Salads!

I know I am due for another "catch up on food" blog (as I've still got July and August to talk about. If I can remember any of those, even...) However, I wanted to show my vast reader base [pause for laughter] some interesting salad recipes. My friend, S, found these; Mark Bittman, author of the How to Cook Everything series, writes a column for the NY Times called "The Minimalist." While I haven't read too many of these, I can only assume that he's trying to get people truly back to simple, delicious food. So, without further ado, please visit Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season. And then go make some.

S and I declared Friday night "food night." Original plan was to make some salads, then go see Food Inc. (Clearly we had to eat before seeing the movie, as the movie was going to make us feel terrible about everything we eat. And we're vegetarians...) Between an addition to our duo and some wine, the movie changed (to Julie & Julia,) but the salads remain.

So, I bring you: Five of a Hundred-and-One

[Also, apologies on the poor image quality... I was tweeting, so I used my phone to take the pictures.]

No. 2

"Mix wedges of tomato and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing."

And "astonishing" it is. S has actually made this a couple of times recently, but it's just so fresh and delicious, we couldn't NOT have it at salad night. (We used lime juice, and, lacking red pepper, added a bit of cayenne.)

No. 7

"Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft."

This was such a WEIRD combination. But it worked. SO GOOD. I joked through the meal that I kept trying to pick a favourite and couldn't; while this is true, this was one of my top three. (Of five, but whatever.)

No. 9

"Chop or slice jicama (or radishes or kholrabi) and mango and mix with coconut milk, lime juice, curry powder and cilantro or mint."

By default (lack of certain produce at Shaw's,) we used radishes here. I love love love jicama, so I was a little bummed at first. However, the little heat that radishes bring worked perfectly with the mango, curry and lime juice. Kind of inspired me to want to do more with radishes - they're so good, but vegetables that I wouldn't normally think of... (Another top three.)

No. 10

"Cook whole grape tomatoes in olive oil over high heat until they brown lightly, sprinkling with curry powder. Cool a bit, then toss with chopped arugula, loads of chopped mint and lime juice."

Again, with the lack of selection at Shaw's, we bought baby spinach instead of arugula. Then, getting nervous that spinach and mint wouldn't do well together, we made two versions - one with spinach, one without. They were both lovely. And, the tomatoes cooking in the oil smelled amazing.

No. 39

"Yukatecan street food as salad: Roast fresh corn kernels in a pan with a little oil; toss with cayenne or minced chilis, lime juice and a little queso fresco. Cherry tomatoes are optional."

And, the final of my top 3. Instead of queso fresco, we used smoked fresh mozzarella. (Queso frsco = fresh cheese = fresh mozzarella?) Which was amazing. Going forward, I'd add some black pepper. But, this was just so good...

And, there ends the Friday night of salads. There shall be more to come (salads with strawberries or cherries??? Yes, please!) But, if you decide to try any out, let me know how they go!

Food, May Massive Update.

Here's the deal: I have well over a month of food to post about... But, frankly, my memory isn't that good, and I apparently took very few pictures. SO. It's going to be quick and dirty. Also, breaking this into May-and-June and then July, lest I get bored and don't finish ;)

Tuesday 5/26/09: White sangria, empanadas with roasted red pepper sauce.

Okay, this one, I happen to a) have pictures of and b) want to write the recipes out because it was so frickin' good. Since this was so long ago now (whoops,) I've actually been talking about these and plan on making them again - TOMORROW! So, here we go:

White Sangria

I've experimented with sangria a bit this spring / summer. Honestly, it's kind of difficult to go wrong.

Whatever "white" fruit you can find (apples, mangoes, oranges, lemons, etc.)

3 oz. brandy

2 oz. Triple Sec

1 c. OJ

1/3 c. pineapple juice concentrate

[Combine the above. Let sit - in the refrigerator - overnight.]

Add 1 c. ginger ale and 1 bottle sparkling white wine shortly before serving. Enjoy!

Black Bean Empanadas

[GO MAKE THESE NOW.]

2 sheets, puff pastry (I use Pepperidge Farm...)

1 egg

1 T water

1/2 onion, diced (small) - I tend to use "red" onions.

3/4 c. corn

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 red pepper, diced (small)

1/2 c. tomato sauce

1 t cumin

1 T chili powder

1/2 t crushed red pepper

1/2 c. "Mexican" cheese

15 oz. black beans, rinsed, drained

2 T cilantro

1. Thaw pastry sheets (about 40 minutes.) Preheat oven to 375. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Stir egg and water together in small bowl.

2. Saute onion, corn, pepper, garlic until tender. Add tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, red pepper; reduce heat to low, and cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, black beans and cilantro.

3. Unfold pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface, and cut each sheet into six rectangles. Put ~1/2 c. filling, folder over, press edges with fork to seal, and brush with egg mix.

4. Bake 18 minutes, until golden. Serve with GUACAMOLE. And sour cream, if that's your thing. And salsa. And red pepper sauce [see below.]

[This recipe is something of a combination of this recipe, and a meal I had at Border Cafe.]

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Red pepper - Roast by cutting, seeding, and roasting at 450 for 30 minutes, turning once.

1. Place pepper in airtight container till cool; peel skin off.

2. Food process the heck out of the roasted pepper.

3. Add garlic, salt, pepper, cilantro, balsamic vinegar and cayenne pepper.

This was one of my favourite meals. Writing about it makes me SO EXCITED about tomorrow.

Sunday 5/31/09: Asparagus risotto, garlic bread, strawberry rhubarb pie.

If there are recipes to come, they're going to have to come from M3, as I have no idea. Particularly loved the rhubarb pie - my mom introduced me to this vegetable (fruit?) early, and I've (surprisingly) always liked it!

Sunday 6/7/09: Black bean burgers, potato salad, corn, guacamole.

M3 used the black bean burger recipe that I posted here (and we've used it a few more times since - a true keeper!) Otherwise, memory fails. M3: What potato salad recipe did you use??? (For those of you unaware, I hate mayonnaise, so I'm constantly trying to perfect a non-mayo potato salad recipe.) (HATE mayonnaise. Cannot emphasize this enough.)

Tuesday 6/14/09: Mimosas, stuffed French toast, hash browns.

Total repeat of this meal!

Sunday 6/21/09: Bruschetta, caesar salad, ravioli.

M3, was this the meal that you made that black bean sauce for??? (Clearly, can't remember. However, I can't hate anything that involves caesar salad.)

Tuesday 6/23/09: Bread with oils, garlic bread, pasta with roasted tomato sauce, panna cotta.

HA. I was looking for all these recipes - they've all been done before - and they actually all came from ONE post... A long one, but still!

Saturday 6/27/09: Red sangria.

Okay, this wasn't a meal, per say, but, as noted above, I've been playing with sangria this summer, and I think this one came out really well! (This was made for the pirate ship adventure, noted here.)

Red Sangria

Package of frozen mixed berries

Apple, sliced

2 c. Cran-Raspberry Cocktail

8 oz. Chambourd

2 oz. Triple Sec

2 T confectioner's sugar

[Combine the above. Let sit - in the refrigerator - overnight.]

Add 2 bottles red wine. Pour over ice. Enjoy! (And make sure to eat the fruit!)

Sunday 6/28/09: Garlic bread, pasta with sun-dried tomato / pesto sauce.

Fail memory. Mmmm, food.

Tuesday 6/30/09: Veggie lasagna, garlic bread, strawberry shortcake cake.

This was in celebration of UJ's half birthday! Lasagna was the first Tuesday dinner I made. However, this cake is truly amazing! It's so light and fluffy - I've made it a couple of times now, and I always feel like I could eat the whole thing myself... Luckily, this hasn't happened... YET. (And, I didn't change a thing!)

Okay. That's it for tonight. I've been watching Code and Lyle play all evening, and I may explode from the cuteness, so you can expect something on that soon!

Oh... And food from July! Goodness!

Something New! Food!

... Oh?  Food's not a new topic?  Well, whatever...

So, I haven't babbled about the lovely meals that M3 and I have made recently.  However, there have been a fair number of dinner cancellations due to conflicting plans.  Here comes summer!

Anyways, here we go!

Sunday, April 19th

Guacamole, Taco Salad, Strawberry Shortcakes.  After a bit of a stressful search for taco bowls, M3 settled on adding tortilla chips to salad...  And it was delicious.  Lettuce + black beans (with chili powder) + tomato + corn / onion salsa + magical chipotle dressing.  Yum!  Later, there was strawberry shortcakes...  Which just remind me of summer...

Tuesday, April 28th

Salad, Bread with Oils, Strawberry Fettuccine Alfredo, Trifle.

I was trying to determine what I was going to cook for this week...  Luckily, I was having drinks (at The Globe - love it) with M1 and S, who had just returned from hanging out with her family for a week.  S's mother is a pretty phenomenal cook, and it's definitely worn off.  In between planning the restaurant that we're going to open (?,) S went through the meals she had cooked while home...  One including a fettuccine alfredo with, ready?, strawberries.  Neither M3 nor I had done an alfredo yet, so I figured it was time to try!

In keeping on the strawberry theme, I started with a salad - spinach, strawberries, red onion and pecans.  Simple.  As a spin on garlic bread, I roasted some garlic and mashed it in olive oil, with some oregano; there was also a spicy red chili oil, which was awesome (though this came directly from a bottle, so I can't take any credit there.)

The, the fettuccine alfredo.  I didn't really make any edits to this...  So, obviously, it was incredibly healthy.  (I can feel my arteries clogging again, just thinking about it...)  I don't know how impressed I was.  It tasted really good, but I was fairly unsuccessful in getting the cheese and cream to mix, resulting in hunks of cheese.  (I mean, there are worse things in life...)  I felt a little better about this after M3 talked to her chef sister, and Chef Sister said that it was tough, or you had to use crappy ingredients...  One thing I will note: I would not advise reheating in the microwave - there was distinct butter-cream-cheese separation.  Ew.

And, to end the theme, I made trifle.  Basically, layering chocolate cake, vanilla pudding, Cool Whip and strawberries / raspberries.  Mmm...

[Sunday, May 3rd]

I just have to note this night, and retell the stories that M3 related to me.  I ended up with a company ticket to the Bruins game this night, so I wasn't able to make it to M3's this night.  (First family dinner I ever missed!  Sad!)  However, my absence opened a whole new world to M3: Meat.  Apparently, this was a little more overwhelming than I ever considered.  Upon proposing this to Chef Sister, CS responded with "All I can think of is hunks of meat.  Like steaks and pork chops.  Meat."  Same thing went to J, who responded "Chunks of meat."  I'm not entirely sure what resulted (I think it was steak,) but I doubt there were less than three types of meat in the meal!

Tuesday, May 5th - Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Burrito / Taco / whatever-you-want-to-call-them, Banana Chimichangas.  Cinco de Mayo fell on a Tuesday, which means everyone came over and drank margaritas!  For food, I basically just made lots of "Mexican" things and let people put them together as they pleased.  So, there were chips, salsa and guacamole to begin, then black beans, tortillas, cilantro, cheese, onion, sour cream and corn were added.  (Possibly more?  I can't remember...)  To round out the night, I made Banana Chimichangas again!

Sunday, May 10th

Caesar Salad, Fire-Roasted Tomato Pasta, Garlic Bread.  M3 put together everyone's favourite Italian dishes.  I was a little hesitant on the caesar.  Don't get me wrong - I love, love, love caesar salads.  However, this means that I have extremely high expectation of caesar dressings - I have been disappointed more than my fair share in the past.  However, M3 found a delicious caesar dressing - from Brianna's.  (This brand also makes a delicious vinaigrette - I highly suggest you try them both.)  She then had a recipe for a fire-roasted tomato pasta sauce from a magazine; it was from an ad for McCormick, so I was able to find it here!  Just mush these up a little and serve with pasta - Yum!  (Add garlic bread, of course.)

(As usual, there may have been dessert, but I cannot remember!)

Tuesday, May 12th

(Guacamole,) Tofu Joy!  This dinner had been a long time coming...  It just had to come to me!  S introduced this to me years ago, back when she used to be an honourary roommate when I lived in Quincy.  The results are delicious, but it's also incredibly fun to make.  Basically, these are just fresh spring rolls, wrapping all ingredients in rice paper.  As I actually had to call S to be reminded of what we put in these (it had been awhile since I had made them,) I figured I'd go ahead and write a rudimentary recipe:

Ingredients: bell peppers, cucumbers, peas, tofu, apples [all julienned,] mint, Thai basil, lettuce, rice noodles, peanuts

1. Cook rice noodles, and rinse in cold water.  (All ingredients in this recipe, with the exception of the tofu, should be cold.  I think.)

2. Saute / heat / cook tofu strips in Hoisin sauce + duck sauce + a bit of soy sauce.

3. In a large pan, filled with hot water, dip the rice paper till it is soft (but not too soft...)

4. Wrap whatever you want in the rice paper!  Dip in sweet chili sauce, or Hoisin sauce, or duck sauce... Or some combination thereof!

Tuesday, May 19th

Bruschetta, Pizza, Panna Cotta.  I realized we had never done pizza, so that obviously needed to change.  I also think I had in my head that I wanted to make panna cotta, so I needed something kind-of Italian to go with it!

First, bruschetta.  I love bruschetta.  I used this recipe, with a few edits...  I made the tomato mixture ahead of time and refrigerated it overnight.  (I think this allows the flavours to combine a little.)  I added two cloves of minced garlic to the tomato mixture, as well as doubling the basil, and adding some salt and pepper.  I brushed my bread with olive oil and toasted it ahead of time, then rubbed it with a clove of garlic.  Yum!  One thing, I used a crusty baguette, which I wouldn't really recommend - it got a little on the hard side.  Stick with a thicker, softer Italian bread.

Pizza!  I made a crust, using this recipe.  My recipe came from a magazine, so here it is:

Pizza crust

Zucchini

(Plum) Tomatoes (~7)

salt

pepper

16 ozs. Fresh Mozzarella

olive oil

fresh basil

1. [I actually made two pizza from this, but only one with zucchini.]

2. Roll out crusts on cookie sheet.  (Sprinkle sheets with corn meal first.)  Let relax for five minutes.

3. Add zucchini, tomatoes, sprinkle with salt, pepper (and minced garlic!)

4. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.

5. Top with cheese, and bake for 5 minutes, till cheese just melts.

6. Drizzle with oil, top with basil, and pop back into oven for just 1-2 minutes.

7. Enjoy!

[Note: This involves a lot of wet ingredients, so try to drain them as much beforehand as possible.  I'd also suggest tilting the pizzas to drain when pulling them out of the oven.]

Finally, panna cotta!  M3 and I made this for Thanksgiving last year (take that, Pumpkin Pie!) but I hadn't attempted it since then.  In the end, this is way easier to make than I originally thought.  You can find the base recipe here...  And then do whatever you want with it!  At Thanksgiving, we added Oreos to it.  This time, I made a simple berry sauce to pour over it.  (Heat half berries with 1/3 c sugar and 1 t vanilla.  Blend.  Back to stovetop, plus rest of berries.)  I find this smooth and creamy and delicious...  Far and away my favourite dessert in recent history.  If only heavy cream and half and half were healthier...

And, that's caught up on family dinners!  Suggestions for  next Tuesday???

Religion!

My life lacks religion for the most part.  That hasn't really changed, but a couple of weekends ago, I did attend a Passover Seder and an Easter supper.  (Anyone miss that those both revolve around food?  No?  Just checking.)

Saturday, April 11th - Passover Seder

E has been hosting Passover Seders for three or four years now.  Her parents comes down from Maine, her aunt and uncle join, there's some friends and cousins...  In the end, there are about twelve people crowded around a table in her living room in S'ville.

These dinners always involve a) drinking wine and b) reading the Seder text.  (I have no idea what it's actually called.  Which is terrible.  I've read it three or four times now, and I have no clue.  It talks about the Jewish people and the Seder plate and the oppressed people...  Well, wiki's entry covers most of it.)  We take turns reading the text, which generally results in some yelling about where do people begin and end in the text.  Hilarious.  (There's also mention by the Christians in the room - lead by E's uncle - about how this isn't their "thing."  Also hilarious.)

I must insert something of a cool story here.  This year, E put an orange on the Seder plate.  Someone commented that this was strange, so it was told that (and, no, I don't have dates, names or locations straight here) some old male said that women belonged on the altar (is there a Jewish term for that?) "like an orange belongs on the Seder plate."  So, it has become some sign of female empowerment to have an orange on the Seder plate.  Yay, ladies!

In the end, I'm always a huge fan of these gatherings.  I never had a big family growing up, so to have a gathering of all these people of different generations is lovely.  (Plus, there are no actual kids, so it's great to be on the same "adult" level as everyone in the room.)  Given E's family, politics are always brought up - this year was distinctly different, thank you, Barack!!!

A brief note on the food...  I can't (won't) eat most of it - brisket, potatoes (cooked with meat,) matzo soup.  However, E's aunt made a beautiful and delicious salad.  My favourite part of Passover?  Charoset.  I have no idea how E and her mom made it, but here's a recipe - apples, spices, nuts, sugar, red wine - yum!  Since the beginning, I've made Chocolate Chip Meringues, which always go over well.  (Notes: Pinch of salt.  I had to do the oven thing twice to get them baked through.)  Easy and delicious!

Sunday, April 12th - Easter Sunday

M3's Sunday dinner turned into Easter supper - a lovely excuse to make a lot of food and get together a bit of a bigger group than usual!

That being, said, we had a bit of a hard time coming up with what Easter supper consisted of.  I can't remember growing up eating Easter supper, so...  I looked online.

All combined, our dinner ended up consisting of: (ham,) roasted potatoes, deviled eggs, guacamole (new tradition!,) asparagus, pineapple bread (made by M2) and cherry pie.  Yum yum yum.  There was also Easter candy, but I think we were all too stuffed to eat any of it!

Really enjoyed this weekend... and all the food it involved!

Food Catch Up!

So, I just went to upload my pictures so that I could ramble on about food for a bit...  And I discovered pictures of other events from the past couple of weeks!  It was a nice reminder that I do things (possibly) worthy of pictures other than eat...

That being said, on to the food!  (There is a lot of it.)

Sunday, March 29th

"Big Bowl of Mexican."  This is officially one of my new favourites.  I believe M3 created this after returning from Mexico and missing all of the flavours...  So, she just put everything into a bowl.  It was / is spicy and delicious!

As I clearly got this "recipe" (it's a bit of a make-it-up-yourself thing!) I shall share:

- Corn, sauted in lime juice, with chili powder and cumin and garlic and a bit of olive oil

- black beans (with jalapenos - Ortega does a can of these)

- Rotel, lime and cilantro (this salsa-type thing)

- rice

... Mix altogether, heat, eat!  Actually, heat up a tortilla to eat it with.  And, you know me, add some guacamole!

[I'm pretty sure there was a dessert - M3 always does dessert - but I don't have a picture, and I can't remember!]

Tuesday, March 31st

Eggplant parmesan, garlic bread.  This was my night, and I was trying to do something that I hadn't done before...  I'm not sure that my friends were that excited about eggplant, but they at least pretended to be happy!  And I thought it was great!

I used this recipe.  Slight alterations: I only used two eggplants.  Sweat the eggplant before making (coat in salt, let drain for ~30 minutes, rinse in cold water.)  I baked the eggplants for 10 minutes / side.  Go!  Enjoy!

Thursday, April 2nd

Rice and veggies.  More importantly: scorpion bowls.  M1 started with the idea of fruit salad, which lead to scorpion bowls, which lead to (sorry, I forget) some Asian-inspired sauce with rice and veggies.  Yum!

M1 decided that scorpion bowls should be her signature drink.  Which I am all for.  This evening, we made them according to this "recipe":

1 part rum

1 part Malibu

1 part vodka

3 parts Orange-Mango-Pineapple juice

maraschino cherries!

We decided that the 1 part alcohol:1 part juice was a bit strong, so we splashed a bit more juice in there...  Delicious!

Sunday, April 5th

Guacamole, enchiladas.  M3 made enchiladas, as she did in our very first family dinner.  (Let's all take a moment to reminisce.)  Awww...

Cheese and tortillas and chilis and spicy goodness!

Again, I'm sure there was a dessert, but I can't think of what it was to save my life!

Tuesday, April 7th

Lasagna, garlic bread.  Following in M3's footsteps (and by request from KJ,) I made lasagna, as I did in week one.

Also, I made garlic bread.  But, differently.  By "differently," I mean "I bought frozen Texas Toast.  It was a bit sacrilegious - I've almost always made my own garlic bread!  But, having been fed and REALLY enjoying Texas Toast, I broke down and made it myself.  And I'm just happy that I did.  It was delicious.

Tuesday, April 14th

Black bean burgers, potato wedges.  Haha, this was another one that I told my friends about, and there was a slight hesitation before the "That sounds good!"  Putting vegetarian options on meat-eaters is, understandably, not always that exciting.  But I think they like it!!!

Here's the recipe I used: Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers.  And, the slight changes I made (all based on the reviews): Rinse and dry black beans before mashing.  I squeezed the moisture out of the onion-pepper-garlic puree through coffee filters.  I doubled the recipe, except I used three eggs...  And I added more chili powder.  Also, I found that they needed a little longer than 10 minutes / side in the oven.

I found these delicious - and, possibly the best part - they freeze great, so I've had them for leftovers a couple of times since, and still have a few more!

That's all on food for now...  And I haven't covered Passover and Easter!  (What can I say, it was a religion-filled weekend...)

It's Been Awhile...

I'm almost intimidated to begin trying to catch up on all that's been going on.  But, being busy has got to lead to more interesting blogs than "I did nothing this week," so here we go!  I'll begin the catch up with, what else?, food!

Tuesday, March 10th

Potato salad, tomato soup, grilled cheese.  Mainly, I wanted to make a tomato soup, as I found a recipe that got rave reviews...  And, given my soup pickiness, I liked that there was no way to screw up any of the ingredients!

And, what goes better with tomato soup than grilled cheese???  NOTHING, that's what.

...Except maybe a huge baguette.  Whatever.

To the recipes.  I wanted to make a potato salad, even though it didn't exactly go with the meal.  I don't do mayonnaise, so finding a good potato salad recipe has always been a challenge.  I didn't love this one, either, but I also only included the potatoes.  (No pepper, olives or artichoke hearts.)  If anyone has a good potato salad recipe, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME.  I would pay you if it was close to the potato salad that I got back at Cafe Europa in college.  Seriously, if you're in Charlottesville ever, go there, get the potato salad.  SO GOOD.  (Also get the tomato basil soup.  Perhaps that's why I made potato salad and tomato soup together...  Reminds me of Cafe Europa.)

I made this creamy tomato soup - I would not use butter, though.  (Not a fan of the oily film it creates.)  For grilled cheese, I had some nice, rustic white bread, beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and some tomato-basil cheddar.  Delicious!

[Also, look at my fun plates!  M3 got "samples" from a new supplier that she's working with - Working Class Studio - and distributed them.  Such fun!  And I love love love square plates...]

Thursday, March 12th

Salad, asparagus, garlic bread, bean pasta.  M1 wanted to make a fun pasta sauce, and found this recipe from Barilla!  Obviously, she changed the pasta shape (love mini shells,) used vegetable stock in stead of chicken stock (thanks!) and we sprinkled a three-cheese blend on the top, instead of ricotta.  Yum!  I really liked all the vegetables that worked together in this sauce - broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, white / cannellini beans (which I rarely think to eat...)

She also made a salad and garlic bread, and we roasted asparagus - coat in olive oil, toss with salt and pepper, oven!  (I also have to think that this must have been a pretty healthy meal - good for us!)

Sunday, March 15th

Guacamole, fajitas, pineapple upside-down cake.  M3 made guacamole, which I'm extremely grateful for, as she's never been huge into guacamole herself, so I have to assume my guacamole-loving presence may have influenced that slightly.  She also found a tip - if you make guacamole and throw a pit back into the mix, it'll stay green longer.  (Brown guacamole just isn't that appealing.)  In the end, I think we're both still on the hunt to make guacamole as spicy and good as Wholly Guacamole!

Fajita makings included: tortillas, guacamole, black bean / onion mixture, peppers / onions, salsa, cheese, sour cream...  And some steak thing that was apparently amazing...  If only I ate meat...

I would like to state here and now that I love "create your own" meals.  With all the different tastes of our little group (I don't do meat, M1 doesn't do spicy, M3 doesn't do... a lot of random vegetables,) being given a lot of different things that will all taste great together, but being able to leave out what you don't personally like is just great!

For dessert, there was upside-down pineapple cake.  One of my favourites!  (Pineapple obsession?  Me?)  Actually, the maraschino cherries may be my favourite part...  Add some coconut, we've almost got a pina colada!

Sunday, March 22nd

Spicy mac and cheese, garlic bread, apple cobbler / strudel.  In the absence of M1, M3 jumped on making something spicy!  She loaded mini bow tie pasta with cheese (at least three kinds, though I forget which,) green chilis, tabasco sauce, chili powder and paprika.  It was delicious, and I, traditionally, do not do mac and cheese!  (This, though, is referring to the kind from the box - the powdered cheese kind of creeps me out.)

[I'm also realizing - garlic bread comes up again and again in our meals.  It's just so frickin' good!]

She also made some apple dessert - apples wrapped in pastry dough of some sort.  It was delicious.  And I am hugely sorry for forgetting my camera this night!

Tuesday, March 24th

Salad, butternut squash risotto, pistachio gnocchi, "white forest" cheesecake.  Mine!  This meal was inspired by Ivy, which is currently my favourite restaurant - small plates (meaning you can try a lot) and a wine list where most of the bottles are $26 - what's not to love???  They recently changed their menu, though, discarding of the two dishes that M1 and I always got when we went.  So, obviously, I needed to try my hand at these.

[I made my first salad (of these dinner series) that didn't involve fruit - spinach, red and green peppers, purple onion, tomatoes...  Simple.]

I had made butternut squash risotto before, on "Risotto Trio" night.  It turned out lovely, once again.  The other dish that we loved was this pistachio gnocchi.  In my head, at least, Ivy's was still better than mine, but that's not to say it was bad.  I found a recipe for Pistachio Cream Sauce, so I threw this over gnocchi (from Trader Joe's!  I'm on a huge TJ kick currently!)  The results were pretty good...  I'd perhaps suggest a bit less cream (?)  And there were tons of leftovers to last me for several days!

Despite my poll claiming I was going to let people vote on the first cheesecake that I was going to make, well, I couldn't wait a week!  So, I made the White Forest Cheesecake (white chocolate, maraschino cherries.)  I'm going to hold off posting a recipe for this - I made several substitutions on ingredients, and the result was quite sweet.  (Note: One should not use maraschino syrup as a substitute for cherry flavouring.)  Not bad, I mean I ate half of the 9" cheesecake, but I'd definitely make some changes when trying it again!

That being said, as predicted, I had all of two votes for my cheesecake poll.  I saw at one point there were three votes, two for the "Cookies & Cream" version, so I'm declaring that the winner - project for next weekend!

And, with that, I'm actually off to M3's for Sunday night dinner.  As of this afternoon, she didn't know what she was making.  But I love surprises - especially when they involve food!

Quick Quick Quick Food Blog!

Mainly, I just need to spread the recipe as far and wide as possible.  To, you know, the maybe five people who read my blog.  And I got it from one of them, so that's four...

It's been pretty quiet on the food front.  M1 didn't get a chance to cook last week, and M3 was away for the weekend, so all I have to write about is the meal I made last Tuesday: Salad and Mulligatawny Soup with homemade croutons!  The salad consisted of spinach (current leaf of choice,) pears, strawberries, almonds and pecans.  I altered the soup recipe to my tastes (two apples, half an onion, bit more curry,) and it was delicious.  (Great suggestion, Kelly.  I'd gladly accept any others you have!)  At the suggestion of the soup recipe, I decided to try homemade croutons.

People, homemade croutons are easy!  It's something I never thought of making before, so I was a bit questioning when I read this suggestion.  But they are so easy and SO good.  (Probably not SO healthy, but, please, I ate a salad and a vegetable-packed soup.)  I kind of combined this recipe from a few (I think, can't remember,) so I'm just going to write it out:

Homemade Garlicy Croutons

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt some butter (~1/4 c) on stove.  Saute some minced garlic in there, just till you can really smell the garlic.

3. Add more spices.  I'd suggest salt, pepper, oregano, maybe a bit of paprika...

4. Toss with bread cubes (~3/4" square, but I love a variety of shapes and sizes.)

5. Bake on cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes, till slightly brown.

6. [I forgot to do this, but I read somewhere to sprinkle parmesan cheese over the croutons when they're 2-3 minutes from done.  Sounded fabulous.]

7. Let cool, and enjoy!  (I made these a day ahead of time to let them get a little more of that delicious stale-bread greatness that croutons should have.)

A million times better than those crumbly, boxed croutons...  And, I mean, I always end up with stale bread anyways...

A Quick Food Update

In an attempt to not leave it too long without blogging about food (heaven knows I can't go more than a couple of hours without talking about food,) I wanted to catch up on food from the past week!

Tuesday, February 24th

Heuvos rancheros, hash browns, banana burritos. This was mine! So, I generally don't do eggs. Not that I'm against eating them, I'm just not really a fan. However, I went to a restaurant for brunch a little while ago, and I had read about how fabulous their huevos rancheros were. So, I decided to give them a shot. (It was a nice place, so if I was going to like eggs, Metropolis was a great place to start.)

There was quite a bit involved in these, however. In an attempt to put as much non-egg into these as possible, there were several layers:

1. "Black Bean Hash"

2 t oil

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

jalapeno pepper, minced

4 t cumin

medium potato, petite diced

1/2 t salt

15 oz. black beans

2 T cilantro

pepper

1. Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno in oil.

2. Add potato, cook 5-7 minutes.

3. Add cumin, salt, saute briefly.

4. Stir in black beans, heat till cooked through.

5. Stir in cilantro, pepper. [If serving alone, serve with lime!]

2. Eggs [Yes, I'm going to write out how I made scrambled eggs. I had never done it before!]

1. Whisk eggs and a splash of milk, plus salt and pepper.

2. Melt some butter over a medium-high flame.

3. Pour in eggs; cook till they begin to set, then stir (and add red pepper and jalapeno and cheese.)

4. Finish cooking - till there's no more runniness!

3. Salsa [Homemade salsa is my current obsession.]

Tomatoes + corn + cilantro + onion + chilis + garlic + lime juice + salt + pepper (+ black beans)

Layer these, and garnish with avocado slices!

As there's never a good reason to not eat potatoes, I also made spicy hash browns again.

And, because there's never a good reason to not eat dessert, I made Banana Chimichangas. Ummm, yeah, and I fried them in more butter, instead of oil. They were awesome.

Also, in case anyone was wondering (I didn't know!) you can totally nuke eggs for a couple of days, and they're delicious. I had huevos rancheros for a couple of lunches following this dinner!

Sunday, March 1st

Potato soup, cheese biscuits, lemon bars. M3's night! So, I've always been slightly picky about soup - I like minestrones and some tomato-based soups, but I don't do stews (the whole no-meat thing,) and I've never really found many creamy soup that I like. So, I was a little nervous when I heard that M3 was making soup.

NO NEED. It was awesome. I'm still thinking about it. You can see the recipe here. (She left the bacon out, and made it with vegetable stock for my sake - so nice!) She also made cheesy biscuits, which were great for dipping in the lovely soup.

And, there were lemon squares for dessert. I always forget about lemon squares - when I think "dessert," my mind instantly goes to chocolate, sometimes berries...

[I greatly apologize for the lack of pictures of this fabulous meal.]

Tomorrow, it's my night again! I made croutons tonight... And I'll leave you with that for now!

Food!

Tuesday, February 17th

Salad, pierogies, bread...  I shouldn't even write about this, as I didn't really make anything...  I had spinach, pear, craisins, almonds and pecans.  Toss.  I fried pierogies in butter, served them with salsa.  And, I cut up some bread from When Pigs Fly - the potato, onion and something-else bread...

[Small insert.]  I made a chocolate cheesecake Thursday evening - I had promised my pod that I'd bake something, as it had been awhile.  I normally make a chocolate-peanutbutter cheesecake, but a newer podmate of mine doesn't do nuts.  I've had my cheesecake recipe for so long that I'm not entirely sure where it came from.  Hence, here's the recipe:

Crust:

2 c crushed chocolate graham crackers

1/3 c butter, melted

2 T sugar

Filling:

1 c semisweet chocolate chips

3 x 8 ozs. cream cheese, soft

1 c sugar

3 eggs

1/2 c sour cream (I didn't have any, so I used Greek yogurt.)

3 T flour

2 t vanilla extract

1. Mix together Crust ingredients, press into a 9" springform pan.

2. In a double boiler (small pot in big pot...) melt chocolate.

3. Beat cream cheese and sugar.  Blend in eggs.  Gradually pour in melted chocolate.  Add sour cream (yogurt,) flour and vanilla.  Blend till smooth.  Pour into crust.

4. Bake at 350, preferably in a water bath, for 55-60 minutes.  Turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside for an hour.

5. Let cool!  Refrigerate!  Enjoy!  (I like to spread a thin layer of melted hot fudge on top - it tastes good, and it covers any cracks in the cake!)

Friday, February 20th

Salad, French bread pizza.  M1 made us dinner before we headed out to watch a friend-of-a-friend play at a bar.  Salad had tomatoes and croutons and avocado and mushrooms and yellow pepper and...  Am I forgetting anything?

French bread pizzas had basil and mushrooms and... cheese... and I know there was more, but I can't remember!

Add some margaritas, Bud Lights, a cover band and good friends...  Great evening!

Sunday, February 22nd

Bow tie pasta, garlic bread, sour cherry cobbler.  I think that past with pesto sauce and a side of garlic bread has to fit into my favourite simple meals ever.

M3 made bow tie pasta (one of my favourite shapes of pasta ever) with a light pesto sauce, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and feta.  Add thick, buttery, delicious garlic bread.

[Add Oscars.]  Add wine.

There was also "sour" cheery cobbler.  I didn't find it that sour, but it was delicious.  And with fresh whipped cream!  Yum!

A Week in Food

So...  There was less cooking this week, but no less great food!

Monday, February 9th

Happy Birthday, E!  Another friend turns three-cubed!  We gathered at E's place in Somerville, had fried food (reminiscent of Super Bowl Sunday) and ordered sushi from Hana Sushi.  Due to my vegetarianism, sushi's often a bit on the boring side for me.  BUT, there's edamame, which I love.  And, Hana Sushi has this "New York" roll, which is apple, avocado and salmon - minus the salmon - delicious!  Apple in sushi was a fabulous idea.

I also made a cake - a very raspberry cake!  Serious raspberry.  (I made it in two 8" round pans.  I used two 12 oz. bags of unsweetened raspberries, mixing in a bit of sugar to sweeten them up.)  Unfortunately, I totally forgot my camera, so no pictures...  Yet!

Tuesday, February 10th

Stuffed French Toast, Hash Browns.  So, M1 and M2 were busy, so it was just me and M3.  I was going to unadventurous and make pasta...  But then I got French toast in my head.  And breakfast grew from there.  I found a recipe for stuffed French toast.  I used bananas and strawberries, and for the topping, I used vanilla oatmeal stuff, brown sugar and flour.  (I happened to have vanilla oatmeal, rather than just oats.)  Also, the best thing that's ever happened to French toast - challah bread!  SO GOOD.

This seemed all sweet, so I decided to add potatoes into the mix.  Dice potatoes, coat in olive oil, paprika, red pepper, salt, black pepper.  Bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes.  Spicy hash browns!

And...  Mimosas.  Champagne is healthier with orange juice in it, right?

Thursday, February 12th

wagamama.  wagamama originated in England, and opened their first US location in Boston a couple of years ago.  They are opening another location in the mall where my office is located; it's officially open to the public on Monday, but they had a special preview event.  I signed up, and M3 and I got a free appetizer, meal and two drinks apiece!  I had edamame (again) and some spicy tofu-noodle dish.  And some wine.  Yum!

wagamama is a bit of an odd place.  The food is great, and I think it's a great place for large groups.  However, the seating arrangement could be a little awkward.  They have these really long tables, and they seat groups of people altogether...  So, it's just not very private.  (Luckily, M3 and I were placed next to a guy that we work with and get along with and his girlfriend.)  But, good food!

And that's the food for now.  I'm heading off to Maine for snowboarding (fingers crossed) tomorrow for the weekend, so I'll be skipping Stroller Saturday.  And, hopefully, making it home unscathed, unlike last year!

The Week in Food

While it was generally an uneventful week, there was FOOD.  Which makes anything and everything better.

Sunday, February 1st

Happy Super Bowl!  Or, as I like to call it, "FRIED Day."  S and I are fans of fried food.  We have been known to eat plates of it for dinner (and then regret it a little later.  But it just tasted so good!)  The Super Bowl is a wonderful excuse to eat fried.

On a Target excursion the day before, I may have talked S into buying a Fry Daddy.  What can I say?  We ended up in the kitchen appliances aisles and happened upon deep friers.  After S declared that she couldn't spend $40 on one, we turned to leave.  And then I saw it.  "S, this one's only $25..."  And the rest is history.

We fried zucchini, we fried mozzarella, mushrooms and asparagus, we fried sweet potatoes, and we made hush puppies and carb wontons.  And by "we," I mostly mean S.  There was also guacamole and 7-layer dip and raspberry pinwheel cookies and chocolate chip cookies.  It was all wonderful!

And, I'll be honest, I didn't really care who won.  I had to be rooting for the underdog, but it really didn't affect my life either way.

Tuesday, February 3rd

An early Thanksgiving!  Roasted Vegetables, Sweet Potato Casserole.  The thought process going into this was simple.  M3 has been away (in Mexico, insert jealousy here,) and many of her "No" foods are very much "YES" foods for me.  So, while she was gone, I wanted to do a meal packed with things she wouldn't want to eat.

My first thought was sweet potatoes.  (Who doesn't like sweet potatoes?  M3, that's who!)  During Thanksgiving last year, I made this lovely ("yummy") sweet potato casserole.  From there, more Thanksgiving-y thing: roasted vegetables.  I roasted potatoes (white and sweet,) parsnips, Brussels sprouts, carrots and asparagus.

I'm a huge fan of all these vegetables.  Growing up, my parents made steamed Brussels sprouts, which are probably healthier.  But roasted ones are surprisingly delicious.  A friend, J, joined us for dinner.  He declared Brussels sprouts on his very short "No" list, but agreed to try one...  And then he loved them!  (Or, at least, he said he did.  I thought they were wonderful, so I'll assume he wasn't just humouring me!)

Thursday, February 5th

Salad, Pesto Gnocchi, Garlic Bread.  Finally, I got a picture of M1's food!

There were many (good) interesting things about this meal.  Well, mainly having to do with the salad.  First of all, I tried turnips, which I really can't remember having before.  They're lovely little vegetables - nice and crispy!  (Also making an appearance in the salad: mushrooms, tomatoes and lettuce.  Turnips were the celebrities, though.)  The second interesting thing was the dressing - we made it ourselves!  M1 was worried about the dressings she had in her fridge, and I'm pretty picky about salad dressing...  But she had olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic - Abracadabra!  Dressing!

The pasta and garlic bread were great, too.  M1 bought this pre-made garlic bread, one that you stick in the oven.  But, there was real diced garlic on it and tons of butter.  And it was delicious.

(M3!  Note the plates!)

All this talking about these has got me thinking about this coming week...  I have no thoughts yet on what I'll make.  Suggestions?  (Kelly???)

FOOD

This has been a week and a half coming...  I've been meaning to catch up on babbling about all the food my friends and I have made over the past couple of weeks.

Friday, January 16th

"Smushed" Potatoes, Veggies, Chicken.  M1 had a bunch of people over for "board" games - love them.  She made a variety of things, including "smushed" potatoes, which were my favourites.  She doesn't own a masher, so they had larger chunks than most mashed potatoes - the perfect combination of mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes!  It was a lovely dinner, and a lovely evening.

(We played Apples to Apples and Celebrity.  Both great games for more than six people.  It's just so hard to get six people crowded around a board...)

Sunday, January 18th

Garlic Bread, Pasta [Right.]  M3 made some bow tie pasta with vegetables (mushrooms and peppers, I think.)  And garlic bread, my favourite pasta side.

Bow ties are also one of my top pasta shapes.  Granted, there's a time for everything, but bow ties are almost always welcome.  I've never been a spaghetti person.  Holy moley.  There are a lot of pasta shapes.  Oh, bow ties are officially "Farfalle."  Other favourites are Rotini (spiral, for pasta salads,) Ziti, Ditalini (for Minestrone) and, well, lots of stuffed pastas (Ravioli, Gnocchi, Tortellini, etc.)

End feelings on pasta shapes.

Tuesday, January 20th

Tortilla Soup [Left,] Quesadillas, Pinwheels [Below right.]  My night!  Also, Inauguration Day!  Yay!  Possibly because I wanted a margarita, we ended up with Mexican.  I made Tortilla Soup, which was lovely, if I do say so myself.  (And I do.)  Quesadillas were simple enough - cheese, hot peppers, black beans and corn.

Dessert...  I made these "really healthy" Cream Cheese Chocolate Chunk Pastries.  Nevermind the fact that pastry sheets are absolutely terrible for you.  They taste delicious!

I would suggest a few changes to the soup.  Less oil!  (Or a sheen results over the top of the soup.)  Someone in the reviews suggested petite diced tomatoes - I was a huge fan.  Frozen corn - because I hate canned vegetables.  Two cans of green chilis (as three is just a bit much.)  Now...  Go!

Wednesday, January 21st

BBQ, Fries.  M1 made BBQ chicken for the omnivores, and a BBQ veggie burger for me.  And my two favourite versions of French fries - seasoned and curly and sweet potato.  Yum!

Sunday, January 25th

Polenta-Stuffed Peppers [Right.]  These were awesome.  They looked so pretty!  I just spent a few moments looking for the recipe M3 used for these, but couldn't find it...  Also, I had no idea what polenta was; that shall not be an issue going forward.

Another great discovery here was Newman's Own Roast Garlic Balsamic Dressing.  I'm not big on many condiments, including most salad dressings, but this one was great!

Tuesday, January 27th

Risotto Trio.  I made three risottos, which was a bit of a juggling act, as risottos take a fair amount of hands-on work.  (The "trio" part of it was planned without thinking.  It worked out in the end.)

I was most excited about the Mushroom Risotto, but it turned out to be my least favourite of the three.  It wasn't bad, just the other two were better.  My favourite was the Butternut Squash Risotto.  I made a few alterations (from the reviews.)  I roasted to squash, with some nutmug and salt - for 20 minutes at 350.  (I'm not big into onions, so I probably used only a quarter.)  Obviously, I used vegetable stock; and I used only 2.5 to 3 cups of it - nowhere close to five cups!  It. Was. Awesome.  Lastly, there was a Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto.  Here, again, vegetable stock and less onion.

And...  Now we're up to date.  With what I've been eating, at least!  It seems that family dinners are taking a bit of a hiatus for a week - M3 is off to Mexico, and M1 is heading to my home state for the weekend.  However, since the Super Bowl is on Sunday, I can see loads of FRIED in my near future!

Two Down...

(I was all proud that I had blogged for, what, eight days straight.  So much for that!)

So far, the dinner plan has worked out excellently.  Granted, it's lasted two nights so far, but it's a start!  M3 made enchiladas on Sunday night.  They were lovely.  Actually, I just looked up what enchiladas actually are.  M3's made them a couple of times, but, honestly, I didn't really know what they were.  You know, besides delicious.

Last night, I made Spicy Vegetarian Lasagna.  I believe I'd made it before, back in college when I did a similar everyone-cooks-once-a-week thing with my then bf's house.  A couple of notes: 1) I only needed, maybe, 3/4 of the noodles suggested, and 2) it's not spicy.  Good though!  It took longer than I realized (missed the sauce taking over a half hour to make,) but I had a random salad (spinach, tomatoes, apples and almonds.)  (And wine.)  Regardless, it was a lovely night full of good food and good conversation.

(Another goal: Take pictures of our culinary creations!)

I can't believe it's only Tuesday night.  Somehow, the week has seemed so much longer.  I had a doctor's appointment this morning, which was a bit of a shock as I prepared for it - got to get back in the (diabetes) swing of things!  Another goal for the year: Get A1C down to 7.

But, really excited for the weekend.  Due to weather, we didn't end up celebrating S's birthday (with S, at least) last weekend and decided on this coming Saturday instead.  There's also a possibility of a game night at M1's.  AND.  Most exciting???  Tattoo (#1 of 2009.)  I'm going to get the center Diamond Chair from this beautiful, old Knoll advertisement:

(The colours are showing up weird for me...  See here for the real deal!  Not that it really matters; I'm getting the larger, black-lined design in the middle.)  There is even more exciting stuffs to this story, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'll leave you on the edge of your seats for a few more days!

And, with that, to bed for me!