Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Veggies with Barley-Mushroom Pilaf

As a skilled home cook and someone who gets excited about food on a fairly regular basis, I find myself the recipient of gifts of unusual ingredients at times.  Once, a friend brought me a celeriac for the sole purpose of seeing what I would do with it.  :)  (I made soup.)  I am the frequent recipient of "I bought this and now I don't know what to do with it -- you will!" ingredients, and occasionally, these special ingredients are selected just for me.

Such is the case with the mason jar full of "Purple Prairie Barley" that has been languishing in my cupboards for a year and a half.  While I appreciate the thoughtfulness of this gift ... I don't love barley, (I typically find it too chewy for my tastes,) and rarely cook with it.  I do enjoy using pearled barley in risotto-style meals from time to time, but as a rule, I don't keep barley on hand.  I don't recall ever cooking hulled barley previously, so this extra-special barley was a bit of a stumper.

Googling "recipe purple barley" brought me up short, too -- most of the recipes were for salads, which I'm just not in the mood for right now, and besides, the veggies required for these summery meals are no longer in season.  I also infrequently make "protein-veg-grain" meals, so I rarely am looking for a carb-heavy side dish.

Thinking a little more about barley, I remember that mushrooms are frequently paired with barley, and since I also had a packet of dried porcini mushrooms in my cupboard (which I believe were also a gift!) I decided the two were destined for pilaf territory.

But, what to pair with the rich, earthy, umami-rich pilaf I was dreaming up?  I needed something lighter and brighter, something that would wake up my palate and bring some color and interest to the plate.  Something that would provide contrast in both flavor and texture, without "fighting" the barley.  Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Vegetables to the rescue!

Barley-Mushroom Pilaf

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup hulled barley, soaked for at least 8 hours and drained

1/2 oz dried mushrooms (porcini, shiitake, or a mixture of whatever you like or have on hand)

2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

1 cup finely-chopped onion or leek (white and light green parts)

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt/to taste

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Directions:
1. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil.  Add the dried mushrooms, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft and the broth is infused with mushroomy-goodness.  Strain, reserving both the mushrooms and broth.  Stem the mushrooms (if needed) and finely mince.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent.
3. Add the soaked/drained barley, vegetable broth, and minced rehydrated mushrooms, and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.  (I use a heat diffuser to prevent scorching the bottom layer when I cook most grains, but this is entirely optional, especially if you trust in your stove.)  Check the barley at this point -- if there is excess liquid, remove the lid and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has cooked off.
4. Enjoy!  Leftovers freeze well, if you are so inclined.

Lemon-Thyme Roasted Tempeh and Veggies
4 servings

Ingredients:
zest and juice of one lemon
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
8 oz tempeh
seasonal vegetables, cubed (I used eggplant, butternut squash, broccoli, and red bell pepper)

Directions:
1. Make the marinade: combine the zest, juice, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, vinegar, and olive oil in a small food processor or blender (or in a mason jar, if you plan on using a stick blender.)  Puree until smooth and emulsified.
2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the tempeh, cover, lower the heat, and steam for 10 minutes.  Remove the tempeh and cool slightly.  Cut the tempeh into cubes, and gently toss with 2 tbsp of the marinade.
3. Toss the prepared vegetables with the remaining marinade.  (You can add the tempeh to the bowl, too, but it can be delicate and crumbly at this stage, so your choice.)  Allow the veggies and tempeh to marinade for at least 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheight.  Dump out the veggies and tempeh onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Remove any delicate veggies (broccoli, asparagus, green onions, etc.) and set aside.  Roast the tempeh and sturdier veggies for 20 minutes.  Stir/flip the tempeh and veggies, add the delicate veggies, and return everything to the oven for 20 more minutes.
5. Enjoy!

I was pleased with how both of these recipes turned out, although I was definitely more pleased with the tempeh and veggies.  Blame the barley.  I just don't LOVE it.  Do you love barley?  I do have a couple cups of Purple Prairie Barley left ... what to do?  Any fabulous recipes to share?

400-calorie dinners (ii)

Two more all-star recipes to add to the 400-calorie dinner collection this week:

Falafel-Stuffed Eggplant:

I bookmarked this recipe ages ago . . . what took me so long to try this?  Light yet filling, with a welcome burst of summery flavors to brighten up the bitterest of cold winter days.  (I can imagine how much tastier this would be when everything was actually in season!)  I did modify the recipe slightly, adding the eggplant pulp to the filling, instead of "reserving for another use."  (Huh?  What on earth would anyone do with just around a cup of eggplant goo?  Hm.)  352 calories, loaded with fiber, protein, A, C, calcium, and impressively high in iron.  John claimed he wasn't all that hungry prior to dinner this evening, but managed to gobble up his portion just fine.  Must have been good!

Sauerkraut & Sausage Casserole:

This dish is as warm and cozy as the previous was bright and summery.  (Hey . . . I crave variety!)  After making my own vegetarian kielbasa, this dish was a snap to prepare, and I love the combination of tangy, salty kraut, (homegrown, home-cultured, and home-canned at our house!), savory faux sausage, sweet onions and apples, and tender-crispy potatoes.  A bargain dinner at 297 calories, packed with protein and loaded with vitamin C, there's definitely room for a chunk of dark rye with butter alongside this entree, or alternately . . .

Dessert!

German Honey Cookies:

If you enjoy simple yet surprising sweets, this is a cookie you MUST try.  There is enough honey in the dough to be clearly present in the baked cookie, yet the copious amount of vanilla and ground ginger sneak in and hang out in the background.  The cookies are sweet but not cloyingly so, buttery without being overly rich, and friendly to the healthy eating plan at 97 calories each.  I made a few modifications to the original recipe, following a more traditional method of creaming the butter and sugar together by hand, then stirring in the honey, egg, and vanilla, before finally adding the dry ingredients, and I also subbed in half whole-wheat pastry flour for some of the all-purpose.  This is only the second time I've made these, but I much prefer this batch -- my first attempt (years ago) was soft, pillowy, and almost cake-like using the technique in the recipe; this batch is soft, toothsomely chewy, and dense -- a perfect cookie texture, in my opinion.  (P.S. watch 'em like hawks, and pull them out of the oven JUST as they begin to brown and are completely set -- over-baking these beauties turns them tooth-breakingly crispy in a heartbeat.  Or, if you like crispy cookies, by all means, over-bake away!  I bet they would make great dunkers, in that case.)  Someday, I'll try these with fresh ginger in lieu of the ground, and likely achieve cookie nirvana.  :)

just the eats

No clever introduction today . . . just the eats!

Buttermilk Waffles, Field Roast sausage, and strawberries:

Curried Eggplant with Tomatoes and Basil:

(This was phenomenal, by the way.  Easy, speedy, healthy, and fantastically delicious!)

Pinto Bean Stew with Jalapeno-Corn Dumplings:

(Another Crock Pot success! The only change I made to the original recipe was to double the dumplings . . . because you never really can have too many dumplings, now can you?

Eggplant Lasagna:

(I think I could have doubled this recipe, and we would have been just as happy.  Homemade ricotta added something extra-special to this dish, and take-and-bake baguette made the perfect side.  Rich and cheesy, but not TOO heavy, a stellar supper that got even better in leftover form!)

Vanilla Ricotta Muffins:

(My version of this recipe is found in Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe; this online version is pretty close.  Skip the white chocolate chips, and you've got it.  I subbed in whole-wheat pastry flour for the AP flour; a great, tasty excuse to use up that leftover ricotta!)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting:

(My favorite chocolate cake recipe just got better with the addition of coconut oil, instead of canola -- the cake turns out slightly more dense, and the improvement in structure just means there's more support for extra frosting.  :)  I ended up adding extra powdered sugar to the above frosting recipe, as it was a little too runny with just the amount called for.  We took these cupcakes to dinner on Saturday night, and the little girls belonging to the grown-ups we were hanging out with were very excited!  Sprinkle cupcakes for all!)

pumping up the produce

As I wrote earlier in the week, I am trying to make an effort to eat more produce these days -- specifically, more veggies!  I tried to center our meals around veggies this weekend, and chose Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers as my "focus cookbook."  (Do any of you ever do that when you are meal planning?  Sometimes when I'm overwhelmed by ideas and options, I choose one cookbook and select only recipes from it for upcoming meals.)

Breakfast Saturday morning:

How to have French toast nearly effortlessly on Saturday morning?  Slice the bread and set it out to dry before you go to work on Friday morning.  Friday night before bed, make a custard, (I used 4 eggs, a cup of milk, a tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla, several dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a pinch of cardamom,) and soak the bread in the fridge overnight.  With these simple jobs done, all you have to do is get up and fry up your toast!  Yum.  I made us a beautiful fruit salad for the side.

Saturday supper:

Since butternut squash is John's favorite soup variety, I figured I better try the recipe for "Thai Butternut Squash Soup" from my focus cookbook.  I was really pleased with the results!  I made a couple of small modifications, (I roasted a whole squash instead of using frozen puree, used more spinach, and used the whole can of coconut milk and less water,) and we both loved this.  (I especially loved the salty, savory little "tofu croutons!  Tasty delicious.)

Sunday lunch:

"Magic Kale Salad" with pan-fried tempeh.  A repeat, for good reason!  Felt so good to eat a huge plate of greens!

Sunday supper:

A favorite from my focus cookbook this week, "Saucy Hungarian Eggplant."  I haven't made this in ages, and what a shame!  Light yet hearty, this stew is totally nutritious, flavorful, and also helped me take advantage of the GIGANTIC bag of bulgur I bought from Costco not too long ago.

It wouldn't be a quiet weekend without a baking project!

I really felt like baking today, although I wasn't ready to start my Christmas cookies quite yet.  :)  I searched the interwebs for a somewhat healthy muffin recipe full of holiday flavors, and ended up adapting a recipe for molasses spice muffins . . .

Whole-Wheat Gingerbread Muffins
Yield: 24 mini-muffins plus 8 standard muffins

Ingredients:
1 stick butter at room temperature (I used salted)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, buttermilk, and molasses, and stir until smooth.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, and spices.  Stir into the wet ingredients just until combined.
4. Fill muffin liners 1/2 to 2/3 full.  (These puff up a lot, thanks to the buttermilk/baking soda reaction!) Bake mini-muffins for about 15 minutes, standard muffins for about 24 minutes.  Cool, and store tightly covered at room temperature (or in the fridge, if you don't think you'll eat them in a few days.)

Lately, I've been enjoying scooping some of my muffin batter out into my mini-muffin pan, and taking those to work.  I love to bake, but we can't always get through a full batch of muffins before "the fuzz" gets to them.  :(  My coworkers have been enjoying the somewhat healthy, homemade "mini-treats" I bring occasionally!  A great solution to my "problem," and a win-win for everyone!

from scratch, more than ever

I have been enjoying the cooler temperatures we've had in MN these past few weeks!  I'm back in my kitchen, enjoying making things from scratch more than ever -- old favorites (bread, granola, marinara, piecrust, beans,) and new challenges (yogurt, butter, and sour cream) have all come out of my kitchen this week!

Here are a few finished products, incorporated into meals:

A simple casserole of eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, basil, and fresh mozzarella, smothered in homemade marinara:

Homemade triple-berry pie, with homemade vanilla ice cream:

French toast (made from homemade bread):

A (homemade refried) bean-and-cheese quesadilla, with salsa, guacamole, and homemade sour cream for dipping, with a side of roasted broccoli and bell peppers:

Delicious all around!  So far, this re-commitment to from-scratch cooking doesn't seem to be costing me too much extra time -- I have been spending one weekday evening doing kitchen prep and some baking, and that seems to serve me well through the week!

What are your favorite things to make from scratch?

dinner, served.

Dinner tonight:

It's nice when a few odds and ends can come together to make a delicious and healthy dinner, isn't it? Marinaded tofu (from the freezer,) whole-wheat couscous with lemon and garlic, leftover eggplant (brushed with soy sauce and olive oil, then broiled,) and roasted broccoli with chili flakes.

Sorry, folks -- I just can't come up with anything else to say about this meal! It was easy, it was healthy, it hit the spot. :) Work's been unusually intense these past couple of weeks, so I'm kinda shot . . . but I'll be back later in the week with soup! Until then.

I heart soy foods

I have been the tofu and tempeh queen lately -- check out some of this weekend's eats:

Friday night's dinner was co-created by myself and my friend, Ann:

Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh, from Veganomicon, with sides of roasted brussels sprouts, roasted eggplant, and Messy Rice (also from VCON, not pictured, since the rice took longer than I expected it to, and we ate it after we ate everything else. Classy, I realize, but we were hungry!)

An egg and cheese bagel briefly interrupted the soy food marathon:


And then I made pho for lunch!

I decided, at the last second, to make a half-recipe of pho this time around, and it was just right -- I got two meals worth out of the deal, and ended up marinading the other two pieces of tofu and sticking them in the freezer for the time being. More soy leftover for another day!

What weekend is complete without a baking project?

I made Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for a dinner party at Tiffany's house Saturday night; I, of course, edited the original recipe a little bit. I followed suggestions made by several reviewers to use oil instead of butter, and also used a full can of pumpkin (as recommended,) and I also skipped the cinnamon in the frosting. I LOVE cream cheese frosting, but wasn't convinced I would love cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and didn't want to potentially destroy perfectly good cream cheese goodness. ;) Additionally, I only baked off 12 of the 24 cupcakes; I filled the remaining liners and popped the unbaked batter in my freezer. I'm assuming the batter will thaw and bake off just fine in a few weeks, once I decide I need more cupcakes?

Anyone else out there ever tried freezing cake or muffin batter?

mainlining produce

Let's just say it has NOT been a healthy day for me, at least intake-wise. I ate both breakfast and lunch at school with the kids, and I realized, on my way home from work, that I was: 1. profoundly thirsty (thank you, processed foods,) and 2. hadn't had a single fruit or vegetable ALL DAY. The horror.

I decided that as soon as I walked in the door, it was time to start mainlining the produce:

A giant tomato and cucumber salad (with feta and olives,) two slices of toasted multigrain bread topped with baba ganoush and sliced avocado, and some fresh figs.

I feel better now.

baba ga-what?

In response to Ali's recent comment:

"Again with the eggplant!!! But this looks so yummy that you will have me trying it before summer's over (actually I do have ratatouille on my "to-cook" list but was planning an eggplant-free version)! I've just never cooked it well...any tips to make it not taste like an old kitchen dishrag?"

I figured it was about time to make baba ganoush. I picked up a large, gorgeous, shiny, perfectly-ripe beauty of an eggplant at the Farmer's Market this morning, and decided there and then that I would be spending the next few days living off of salads topped with either beets and goat cheese or tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, with plenty of crostini and baba on the side.

This creamy, subtle dip is great with just about any crackery/bread-type object, crudites, or, well, tortilla chips, if that's all you have on hand. :)



INGREDIENTS:
1 large eggplant
1 head garlic
olive oil (about 1/4 cup, maybe a little more, maybe a little less)
2 tablespoons tahini
juice of one lemon
salt to taste
few dashes smoked paprika

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Halve the eggplant, (no need to stem or trim,) and rub the cut sides with a few teaspoons olive oil. Place cut-side down on the baking sheet. Trim the head of garlic so the cloves are just exposed at the top. Drizzle a small square of foil with about a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, and smear the head of garlic in the oil. Wrap up tightly in the foil. Add the garlic to the baking sheet.
3. Roast the eggplant and garlic for about an hour, rotating your baking sheet halfway through if needed. Cool slightly.
4. Scoop the eggplant flesh out of the peel into a bowl, and squeeze the roasted garlic out of the papery skin. Add the tahini, lemon juice, salt, paprika, and a drizzle of olive oil to the bowl. Puree with a stick blender until very smooth. Add more oil as needed. (Alternately, you could add everything to a food processor or blender and puree -- I just don't have any of those fancy, high-tech appliances.) :)
5. Cool to room temperature or refrigerate before serving.

Note that I am usually fond of leaving the peels on fruits and vegetables. I have found, with past experiences, that eggplant peels just don't puree all that well, and they help your finished dip take on an unappetizing grey color, so lately, I have been tossing the peels after roasting. Feel free to add them to your batch, though!

Now Ali, I hope this doesn't taste like an old kitchen dishrag to you!

an obvious choice

With all of the gorgeous, fresh, local veggies in season right now, and the cooler temperatures we have been enjoying in MN as of late, I needed to make a massive heap of roasted veggies, wouldn't you agree? I followed the "Roasted Ratatouille" recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, adding 2 cups of cooked chickpeas for a little more protein/staying power. Now, what to do with those veggies, you ask?

Why, stuff them into crepes, of course -- isn't that the obvious answer?? ;) I haven't made crepes since Mardi Gras, and I was starting to feel like it was about time! My crepe recipe is so simple, (2 cups flour, 2 1/8 cups milk, 1 stick butter, melted, and 4 eggs,) and so delicious, (must be all that butter, plus then turning around and cooking them in more butter!), I felt like it was the obvious choice. :)

Thanks to French classes in high school, I have been making crepes for over half my life, so they feel like the easiest thing in the world. I also have a crepe pan . . . I know, I know. I don't make much room for unitaskers in my kitchen, but it's just so much easier to cook crepes in a crepe pan, as opposed to a nonstick frying pan. (No "tails" of batter shooting out of the edges when I use a crepe pan.) How 'bout you? Have you ever made crepes before?

stuffed!

I had bookmarked a recipe from Vegetarian Times awhile back for Walnut-Stuffed Eggplant . . . and waited patiently for eggplant to come in season.

Finally! I added the ingredients to my shopping lists last weekend, and was excited to try out something new. While I've stuffed squash and portobellos, I've actually never stuffed an eggplant -- can you believe it?

Upon closer examination of the recipe, I was starting to feel less excited about this project. Reading the recipe reviews, some folks said that the meal took them two hours to prepare, and others complained about the cinnamon in the filling. I talked with my friend Dora about this meal, since she has stuffed eggplant before, and she gave me some pointers on streamlining the preparation.

I tweaked the original recipe quite a bit; here's what I finally came up with!



Walnut-Stuffed Eggplant, FOOD SNOB Version

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants (2 1/2 to 3 lbs total weight)
1 tbsp + 4 tsp olive oil, divided
3 cups diced onion
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup roughly-chopped walnuts
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp oregano
zest of one lemon
salt to taste
3 1/2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup whole-wheat panko

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. Halve the eggplant lengthwise, (leave the stem on for a more gorgeous presentation,) and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the eggplant about 30 minutes, or until fork-tender. Cool slightly. Scoop the eggplant flesh from the shells, and chop the flesh coarsely. Arrange the shells back on the baking sheet.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet, and add the onion and red pepper. Cook the onion until soft. Add the cherry tomatoes, walnuts, Italian seasoning, oregano, lemon zest, salt, and reserved eggplant flesh, and stir to combine. Cook, covered, about three minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to break down. Fold in the feta.
3. Heap the filling into the reserved shells. Toss the breadcrumbs with the remaining 4 tsp oil, and sprinkle over the filling.
4. Bake the stuffed eggplant for about 15 minutes, or until the filling sets and the crumbs brown. Allow the eggplants to cool for 10 minutes before serving!

Plated, with salad:

After my stuffed eggplant, salad, and dessert, my belly is also stuffed!

transition food

Even though we are barely starting to see the first whispers of spring in chilly MN, it's still plenty cold and blustery at night! I think of this dish as more winter food, but with the high concentration of veggies, it's actually quite light. Perfect transition food, in my opinion!

"Saucy Hungarian Eggplant," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, (one of my favorite cookbooks of all time!), topped with a little leftover herbed yogurt from my chickpea pancake fiesta over the weekend. Now, this dish is excellent topped with plain yogurt . . . but the herbed yogurt turned it into something downright elegant!

I have a busy few days ahead of me, culminating with a marathon apartment-viewing extravaganza on Saturday. I expect I'll be eating leftovers for the next four days, so not much blogging coming up, but hopefully I'll get to the store on Sunday and have something to show! Until then, folks.

SNOW DAY!

I have pretty much always worked for non-profit preshool/child care programs in my career, which means, we NEVER get snow days. Typically, policy has been we don't close unless the public schools close, and the public schools never close!

Well, that is, until this week! Seriously, this is the first time I've remembered Minneapolis and/or St. Paul Public Schools closing in well over ten years. (I remember the University of Minnesota shut down one day during my freshman year because the air temperature was a high of -20 Farenheight, with even scarier wind chills. I'm sure the schools were closed that day, too!) It was such a surprise, receiving a call from my coteacher on Sunday night, with the message "SNOW DAY" loud and clear! THEN, last night, my boss called, stating, "another snow day tomorrow!" Wow! (The reasoning? I guess we got such a dumping of snow over the weekend, the city has not yet been fully plowed, so the school busses can't get through.)

Well, really, the reason doesn't matter -- snow days are the BEST! Of course, my favorite thing to do on a snow day is BAKE! Now, I've drastically changed my Christmas cookie plans for this year, since my parents have decided to come up. My mom does a ton of baking most years, and I didn't want to duplicate anything she's making, so my list has been cut from a dozen different things to about five. I wasn't even planning on making roll-out cookies this year, (since my mom already makes them,) but yesterday, I just couldn't help it! Snow days require frosting and sprinkles, in my opinion!




No offense to my grandma, whose "Christmas Cookie" dough I almost always make, but I decided to do something simpler this year, with a smaller yield. I settled on Real Simple's Basic Sugar Cookie Dough, which was just right. I ended up getting 40 cookies from this recipe, (the suggested yield is 18,) likely because I rolled the dough a little thinner and used smaller cookie cutters than they did. (I also believe strongly in re-rolling scraps. If I hadn't, I would have wasted at least half of the dough!) My cookies only took about 9 minutes, too, instead of their suggested 12 to 15. After cooling, I whipped up a super-simple buttercream, (1/2 cup butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and about 3 tbsp milk, or until the frosting held together but was still creamy and spreadable,) and attacked my stash of sprinkles. Wahoo! Dan didn't feel like helping with the decorating this year, and that was just fine -- the recipe was manageable enough, I finished the decorating before I was sick of it. :)

AND, since we cannot survive on cookies alone, (although it would be fun to try,) I did some actual cooking these past couple of days, too.

First, "Saucy Hungarian Eggplant," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers:

For some reason, seeing bulgur in the cupboard made me think to make this dish! Really, though, it is spectacular and easy, and one of my favorites from this cookbook. I couldn't believe the prices on decent-looking artichokes from California this week, so I decided to pick up two for us to enjoy alongside. (We also had salad! It was a veggie-full meal.)

Last night was an incredibly simple miso soup supper:


Here's my recipe, which serves two:

1. Combine 6 cups of water, 2 strips of kombu, 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, and 4 "coins" of fresh ginger. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover your dashi. This can steep basically as long as you'd like, but for at least a half-hour. Remove and discard the kombu, shiitakes, and ginger.

2. Return the broth to a boil. Add 1/2 package firm tofu, pressed and cubed small, about 12 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced, and 1 "bundle" of soba noodles, broken into about 1-inch pieces. Boil for five minutes, or however long your noodles take to cook, stirring frequently.

3. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 bunch of green onions, sliced, and 2 tablespoons of miso. Enjoy!

We had a small bowl of leftover soup, which I wasn't expecting, but because we had barely done anything all day long, I guess our appetites weren't at their normal level! Alas, I guess I'll just have to have the leftovers for breakfast this morning!

Off to enjoy snow day #2, here -- if I feel like getting out to buy more flour, I'll definitely be doing more baking! Wee!

in season

It's eggplant season! Woo! Since we both love eggplant, I've been trying to cook with it once or twice a week, until we're no longer able to get local eggplants at the market. It's one of those veggies I just haven't figured out how to preserve yet, (given my limited space and ability with preservation,) so I figure, I better get my fill while the gettin' is good!

Tonight's dinner featured half of an enormous eggplant, in Eating Well's Eggplant Pomodoro Pasta:

This was wonderful! I appreciated a quick and easy recipe on a dreary Friday night after a long and exhausting week, and the creaminess of the eggplant paired beautifully with the tangy tomatoes and hearty whole-wheat pasta. I pretty much followed the recipe as written, except for doubling the amount of chili flakes called for. (What can I say . . . we like spicy food!) I also put out the parm at the last second, since in Dan's world, it's not pasta without cheese. :)

What seasonal produce have you been gorging yourself on lately?

Any awesome eggplant recipes you care to share? I think we still have a few weeks left!?!?!

"Simple Supper" second success!

I made another dish from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers last night -- "Saucy Hungarian Eggplant!"

The recipe called to serve the eggplant over bulgur, (and suggested toasting the bulgur in olive oil first -- heavenly!) and then to top with plain yogurt. This was so fantastically delicious! Yum! Truthfully, I don't think I'd change a thing about this recipe -- it was quick, hearty, healthy, and delicious!

My first priority last night, however, was making another batch of zucchini cookies:

Last weekend's batch is already gone! The horror! The children had been asking me to bring some in, so I had to whip up another batch ASAP. Unfortunately, baking took up my yoga time last night -- I think the moral of the story is, I'm not very good at doing something EVERY DAY, besides, well, you know, sleeping, showering, and brushing my teeth. I'm too busy!

I'll keep trying with the yoga, though -- we'll see how the rest of the month goes.

Happy Friday, all! Woo weekend!

MUST BUY: "Simple Suppers"

I had planned pizza for dinner last night, before I knew we were going to a party instead. Soooooo . . . pizza's just as good for lunch!

Lately, I've been making two pizzas instead of one, and this seems to work well -- Dan doesn't feel like he has to "ration" the pizza while it's hot and fresh, and we still have plenty of leftovers cold for lunches. I experimented with using crusts made from all whole-wheat flour this time, and it worked well! (Victoria gave me her Artisan Bread 100% whole wheat version a while ago, and I'm just now getting around to trying it out!) The front slice features olive oil, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, heirloom tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. The rear slice is smothered with organic pizza sauce, mozzarella and feta cheeses, red onions, artichokes, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, chili flakes, and dried oregano. Both were deeeeeelicious, but Dan and I agreed that we both liked the heirloom tomato pie better. Why? Who knows! We usually prefer the stronger-tasting pizzas, but not today, I guess!

Here are a few pizza-making tips . . .

~ Use a baking stone. You will achieve a FAR superior crust quality!
~ Allow your pizzas to cool on a wire rack before slicing. You'll keep that crispy bottom crust!
~ If you are using really moist ingredients, (like fresh tomatoes or fresh mozzarella,) I've found placing them on a clean dish towel for fifteen minutes sucks enough moisture out of them that your finished pizza isn't all soggy.
~ No matter how many toppings I use, I find about a half-cup of each seems to be the right amount.
~ If you're going to use Parmesan and mozzarella on your pizza, put a layer of parm on top of your sauce, add your toppings, and top with the mozzarella. Parm has a tendency to burn and get dried out in the oven. If you bury it, it will be fantastic!

Anybody else have tips to share? I'm always looking to improve my pies!

Here is something fantastic that I have been meaning to make ALL SUMMER LONG, and never got around to making until today!

WATERMELON AGUA FRESCA!!!! Yum yum yum yum, this is like dessert in a glass. What did I do? I juiced one lime, added a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 cup of water, and half a seedless watermelon, diced, and pureed the heck out of it. Strain your "juice" using a mesh strainer, and chill. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I would use even more lime juice next time, but alas, I only found one lime in my fridge today.

Dinner tonight was exceptional, if I do say so myself!

I made "Roasted Ratatouille," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers. I MUST BUY THIS COOKBOOK! If the other recipes, (and I have at least 20 marked) are anything like this, we will eat well into eternity! Unfortunately, someone has requested this cookbook from the library, so I won't be able to renew it three times. :( Wah. Ok, back to dinner -- I did add a couple of things to the ratatouille, (chickpeas and some chopped carrot, since I have so many on hand,) and served it over polenta, as the cookbook suggested. Oven-roasted sweet corn made a lovely accompaniment! Dan and I both exclaimed continuously during dinner about how fantastic this dish is! We also both agreed that we don't eat enough polenta.

I think I'll have to head over to the used bookstore next weekend and see if they can find me a copy.

What cookbooks are on your "to buy" list?

Yoga Month!

I learned today that September is "Yoga Month!" That's exciting! Check out my sidebar for a link to the official Yoga Month website, where you can enter to win prizes and learn about free classes offered in your neck of the woods. Exciting!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to get into the habit of doing yoga this year . . . I had mixed feelings about making this resolution, because I knew I would "fall off the yoga wagon" during the summer. We are just so dang BUSY, I knew I'd have a hard time fitting in yoga -- and I was right. I'm using Yoga Month as an excuse to get back into the habit! I pledge to do at least twenty minutes of yoga per day, EVERY DAY, for the month of September! Woo! Care to join me? (At whatever frequency and level of participation you desire, obviously.) :) I plan to blog about my yoga daily, or as often as I can, so stay tuned!

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Here's the last of the weekend food fun . . .

Lunch today was Summer Squash and Corn Chowder, from Cooking Light:

If you click through to the recipe, you'll notice bacon is the first ingredient . . . I substituted a little olive oil for the suggested bacon drippings, and added 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika to the soup, which worked beautifully! In fact, next time I might add 1/2 teaspoon -- there was barely a whisper of smokiness in today's batch, and I'd definitely like a little more presence in the future. Overall, this is a wonderful recipe! I don't much care for summer squash, truthfully, but it is a fantastic addition to this creamy, yet light, corn chowder.

Dinner also featured summer squash!

Broiled summer squash and eggplant, lemon-garlic whole-wheat couscous, and "Mediterranean-Style Baked Lima Beans," from Veganomicon. Oh, those beans are so rich and creamy! Even though Dan doesn't much care for beans, he's a big fan of this dish.

We did both manage to save room for dessert . . .

We've had a bounty of local plums in our fridge for a couple of weeks, and the remaining half-dozen needed to be used today, or else! Enter, Plum Upside-Down Cake, from Cooking Light! INCREDIBLE! I love the contrast of the tart, flavorful plum with the rich, sweet butter cake. This cake will appear again and again in our house, I fear, featuring any seasonal fruit available. (For some reason, grapefruit upside-down cake just popped into my head . . . good idea? YES!)

Sliced . . .

Please don't attack your computer screen with a fork! :)

more eggplant

Eggplant-themed meals continue! Dinner last night:

Italian Eggplant Ragout, from Vegetarian Times, tossed with whole-wheat elk shaped pasta from the marketplace at IKEA. (Who knew I'd ever find organic, whole-wheat pasta at IKEA? Especially organic, whole-wheat pasta shaped like elks. I had to try it.) So, the eggplant -- excellent! I made a few alterations to the original recipe -- I used one whole eggplant instead of two (and scooping the insides out like the recipe suggests -- what a waste!) and I didn't salt the eggplant first. I also used a can of crushed tomatoes (instead of diced,) since I wanted the ragout more "saucy" for the pasta. It was fantastic! A nice change from regular marinara. Dan and I both liked the chickpeas in there, too, even though neither one of us usually cares for beans in Italian-type pasta dishes. Yum all around!

So, my elk pasta got me thinking . . . what's the goofiest food item you've bought lately?

pizza pizza.

Hold that thought . . . breakfast first.

We had a large mango in our fridge that was RIPE, and ready to be eaten immediately yesterday morning! I decided to make a sort of traditional mango lassi to supplement our breakfast:

Ingredients: 1 single-serve carton unsweetened vanilla yogurt, 1 large mango, diced, a sprinkle of natural granulated sugar, and enough "lime water" (we have a pitcher of water in our fridge with sliced limes floating in it) to cover. The mango was so sweet the sugar wasn't needed, and this made a wonderful "first breakfast." Mmmm!

(Lately I've been splitting my breakfasts into two courses -- one at home, one as soon as I get to work -- otherwise, I get major hungry before lunch and end up eating whatever junk I can find at work. The new system works well!)

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Eggplant are in season right now, and I had myself a long "think" about what I could do with eggplant in our meals this week. Pizza was one of the ideas I came up with right away! I cubed a small/medium eggplant from the Farmer's Market, tossed it with some olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper, and roasted it at 400 until the edges began to brown. I pureed the lot with a little extra olive oil, and it made a beautiful, interesting topping for one of our pizzas last night:

Half whole-wheat Artisan Bread dough, topped with eggplant puree, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh basil. Yum!

The second pizza was a little more traditional:

The second half of the batch of dough, topped with organic pizza sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, shiitake mushrooms, red onion, tons of sliced garlic (Dan's request,) kalamata and green olives, dried oregano, and chili flakes. Extra yum!

Even though we both enjoyed the first pizza, Dan and I were in agreement that the second pizza was the better of the two -- I guess we are just traditionalists when it comes to pizza! (Plus, I really like chili flakes on my pizza lately.)

What are your favorite pizza toppings?