kids say the darndest . . .

I haven't had many of these posts recently, as my students are much younger with the new job I accepted in May, (16 to 33 months, to be exact,) and just don't talk as much! That's not to say we don't have plenty of laughs in the classroom, it's just . . . harder to explain them if you weren't there, you know?

Well, a couple of the older ones are talking more and more these days, and one of the toddlers has been talking in his sleep a bit over the past couple of weeks. Last week, he shouted out randomly during nap, while sound asleep . . .

"It's MINE . . . I want it!"

And today?

"Give it BACK!"

:) Oh, toddlers. (And least he's using his words!)

so much for that hiatus

So much for my blogging hiatus. :) John cooked dinner on Friday night, and insisted I take a picture and blog about the meal he planned, shopped for, and prepared! I was forced to sit on the couch during dinner prep, and was not allowed to help at all. Being "lazy," especially regarding stuff in the kitchen, is challenging for me, but it was definitely nice to relax while someone else did all of the work!

Lookit:

"Tortellini with Nutty Herb Sauce," from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. This was a rich and flavorful pasta dish, that could have only benefited from a little lemon zest to wake things up, and maybe a green salad on the side to lighten things up. :) Well done, John!

(P.S. John kept calling this dish "pasta with creamy nut sauce." I shake my head.) :)

And here was breakfast this morning:

John requested cornmeal pancakes, and after an extensive internet search, we found a recipe that was . . . okay. The batter was far too thin, (I ended up adding quite a bit more flour,) and far too low-fat for my tastes, but I think I have a good idea of how I'd like them to be next time. :) We had a couple of Morningstar veggie breakfast patties on the side, and plenty of strawberries tossed with a little sugar and lemon zest on the pancakes. Delicious!

Here's what I think might make ideal cornmeal pancakes . . .

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fine cornmeal
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk (2 tsp vinegar + 2 cups milk, which is what we used this morning)
1/4 cup oil
1 egg

Ideas? Input?

food, and a hiatus

First, in no particular order, here are some things I cooked or baked this weekend:

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

John had a potential tenant coming over on Saturday evening to look at a room he's renting out, and thought it would be good if the house smelled good. I suggested we bake something; after a quick trip to Target for flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and measuring cups, we made cookies! They were delicious, and the potential tenant took the room! Win win for all!

After John ate four cookies, we decided it was about time we made dinner, before cookies became dinner:

Swiss Chard with Chickpeas and Couscous is speedy, healthy, and almost always a hit. We used dried cranberries instead of raisins, (per John's request, as he's opposed to raisins almost always,) and I always reduce the amount of salt called for in the original recipe. Another hit!

Thursday night was a simple pasta and salad:

Homemade puttanesca sauce, sans anchovies, over bowties, with a "clean out the crisper" salad on the side. I even managed to use up some stale bread and made croutons! Delicious.

Sunday night pho:

Persuaded by a coupon, I decided to try Pacific Food's Vegetarian Pho Soup Base to make life a little easier this week. :) The boxed broth definitely made the whole homemade pho process speedier, and the broth is actually pretty delicious! My only complaint is that the broth is pretty high in sodium, and doesn't actually taste all that salty. John and I each added a few dashes of soy sauce to our bowls after our first couple of bites; processed food is always higher in sodium than homemade, and I guess that's a "hit" I'm willing to take in the future for speed and ease of meal preparation, at least in this case! What do you think? Have you tried any of the pho broths yet?

And now, it's time for a hiatus. Work is EXPLODING right now, and to top it all off, I'm taking an online class, which starts today! Really, really bad timing given how late I've been working these past couple of weeks, but I'm certain the class will be really good and I'll learn a lot. It's going to be weird . . . I haven't had reading assignments, lectures, and homework for YEARS! (Flashback!) Wish me luck staying on top of everything, and I'll be back when things slow down.

Breakfast repeat

The waffles were so good last week that we had to make them again this morning. :) The last of the breakfast sausages on the side, and a treat - raspberries! Please also admire John's "fancy" plates.

getting caught up

In no particular order, here's what I've been cookin' up as of late . . .

In exciting kitchen-related news, I bought a waffle iron!

I've realized that the thrift store is a great resource for purchasing goofy appliances for my kitchen. I don't really need a quesadilla maker or mini-cupcake baker any time soon, (I was quite surprised by some of the kitchen appliances out there!) but the popcorn popper and waffle iron I've picked up recently have both been stellar finds on the cheap! I made a batch of "Amazing Overnight Waffles" from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe this past weekend, and they were as spectacular as I remembered. I spread mine with peanut butter and drizzled them with syrup, and enjoyed a few Breakfast Sausages on the side. I followed Vegan Dad's directions for maple-glazing the sausages this time, and I can't imagine NOT glazing sausages in the future. :) I still think the sausages could be a bit saltier and a bit spicier for my palate; I'll play around more with the recipe next batch.

I've been sick (AGAIN, ugh,) so John and I made some soup last Friday night:

Chickenless Noodle Soup, containing olive oil, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, vegetable broth, egg noodles, salt, and pepper. No more, no less, and it's downright perfect in its simplicity.

A somewhat fancy, healthy, impressive, yet speedy Monday night dinner:

Seitan in mole (using seitan I made late last week and mole from my freezer) over brown rice, with sides of sweet potatoes and chard. This also made a fantastic lunch leftover today! (Shout out to John for delivering my lunch to work for me today, as I forgot it in his fridge this morning! Double shout-out, as he included chocolate with the lunch delivery. :) I didn't realize we were celebrating Valentine's Day, but there you go! A lovely Tuesday surprise!)

Another weekend breakfast:

Eggs scrambled with onion, garlic, spinach, tomato, and feta, with a side of banana pancakes. Pancakes AND waffles in the SAME weekend? Hell yes.

Last, more soup:

Corn Chowder with Roasted Poblanos

with "Vermont Cheddar Bread," from AB in 5, on the side:


Consider me all caught up. :) Off to work through the leftovers!

not too shabby

Here's what happens when John and I wander aimlessly through the supermarket, trolling for dinner supplies at 6:30 on a Tuesday night, feeling both hungry and tired:

Not too shabby, if you ask me! Stir-fry of rice noodles, onion, mushroom, carrot, sugar snap pea, and almonds, drizzled with a store-bought stir-fry sauce, augmented by some garlic and cayenne. Spicy-noodley good, even though the noodles stuck together en masse, and had to be carefully teased apart with two forks. Gotta love starchy-gooey rice noodles, eh?

weekend food recap

I'm lacking creativity this morning; I apologize for the bland and uninteresting post title. (My cat hates me, I think. I am so sleep-deprived!) Anyhow, I demonstrated much more creativity when meal-planning and cooking last weekend:

After a long, chilly, beautiful hike along the St. Croix on Saturday afternoon, a filling, speedy, delicious dinner was in order:

Breakfast burritos also make an excellent dinner! Sprouted tortillas stuffed with refried beans, cheese, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. Delicious.

Lunch Sunday was supposed to be dinner Saturday night, but we swapped meals due to hunger and speed of preparation. The lasagna was just as good the next day!

Whole-wheat noodles, homemade sauce, and a three cheese/spinach/artichoke filling became much more than the sum of its parts!

Dinner Sunday night was quick, easy, delicious, and consumed on the couch in front of a movie:

"Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers. I love the sweet/salty/spicy/creamy/rich flavors in this soup so much!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, too! (Although it really feels like a long time ago at this point . . . !)

John's pie

Friday night, John and I were wandering through Byerly's, trying to figure out what we were going to make for dinner. (We settled on bruschetta and quiche, not necessarily related, but both tasty! And no photos, sorry!) John noticed that Friday is "pie day" at Byerly's, and half-pies were on sale. I managed to convince John NOT to buy a grocery store pie, in favor of homemade pie the following day. :)

Here's John's pie:

I used my great-grandma's recipe for piecrust, using a little bit more butter than shortening, and it turned out FABULOUSLY. Granny Smith apple filling, with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg. Mmmmm. Must have been good, as there is only ONE piece left. And I made the pie on Saturday morning! :) Do you think I have enough willpower to save the last piece for the next time I see John? I'm not sure . . . !

And a couple more meals from the weekend --

Chili!

We went ice skating on Saturday evening, and chili was the perfect post-skate, warming dinner. I have really been digging my "basic" recipe of late, containing little more than onion, garlic, bell pepper, minced mushrooms, chili powder, cumin, salt, diced tomatoes, beans, vegetable broth (or water,) and hot sauce. Plenty of toppings this time, including pepper jack, cilantro, green onions, and sour cream. (Chips and guac on the side, not pictured!)

And Pad Thai!

I augmented the recipe for "Brooklyn Pad Thai" from Vegan with a Vengeance by adding some shredded cabbage (and cutting back a wee bit on the noodles,) a couple scrambled eggs, and extra peanuts. Spicy-sweet-salty-tangy and delicious! I love Thai food.

MORE tea.

Anyone who knows me well knows I need more tea like I need a hole in the head.

But, I just couldn't help myself . . .



I took it upon myself to try all three teas immediately, so I could provide you with a review. You know, taking one for the team and all. :)

Coconut Cocoa: This tea has a strong coconut flavor, with a subtle chocolatey-ness hiding in the background. I like this one quite a bit, but I would expect that if you weren't a huge fan of coconut, this wouldn't be a hit with you.

Red Velvet Chocolate: This is my least favorite of the three. Don't get me wrong -- it's a nice, quality, vanilla-y rooibos. But this fancy canister of tea doesn't taste much different than the ordinary vanilla rooibos I have on hand. A subtle chocolate aroma, but no detectable chocolate flavor, in my opinion. Bummer.

Peppermint Chocolate: This is excellent! Kind of tastes like an Andes mint, but not sweet, obviously. I might try this one again later with a bit of sugar, to see if it gets even better. :) P.S. This cup of tea was excellent with a teensie handful of white chocolate chips on the side . . . :)

My co-op doesn't seem to carry the Strawberry or Banana Chocolate teas . . . anyone out there tried either? Both sound amazing to me!

Do you impulse buy tea? Any other silly grocery impulse buys you care to confess?

on a Tuesday . . .

. . . I received an email from John, stating that he was going to be in my neighborhood working all day, and did I want to get together around 5? Of course!

But wait . . . what's for dinner? I had plenty of leftovers, but not enough of any one thing for the two of us. Popping over to Target during my break for a few items was really the only option, right? I was pleasantly surprised that Target carries organic, whole-wheat pasta!

Bow ties with homemade mushroom marinara, and a "clean out the crisper" salad on the side:


And mixed berry crumble with a drizzle of heavy cream for dessert:

That bag of frozen berries has been lurking in my freezer positively for-EVER. It was great to use them up in something so delicious! John had two helpings; and I quote, "it's healthy, right? There's fruit!"

Weekend in food!

Meals from the weekend - whole wheat pancakes and breakfast sausages,

burritos,

and Smoky Split Pea Soup with Cheese Muffins.

YUM!

Friday night pizza!

Team effort on dinner last night - I made the "veggie supreme," John made a much more creative pizza with caramelized onions, artichokes, apple, and Brie.
Leftover pizza for breakfast? Indeed. :)

one cannot live on eggs alone

I'm back! After a couple of long bus rides, (and a lot of nose-blowing . . . traveling with a massive head cold isn't much fun, let me tell you,) and some quality time spent with grandpa in the middle, it's good to be home. :)

John picked me up from the bus on Monday afternoon; by dinnertime, we were both massively hungry, but I was so sick and tired and cranky that I couldn't come up with anything that possibly resembled dinner. And I needed to hit the store . . . desperately. John's suggestion? "I'll make eggs."

There we go. Dinner/breakfast is served. :)

And, since one cannot live on eggs alone . . .

"French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme," from Veganomicon:

I stuck pretty tight to the recipe this time around, although I didn't use all French green lentils, as I wanted to use up the mixture of lentils I had on hand. So . . . the soup has a blend of green, brown, and red lentils -- and what an amazing soup this turned out to be! I also cut back on the salt a bit, as I thought it would probably be too salty as writ. (I think I was right, at least for my palate!)

I was due another baking project -- Apple-Molasses Spice Cake:

I cannot say enough good things about this cake . . . moist, flavorful, intensely-spiced, warm, and just plain cozy. A perfect "ordinary" dessert, in my opinion!

Last, rice bowls with peanut sauce:

This is one of those amazingly-tasty, super-healthy dinners that come together in seconds if all of the ingredients are prepped ahead of time. I cooked up a bunch of brown rice, fried up some tofu, prepped a bunch of veggies, and made a batch of peanut sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. Ta-da! Pile it all in a bowl, re-warm (or not, if that's your thing,) and dig in. Mmmmmmm. Peanut sauce is the BEST.

On the road again

I'm headed out of town this holiday weekend via the Megabus again, to visit family in the Madison area. Before dropping me off at the bus this morning, John made breakfast. More ridiculous eggs! Note that I burned the bagels; John folded the napkins. :)

cookie girl

It was my turn to take treats to church choir rehearsal this past Wednesday; thankfully, we don't have to "feed" 50 people on our own -- one always has a "treat buddy." The goal for "treats" is to have a somewhat healthy snack, and a somewhat junky snack. :) You like how we think? I emailed my treat buddy over the weekend and said, "I'm planning on baking cookies -- you ok with covering the healthy option?"

I'm always the cookie girl. I think I've earned myself a reputation.



I ended up clearing a few holiday baking leftovers from my cupboards, and ended up with knock-your-socks-off oatmeal cookies. Here's my basic recipe, which I feel, is the BEST oatmeal cookie in the WORLD. And I'm not exaggerating.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (depends on whether you used salted butter)
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups mix-ins

375 for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

Sometimes, short, simple, and sweet is the way to go, would you agree? Take a basic base and add incredible stuff, (I used the scraps and crumbles from my holiday toffee, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and unsweetened coconut this time,) and you get . . . heaven.

I think I need a cookie for breakfast today. ;)

"don't take any of the brown ones"

Dinner last night was a team effort -- John came over after finishing a job on my side of town, (he lives in St. Paul,) and we made:

Black Bean and Chipotle Soup

(Topped with cilantro, diced avocado, and sour cream,)

And Buttermilk Cornbread:

(Note that I was worried about the 2/3 cup sugar called for in this recipe . . . but it wasn't too much, surprisingly. Balanced out the tanginess of the buttermilk nicely! Mmm.)

I made the cornbread, John chopped all of the veggies for the soup, and then we had to "hurry up and wait," as is the norm with soup. As we were dishing up our bowls and I was digging into the avocado, John said, "don't take any of the brown ones!" (It wasn't the best avocado; tasty, but visually a little unappealing.) I looked at him strangely and he continued, "don't you have to take a picture? Only take the pretty pieces." Well, okay then! :)

So let's see, here . . . he's a vegetarian, he does dishes, AND he's supportive of my slightly odd pre-meal photo-taking/post-meal blogging? I think he's a keeper. ;)

Ridiculous Eggs

I've been hinting at something . . . and here it is: I've found myself someone to cook breakfast for. :) Er, should I say, he cooks breakfast for me? John doesn't do much cooking to speak of these days, but he is a vegetarian, (which, oddly, is pleasantly refreshing -- I never thought it was a big deal, but it kind of is, I'm starting to realize), appreciates amazing and healthy food, and is awesome at making a few key things; eggs are one of his specialties. John makes what I have come to think of as "Ridiculous Eggs," not ridiculous in the "causing or worthy of ridicule" definition of the word, but rather, ridiculous in their absurd excess.

See?

Saturday morning's breakfast: Ridiculous Eggs with onion, garlic, shallot, spinach, feta, and tomato. Pumpernickel toast with homemade strawberry jam on the side.

And, Sunday morning's breakfast:

More Ridiculous Eggs, this time with onion, spinach, tomato, avocado, parsley, cream cheese, mozzarella, and cumin. Mmm. I am pro-cumin in eggs, let me tell you! More toast with homemade strawberry jam on the side, but this jam was made by John's three-year-old cousin. I think she might have something on me in the jam-making department!

Even though part of me would like to try to eat eggs three meals a day, I know it would be a bad idea, ultimately. :) Dinners from the weekend:

Masaman curry, with tofu, red bell pepper, sweet potato, broccoli, mushrooms, and onions, all over short-grain brown rice.

A simple, yet delicious, pasta and salad dinner:

I sauteed a bunch of garlic in a bunch of olive oil, added some dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and artichokes, and tossed the lot with hot pasta, parsley, parmesan, and goat cheese. This was kind of made up on the spot, and pretty damn awesome. Definitely worth repeating again in the future. :)

And, a giant salad for Sunday night:

Mixed greens topped with apples, fennel, walnuts, buttermilk blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. A wedge of Wedge focaccia on the side. A delicious and reasonably healthy way to end the weekend!

And, don't forget dessert . . .

Lemon bars! We managed to take down the entire pan over the course of the weekend . . . ha!

the last

Here are the remaining two meals from my vacation that I haven't yet blogged about:

Curried tofu, roasted sweet potatoes, and an artichoke:


And . . . biscuits and gravy!

We whipped up a quick batch of buttermilk biscuits this morning, made the tempeh sausage crumbles from Vegan with a Vengeance, and folded them into a vegetarian version of "creamy gravy," from The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Holy hell, this was an awesome breakfast. I had to have some fruit on the side, though, as I couldn't justify a breakfast comprised entirely of fat, white flour, and protein. :) (And a walk around the lake to follow definitely helped!)

Let me just say . . . having someone to cook breakfast with is AWESOME. Especially when he does the dishes. :)

As I look at the last remaining minutes of my vacation, I wonder . . . where did the time go? I feel like I've been away from work for a LONG time, yet I'm somehow not quite ready to head back, you know? :) Time to start mentally preparing myself . . . 5:30 AM is going to come REALLY early tomorrow morning! Sigh. (But I am looking forward to seeing the kids!)

Happy New Year!

My New Year's Eve was filled with good food & good company ... and nothing else! Sometimes it's just good to take it easy at (someone else's) home, would you agree?

Feast your eyes on our feast: wild rice soup and popovers:

day trip!

Nothing terribly exciting to report on my end . . . let's just say vacation agrees with me! :)

A few photos from a day trip I took to Great River Bluffs State Park on Thursday:







It was a cold, somewhat windy, kind of gray day, but we still had a bunch of fun! Moderately tough terrain, gorgeous views, good food (soup and sandwich picnic, packed by yours truly,) and great company made for the highlight of my vacation!

(And yes, if you are wondering, this "friend" is an important one . . . but I'm not ready to blow his cover just yet. The same mystery friend/helper in the kitchen that I've eluded to a few times over the past month. He'll get introduced soon enough!)