bun forms.  Place the buns onto a lined baking sheet (parchment or silicon).  Cover again with the clean cloth and let everything rise again for about 45 - 50 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake the buns for about 15 - 20 minutes or until just turning golden brown.

I just went back and reread my last post.  God, what a wreck.  I've done some breathing in a paper bag, had some drinks with my two best friends and totally gotten over it.  Totally gotten over myself.
Moving on - it's August and it feels like I should be doing one of those list thingy's that bloggers seem to do. So this is it,  an update on everything I'm watching, listening to, reading, shovelling down my throat and randomly doing.
Right now I'm watching The Hour and just finished Sherlock: Season 2 (and have very low expectations for the American cover starting in the fall... just sayin').  I'm not watching a whole lot else on television - which is fine by me.
My ipod playlist has been pretty stagnant lately.  I've been totally jazzed though with this tune.  It's beautiful and the Deftones cover is so different but equally beautiful.  Listened to this one recently on the headphones and was reminded how gorgeous the writing and the arrangement is.  Lush.  I've been craving some New Order but so far haven't succumbed.
My summer reading has been a mixed bag. I read The Vegetarian Myth, followed by 'Folks, This Ain't Normal'.  Next was this wonderful lighthearted mystery and I've just started 'Real Food'.  Not exactly a Light and fluffy reading summer but it was broken up a bit with the mystery novel and to be honest the Salatin, although intensely interesting and thought provoking, wasn't heavy at all.
D and I took a walk and found this rad shop.  I sat on a couch that seriously hugged and kissed my ass - it was a beautiful experience.  We took some pictures of the graffiti art that was inspiring.


I've been tripping on the pulled pork sandwich at The House and the wings at Morgan's are complex.  Complex.


Since eggplant has been available in my food box I've been putting it in everything.  I made a stew, ratatouille, pizza and now this lasagna.  I decided to use roasted eggplant in place of the noodles and honestly you don't miss the pasta at all.  Kid #1 didn't even realize that it didn't have the noodles.  As I suspected, this lasagna got better the next day.  I would highly recommend making it the day before you need it and then heating it up.  We loved how this turned out.  So much so that it's gone on our 'make again' list.  Right up there with sweet and sour meatballs and shepherd's pie.  You won't be disappointed.



Eggplant Lasagna (an adaptation of the one I usually make with noodles)
serves 6 - 8

1 lg eggplant, partially skinned and sliced long and thin (about 1/4 inch)
1 lg pattypan squash (could use more or substitute with zucchini), also sliced thin
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch or two of salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup leeks, sliced thin
1 lb sausage (I used hot italian sausage for this one), casings removed so it looks like mince
1 bunch of chard or kale, chopped
2 veggie boullion cubes
1/2 cup mixed herbs, chopped
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp salt
400 ml crushed tomatoes (could get away with using a little more)
1 lg tub ricotta
1 egg
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled (could use something else here)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet or two with parchment or a non-stick silicone thing.
In a large bowl toss the eggplant and pattypan sliced with the olive oil and the salt.  Place each slice on the baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.  The veggies should be soft and possibly browned but not black.  Remove from the oven and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat a little oil over medium heat.  Add in the sliced leeks and cook for about 3 minutes.  Add in the sausage mince and cook until the sausage is almost entirely browned.  Throw in half of the chopped greens (kale or chard) and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add in the boullion cubes, mixed herbs, honey, Worcestershire sauce and salt.  Mix well.  Add in the crushed tomatoes and turn the heat down to med/low.  Make sure that the sauce can simmer still.  Simmer for about 15 minutes (enough time to let things cook down a little).  Check the taste after 15 minutes not before.
In a large bowl mix the ricotta, egg, goat cheese, parmesan and salt.  Mix well.  Set aside.
Get a 9x13 baking dish (or a lasagna dish if you have one) and line the bottom with 1 layer of the eggplant and pattypan.  Layer that with some of the meat sauce.  Then dabs of the ricotta mixture.  Lastly, a good sprinkling of some mozzarella.
Continue this layering until everything is used up.  I got 3 layers with mine.
Sprinkle the last bit of mozzarella on top of everything and add a little more grated parmesan if it strikes your fancy.
Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes or until everything is bubbling and the cheese is beginning to turn golden brown.
Cool for a good 15 - 20 minutes before serving (although about 30 minutes would be perfect).

I'm was not sure what to even call this post.  My fingers are shaking on the keyboard... I'm scared.  Terrified really.  I did not expect to have this reaction at all and the whole things is completely freaking me out.
Let me back up here and explain.
A few weeks ago (maybe, I'm guessing) I read a post here about how to increase your blog traffic and so I did one of the things mentioned and just started adding it to my routine of 'once-I-post-something-new-I-also-update-here' kind of things.  Then about a week ago (again, I'm guessing... not even sure when but definitely 'more recently') this awesome lady left a comment on one of my posts saying how awesome the blog is (Thanks!) and how the recipes are rad (I'm blushing) and that I should join this new canadian recipe site thing.  So I thanked her and then joined the thing.  Maybe she's a scout for the new website, whatever, I didn't care I just joined... whatever, right.
Except now, over the past week or so (I'm sure about this one) my daily hits have been going up and up.  That's a good thing right?  When it goes up from 30 hits per day to 45 then it's cool.  Then it starts going to to 60 hits per day and I'm feeling a little antsy.  And then it's 75 hits.  Today I have reached almost 200 hits and it's on 4:33 in the afternoon.
My first reaction is absolute and complete terror.  TERROR.  What the hell do I do now.  I'm not a professional.  I take weird shots of my kids squishing each others heads.  I use terms like glop, squidge and goop in my recipes.  What if I mess up a recipe - wait!  Does this mean that I have to measure more carefully?  I can't guess the amount.  Oh God, are people actually going to try making some of this stuff.

These tomatoes have nothing to do with the recipe or the post generally.  They're just beautiful and I got them at the market today.

Now the really funny part is that if most bloggers were getting 200 hits a day they would probably quit and commit blogger suicide.  They would be devastated.  Why even bother.  But I never expected to have anyone but friends and family really into my site.  Never mind that I put my stuff on pinterest and tasteologie and whatever that other one is... I never expected anybody would really check it.  So, despite what my facebook friends list reads, I don't have 200 close friends and family to keep my daily hits up there.  I'm actually getting checked out... kinda like a 'getting checked out' thing... and now I feel like I'm kinda obligated to keep up appearances... to give a crap,comb my hair and wear mascara.  Maybe try wearing heels.  It's freaking me out.
I gotta get my mind around this one.  I can completely understand why people look to sabotage their own success - it's just as terrifying as failing.  Realistically though, I'm sure that tomorrow I'll have like 2 hits.  It's probably just today... right?
Just to test the waters, I'm putting this lame-ass recipe out there.  It's so dumb because it just happened.  D called and said that things with the kids were running late so could I have some food ready for 5:20 'cause we have a soccer game at 6.  At 4:45 I started this and finished by 5:10.  Done.



Cauliflower, Bacon and Mushroom Kitchen Sink Hash
serves 3

2 cups cauliflower, broken up into florets
2 cups button mushrooms, halved
2 slices of bacon (mine are from the farm and they're pretty big), diced
2 tbsp (maybe 3) oil or lard

Heat a heavy bottomed pot or caste iron something or other over medium heat.
Once hot add in the oil and the cauliflower.  Cook for about 4 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium/low.  Add in the mushrooms and the diced bacon.
Cook together for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is browned but kinda tender.

I have written and subsequently deleted the beginning of this post three times now.  I get a thought and start to type it out and then when I see it in front of me it just looks stupid.  Delete.
I get another thought and once that one is starring back at me I realize that it's just one sentence and I've pretty much exhausted my point.  Delete.
Another thought starts.  I type for a bit and then I get distracted and it's gone... really gone.... Delete.
Jeez.  It happens sometimes I guess.
I've had what feels like 'all-kids-all-the-time' for the last while.  My head feels to full and muddled sometimes to make sense of things.  I hope that you all know I love my kids.  Fiercely.  But I'm not beyond wanting myself in there too.  I'm definitely not beyond feeling a bit resentful sometimes that it can't be about them AND me simultaneously (I've learned after almost 12 years that it just can't and I need to stop fighting it).  And I'm absolutely not beyond longing for those days when I was me.  Just me.  Not somebody's Mom.  Not somebody's wife.  Not somebody's entertainment.  Not somebody's voice teacher.  Just me... Wanda.
It's intensely selfish, I know.  And probably one of the most ludicrous and unrealistic things anybody could wish for because we are always defined by something that involves a label.  But there it is.  I wish I could just have a 'Wanda' label - which would mean nothing to anybody but me.  Even now as I'm writing my finger is hovering over the delete button.
Am I crazy?  Probably a little.  Too much time on my hands is the most likely culprit.  I remember when I was a teenager dreaming of riding away from life on a horse (I don't have a particular love of horses so I don't know exactly why the horse was involved) and I think it's the first thing that drew me to biking.  Driving never enticed me.  Although it's fast, the enclosed space really mucks the whole thing up in my mind.  I want to be out there in the world running away from it or running to it - not sure which - with the wind blowing and the sound track playing.  There is obviously no one with me.  It's this deep feeling of freedom in my chest - that's the best way I can find to describe it.  I still get the mental picture when I'm running or biking sometimes.
So I think that's why I struggle with these multiple labels.  It's like my backpack is full and I'm being slowed down on my ride or something.  It doesn't mean that I don't like people or need to be alone all the time... it's probably not even rational.  It's just one of those things that is.  It's one thing that is 'Wanda' and not any other label.


Summer is meant for things like this.  Contemplation.  Meditation.  Whatever you want to call it.  Existential pondering.  It's what makes me feel alive.  Longing and wonder.  Recipes like this one are so easy and quick that it gives me all the time I need to go out back, lie in the grass watching the clouds roll by and wonder about it all... while my kids shoot nerf bullets over my head.
Three paragraphs ago I was on the verge of deleting this whole post again but now that I look at it, although it's rambling and a little narcissistic, I kinda like it.  The moral of this post is:  1.  Make this dish and you might just have a wonderful afternoon of stream of conscious existential thought.  2.  Don't press Delete.


Orzo, Sausage and Veggie Casserole adapted from Family Bites
serves 6 - 8

1 3/4 cups orzo
1 veggie bouillion cube
pinch of salt
pinch of saffron
3 1/4 cups water
1 small onion (could use leek here too), sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 lb sausage (I used honey and garlic but italian or spanish would work well here too), casings removed
4 med sized leaves of kale (could use chard, mustard greens or spinach), chopped
1 cup corn (I used the kernels off of one cob)
1/4 cup finely minced herbs (use some kind of combination) or 2 lg tbsp of green seasoning
pinch of pepper sauce or cayenne
1/2 cup cream

In a medium sized pot bring the water to a boil and then add in the boullion cube, salt and saffron.  Add the orzo and simmer for about 6- 7 minutes.  Drain if there is still too much water and set aside - I didn't drain mine as it had absorbed most of the liquid.
Heat a heavy bottomed dutch oven to medium heat and add in about 2 tbsp of oil.  Add the onion and zucchini and cook together for about 3 - 4 minutes.  Add in the sausage, breaking it up with your fingers so it's like mince.  Cook together stirring as needed for another 5 minutes or so - until the sausage is no longer pink.  Add in the kale and the corn and cook just until the kale has withered.  Add back the orzo and turn the heat down to low.
Add the herbs and the pepper sauce.  Mix well.
Add in the cream.  Cover and remove from heat.  Check the taste and adjust if necessary.
Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.