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.

eating machine

Lately, I have been an eating machine. Has anyone else had this "problem" recently? More specifically, I can't seem to get enough spicy food, bread, butter, or cheese. (Vegetables? What are those??) :)

Seriously, though, I have still been eating my veggies . . . just not LOVING them, you know? Here are a couple of recent meals:

First, the second round of pad Thai:

I generally follow the recipe for "Brooklyn Pad Thai" from Vegan with a Vengeance, but typically add extra vegetable matter. The first round I added broccoli; this time, I added plenty of shredded green cabbage. Mmm!

Next, a reuben, and some leftover potatoes:

I confess, I have practically been living on grilled cheese sandwiches for the past week and a half. Why? I have no idea. :) I added tomato soup to my grilled cheese craving, and then progressed to reubens. I am really puzzled by this reuben craving, since I didn't think I really LIKED thousand island dressing, or sauerkraut, for that matter! But, gotta tell ya . . . I was eating the kraut straight out of the jar with a fork! Where did THAT come from? Luckily, I had some tempeh leftover from a simple meal this past weekend, so I only had to pick up a few other key ingredients to satisfy my craving!

For "dessert," I will eat an artichoke. :) (Giant artichokes have been on sale at the co-op this week! Why? Who cares! When inexpensive, eat artichokes!)

curry + noodles = happy me!

If you read my blog at least infrequently, I'm sure you've seen at least one post about curry -- I love it all, especially coconut-based Thai curries. I love the sweet-spicy-salty-creamy-flavorful goodness!

I have pretty much always served my curries over either brown or Jasmine rice, but then a recipe for "Thai Curried Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu," from the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times, caught my eye. Now, my love affair with curried noodles has begun.



Confessionally . . . I'm really not much of a rice person. I make rice because it goes with things, not because I like it. Pasta, however? I LOOOOOOOOVE any noodle, any time, any where! It's as if my curry prayers have been answered . . . I can now enjoy a big bowl of curry without any of that annoying rice getting in my way! :)

Good thing this recipe generated quite a bit of leftovers, because I'm not home the next two nights in a row . . . being busy can be a good thing, but it is hard to maintain sometimes! What are your best tricks for getting through busy spells?

giant whopper of a catch-up post

So, I've actually been cooking all week, even though I've mostly been posting about our Blogger Ethnic Market Tour! Consequently, I have a TON of stuff to catch you up on. Here we go . . . !

Rewind to Tuesday . . .
I made "Brooklyn Pad Thai" from Vegan with a Vengeance for dinner! While I deem this recipe more of a "weekend" meal due to all of the prep, it's a nice treat on a weeknight every once in a while. I find prepping ALL of the ingredients ahead of time extremely beneficial when making this recipe:

And here's the finished product, avec broccoli (because almost everything's better with broccoli, right?)


After devouring our plates of pad Thai, we had dragonfruit for dessert!

I think of dragonfruit as more of an experience, rather than something super-tasty that I look forward to, since it is so mild (ahem, bland,) tasting. We sprinkle ours with a little sugar and give it a drizzle of lime juice to amp it up:

It's so dang cool looking, though, I can't help but enjoy it!

Thursday was a late-start work day for me, (comp time due to training in the evening,) so I spent the morning cooking away . . .

First, I made Melody's Salsa:

This is some goooooooooood stuff! I followed her recipe nearly as written, (using way less salt, since I am trying to keep our salt intake down, and 4 seeded jalapenos for the chile requirement,) and both Dan and I love it! Jarred salsa no more, in our house! I like that Melody's recipe makes a vat, (since a jar of salsa disappears nearly as it's opened in our house,) and although I'd probably cut down on the amount of cumin next time, (I find cumin overpowering sometimes,) I love the complex, spicy, smoky flavor. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Melody!

Salsa is handy for topping "tacos-to-go" --

Tacos are kind of a hard thing to pack in a lunch, but I've discovered a way that works -- pack all of the filling in one container, and the tortillas or chips in a bag/wrap-n-mat, and assemble on site. Yum! Don't forget the homemade guacamole!

We were kind of dredging the bottom of the barrel for breakfast this morning, (out of milk, so no cereal, out of bread, so no toast,) so I improvised, and horchata oatmeal was born!

Oh, nummy nummy nummy, this was good stuff! Sweet, creamy, nutty, and fantastic! I just made regular oatmeal with horchata instead of milk or water, and topped with sliced, toasted almonds. Yum!

After meeting Courtney for coffee this morning, I went to Kowalski's and the Wedge. Had kind of a long list this week . . .


BREAD:
local ciabatta
organic, 100% whole-wheat sandwich bread

BULK:
local sliced raw almonds
locally-roasted, organic, fair-trade coffee
organic fruit-sweetened dried cranberries

CHEESE: (yes, not vegan -- some is for work, some for grilled cheese sandwiches this week)
local part-skim mozzarella (the kids want to make pizzas!)
sliced muenster

DELI:
vegan apricot thumbprint cookie (not pictured . . . consumed at the co-op to avoid fainting from hunger during my walk home!)

FROZEN:
organic cranberry juice cocktail concentrate
local, organic orange juice concentrate

PACKAGED GROCERY:
Lyle's golden syrup
3 bottles of club soda
cashew-carrot ginger soup
organic low-sodium vegetable broth
Yogi kava tea
organic firm silken tofu
organic pizza sauce
organic no-salt-added diced tomatoes
organic lite coconut milk
panko

PRODUCE:
local honeycrisp apples
aurora apples
Granny Smith apples
cranberries
organic lemons
organic green beans
organic spinach
organic parsley
local, organic white button mushrooms
local, organic cremini mushrooms
organic shiitake mushrooms
organic green onions
organic sweet potatoes
local, hydroponic tomatoes
local oyster mushrooms
organic navel oranges
organic yellow onions
local, organic Yukon gold potatoes
local, organic fresh chives
local, organic fresh thyme

REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
organic spelt English muffins
Earth Balance buttery sticks
Yves veggie pepperoni

~~~~~~~~~~

Why such a long list this week? Well . . . tune in tomorrow for a series of posts titled "A Very Vegan Thanksgiving!" Gotta get back to those caramelized onions now!

step-by-step Thai curry

Thai curry is one of those meals that we make at least once a month -- it's fairly quick, fairly simple, and an easy way to use up odds and ends from the vegetable drawer. :)

You will need . . .

3 tbsp peanut oil, divided
1 pound water-pack firm or extra firm tofu, pressed for at least 30 minutes
1 onion, sliced
equal amounts garlic and ginger, grated or minced (about 2 tsp each)
2 tbsp curry paste (red, yellow, or green -- your choice!)
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 can coconut milk
VEGETABLES! (Tonight I used eggplant, winter squash, broccoli, red bell pepper, carrot, green beans, green onions, broccoli, and shiitake mushrooms)

Step 1:

Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add 1 tbsp peanut oil. Fry half the tofu. Remove the tofu to paper towels, and add another tbsp oil and fry the second batch.

Step 2:

Add the last tbsp oil to the wok, and fry the onions, ginger, and garlic until beginning to brown.

Step 3:

Add the curry paste, and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the paste sort of "melts" into the onions.

Step 4:

Add the coconut milk, 1/2 a can of water, soy sauce, agave, the tofu, and any long-cooking veggies to the wok. Bring the curry to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until your veggies are tender.

Step 5:

Fold in the remaining veggies, and cook about 5 minutes, or just until crisp-tender.

Serve over rice!

Yoga Month, Day 1

Hey hey, it's yoga month! For those of you who didn't read my post last weekend, I discovered September is officially "Yoga Month," and I decided to get my butt back on the yoga train by pledging to do yoga EVERY DAY for the month of September! Woo!

After my 10-mile bike ride home from work tonight, I took it easy with twenty minutes of "Stress Relief Yoga for Beginners," an old yoga DVD favorite of mine. It was really nice to stretch out, (especially my legs, upper back, and shoulders,) following my long ride!

I ended my evening with a deeeeeeelicious bowl of soup:

This Thai soup is one of Dan's favorites, and a frequent request when I ask him, "any ideas for what you'd like to eat next week?" I based my version on a recipe for "Thai-Style Chicken Soup" from Cook's Illustrated. I can't seem to find the recipe online anywhere, (except on their website, which you have to subscribe to in order to see recipes,) but know that this soup is pretty easy! You make a base of shallots, lemongrass, and cilantro, add vegetable broth and coconut milk, and after simmering, the solids are strained out. Cubed extra-firm tofu and sliced mushrooms float in the broth, which is then seasoned with fish sauce (or soy sauce,) curry paste, and lime juice. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, and sriracha!

What recipe does your spouse/significant other/children/friends ask you to make again and again?

"toe-FOOD"

Have I ever told the story of "toe-FOOD?" Well, it's a short one, but funny.

The kids at my old job didn't quite hear me the first time I said, "tofu," and they heard it, "toe-FOOD." So, forever from that point, they'd ask me, "do you have toe-FOOD for lunch today?" :)

(The other mispronunciation that was hilarious was "shush-ee." You know, seaweed wrapped around rice and veggies?")

Anyhow, I must have been hungry for "toe-FOOD" this past week, because we ate a TON of it:

"Brooklyn Pad Thai," from Vegan with a Vengeance:


Tofu coconut curry, over brown rice:


Asian noodley soup, with tofu and too many veggies:


I did also manage to throw a little variety in there, mostly this past weekend . . .

PIZZA:


Beans and Rice:

Tucked safely away in the fridge for lunches this week. We never seem to get sick of beans and rice prepared in my super-secret way! (Super-secret? Nah. Pretty much everything you see in that picture, plus a jar of prepared salsa. Shhhhhhh! Don't tell!)

CAKE:

We had our annual "girls night in" last night, and we simplified this month by just doing dessert and tea. I made the "Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake," from Veganomicon, and topped the slices with vanilla ice cream (not pictured) and sliced strawberries tossed with a drizzle of agave. YUM!

Sigh. Must go find my kitchen under a mountain of dirty dishes! I leave you with a cat-in-a-box:

weird week.

It's been kind of a weird week. I had all sorts of funny, little things that changed my schedule this week, (dentist appointment, errands, etc.), attended a funeral on Friday afternoon for a fellow choir member who passed away several weeks ago, and also found out that my grandma died on Thursday night -- the funeral is next week, and Dan and I will be out of town for a couple days for it.

Consequently, when things get a little crazy, some of the normal parts of life go on hold -- like cooking. :) We had a lot of salad/pita/hummus dinners this week, and also went out for dinner on Thursday night! Crazy! I did manage to cook a couple of simpler meals, though:

An old standby, coconut curry:

This truly never gets old, and I'm starting to realize the importance of recipes like this in the repertoire. You can put any veggies and/or protein with the simple sauce of 1 can coconut milk, 2 tablespoons each soy sauce, curry paste, and brown sugar, and voila! Instant curry deliciousness!

Another not-quite-as-frequent repeat, but definitely a favorite:

Fried rice! I think everyone loves fried rice from the Chinese restaurant, but really, you haven't had fried rice until you make it yourself. I always scramble a couple of eggs, scoop them out of the pan, cook up some garlic and ginger in peanut oil, then throw in any veggies that need to cook, the rice, the rest of the veggies that just need to be warmed, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and that's it! Tasty and easy. :)

I'm very glad I took the time to cook up THREE cups of dry brown rice last weekend, because it sure came in handy!

laundry list of dinners

I don't think I was feeling terribly creative when I did last week's meal plan . . . lots of "repeats," here. Well, at least we ate healthfully and well!

"Brooklyn Pad Thai," from Vegan with a Vengeance:

I usually try to add an extra vegetable to this recipe, (usually broccoli,) to amp up the nutritional value. Last week, local cabbage was on sale, so I picked up a 1/4 head and gave it a try! The cabbage worked very well in this recipe -- melted into the dish, and just sort of acted like extra noodles. Delicious!

Homemade pita, falafel w/the fixings, and tabouli:

I found a recipe somewhere for "winter tabouli," that called for sun-dried tomatoes instead of fresh ones. Worked well! I add TONS of mint to my tabouli, which is usually too much for most people, but Dan and I love. Yum.

Crock Pot Chili:

I've bastardized a Vegan Planet recipe to the point where I might just post my variation someday. I love chili, and I LOVE my Crock Pot!

Don't forget the cornbread muffins:


PIZZA:

Artisan Bread half-whole wheat crust, roasted garlic & olive oil puree for "sauce," a variety of leftover cheeses, roasted red peppers, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, red onion, and spinach. I LOVE PIZZA.

Brunch for dinner:

I think blue potatoes are so dang fun! Am I weird? Anyhow, lately I've been throwing a drizzle each of balsamic vinegar and soy sauce into my kale, and it's been heavenly! What's your favorite way to cook greens?

delicious dinners

Monday night:

Spinach Lasagna with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce, from The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook. I was pleasantly surprised by the filling richness of this dish, being from a "healthy" cookbook and all, plus the portion size was just right! Yum. Next time, I need to work on finding whole-wheat lasagna noodles. (I think my co-op has them in bulk . . . !!)

Tuesday night:

"Brooklyn Pad Thai," round 2, from Vegan with a Vengeance. I've been pulling that cookbook out more and more lately . . . I forget how fantastic many of those recipes are! You'll see more from V-WAV this weekend. :)

Thursday night:

Cannellini Beans with Wilted Greens, again, from The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook. Served this one over a quick, homemade soft polenta. Polenta falls into the same category as couscous, in my book -- quick, simple, tasty foods that I tend to forget about! :)

As you can see, I've really been trying to amp up our veggie and lean protein servings lately, to counteract all of the holiday junk food that we've both been around lately. :) Also, I was so proud of Dan yesterday -- he was tempted to go out and get himself a sandwich or burrito or something after work, but instead he came home and made himself a spinach and cheese omelette! Yay Dan!

In other news, we had a holiday baking contest at work yesterday, and I WON! Woo! 8 extra hours of PTO for me! Wahoo! My sea salt caramels were the winning entry -- everyone kept joking about how they were going to pull their fillings and other assorted dental work out, but it didn't stop anyone from eating one! :)

I'm very excited to tackle my cookie-baking this weekend, and I also have several more delicious meals on our agenda. Until then!

not a lot of cooking

Until I finally managed to get back into my kitchen yesterday, it had felt like I hadn't cooked in a week! (Really, it was more like a few days, but, you know what I mean.) Towards the end of last week, we were subsisting on leftovers and the ever-reliable pasta and burritos:





I swear, you could put guacamole on a rock and I'd consider eating it. :)

Friday, I picked up a few small things during my break so I could officially start my holiday baking and candy-making Friday night:



One down, eight to go!

Saturday morning, I woke bright and early, and decided to get the shopping over and done with for the next two weeks. After visiting THREE different grocery stores, (Asian market, Middle Eastern market, and the co-op,) I was much poorer, but had a carload of food, including all of my holiday baking supplies.

The baking is going to have to wait until next weekend, though, because it was time to make some REAL food!

"Old-Fashioned Cream of Mushroom Soup," from Love Soup, by Anna Thomas:

Yummy! Additionally, I'm not typically much of a broth fan, but I couldn't get enough of this one. Practically licked my bowl clean!

AND, it was time for "Brooklyn Pad Thai" again:

Broccoli has become a requirement with this recipe lately, and that's a good thing!

I'm SO excited to get busy baking this weekend! Watch for the finished products later this week!

meals from the week and a mini-shop

Many of you out there can probably relate to the beginning of this post -- I've learned over the past six months or so that it takes a LONG time to adjust to living with a partner. Don't get me wrong -- I wouldn't go back to living alone if you paid me -- it's just that we're still working out the "kinks." For example, how in the HECK are we supposed to get all of the laundry, cleaning, dishes, whatnot done, and still have time left to hang out together, (AND see family and friends,) with my long work days and Dan's busy schedule??? We thought a little more about this issue this week, and have sorted out a couple of potential solutions, including doing the grocery shopping during the week, Dan being responsible for a little more of the housework right away when he gets home from work, (since he gets home so much earlier than I,) and both of us focusing on staying on top of the "clutter" in our teensie-tiny apartment. We are also seriously considering shopping every other week, and last weekend was kind of a trial effort. Here are meals from week one of this experiment:

A simple casserole to throw together the night before and pop in the oven after work:

VT's recipe for Asparagus Mushroom Bread Pudding pleased both the lighter eater (me) and the pig-out guy (Dan) in one pan! Even though I don't care much for eggs, I loved the light texture and load of veggies in this one, and Dan loved the filling bread and layer of goat cheese on top! Side salads rounded out our meal, and it also made fine leftovers for lunches the next day!

I've been working the Crock Pot more than ever these days, and managed to forget to snap a picture of a sweet potato stew I loaded in there on Tuesday night for Wednesday's dinner. (The busiest night of my week -- fifteen minute turnaround between getting home from work and having to leave for choir practice!)

The butterscotch pudding was such a hit, I made a batch of vanilla-chai pudding later in the week:

Yum!

Thai Soup with tofu and lemongrass is a frequent request of Dan's:

Even though this recipe has a couple of major steps to it, (including straining the broth before adding the mushrooms and tofu,) it's pretty quick to the table -- only about an hour!

I used a lump of Artisan Bread dough and some leftover fresh basil as excuses to make pizza:

Mmmmm Margherita!

AND, since we polished off such a huge grocery shop last weekend, our list was so short this week I was able to sneak off to Mississippi Market during my break and fill in the gaps for this week:

(Pardon all of the lettuce -- we're bringing a green salad to Thanksgiving!) I picked up red and gold beets, organic baby mixed greens, local hydroponic lettuce, parchment paper, parmesan, goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, pecans, non-GMO cornstarch, whole-wheat pasta, and locally-roased, organic, fair-trade coffee! Even though I had to haul the groceries home on the bus, it's nice to have that errand out of the way so we can enjoy our weekend a little more!

V.V. IMPORTANT QUESTION:

We're taking a beet and goat cheese salad to Thanksgiving. The great debate is . . .

Walnuts vs. Pecans.

Please offer your opinion!