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!

MORE soup.

I'm a woman obsessed -- definitely in a cooking rut! Although a little soggy, I guess a soup rut isn't a terribly bad place to be! Would you agree?

I threw this together late last week, no measuring involved at all, but excellent results, in the end!

Ingredients: olive oil, onion, garlic, Italian Field Roast sausages, chili flakes, salt, pepper, white beans, a can of crushed, fire-roasted tomatoes, a splash of vegetable broth, and a load of kale.

What kinds of cooking ruts do you find yourself in?

saucy!

Wow.

I. Am. Tired! Today was baking day, and boy, was it a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work! I finished the last five batches of Christmas cookies/candies today, including all of the packing, wrapping, decorating, and dish-washing involved. I somehow managed to run a couple of errands, too, and then found myself with more time to spare after dinner. Time to "get saucy!" (Ha, ha.)



My parents are coming up for Christmas this year, and I decided on tamales for Christmas dinner! Now, we can't have plain ol' jarred salsa on our tamales, and I wanted to mimic the three sauces Mexican restaurants offer with their tamales, so it was time for a sauce-a-thon. On the left is Melody's recipe for homemade salsa, with a few modifications of my own. (I cut back on the spices she calls for, since I really prefer a strong tomato flavor with an undertone of spices, used 4 jalapenos, cut down the salt, and used a can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes. The crushed tomatoes allowed me to skip pureeing the salsa, which is a good thing -- I like my salsa chunky!) Middle, Tomatillo Salsa Verde, and on the right, Three Sisters Black Mole. Holy "mole," did that recipe yield a lot of mole! Good thing we're having tacos this week . . . and tamales next week . . . and tamales again for New Year's . . . and good thing, too, that the sauce freezes well! I got about nine cups of sauce from the recipe . . . whew! I think I'll send a jar home with my Dad. :)

I'll post a photo of the cookies soon -- I just don't want to plate a whole trayfull for no reason, other than to snap a picture. (You understand, right?) I plan to take cookies to work on Monday, though, so expect full disclosure later in the day!

Hope you are having a nice weekend!

sticking with the VCON

I went through a period this winter where I found meal-planning a little overwhelming -- I found myself bombarded with ideas, but having a hard time narrowing down what we were going to eat each week. Ugh!

Lately, though, I've found a solution to my self-imposed problem -- choose one cookbook off my shelf, and stick with it for a week or two. I spent a couple of weeks getting to know Vegan Planet, which I'm happy to report was a good thing (tofu quiche!), and now, I've been sticking with VCON for a little bit. Not only does this new system allow me more focus in my recipe-selection, it "forces" me to try new recipes from cookbooks I've owned for ages!

First, something not from VCON:

Since we had leftovers from the giant Greek salad we took to Easter dinner, we did have giant salads one night this week. The salads were fabulous, and the biscuits made them even better! I love biscuits.

Now, time for VCON:

"Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans" was really simple and really delicious! If you roast the garlic ahead of time, this comes together in the blink of an eye, and is hearty and comforting! Yum.

"Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits:"

More yum! I was worried, after our recent Shepherd's Pie disaster, that this dish would fall short into the "hearty, but bland" category as well. Not so! Rich and flavorful, this is definitely a dish I will make again. I also found this relatively simple to prepare -- the directions in the cookbook for having everything ready ahead of time were smart!

Happy weekend, everyone!

breakfast, lunch, and dinner

We have had an unusually quiet weekend so far, and I've been taking advantage of all of this down time to cook up a storm!

Breakfast today:

Lemon-Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes! Dan has been taking a Spanish class on Saturday mornings through community ed for the past seven weeks, so leisurely weekend breakfasts had been a thing of the past . . . until the class ended last week! Pancake time! I slightly modified the basic pancake recipe in Betty Crocker to include some lemon zest and ricotta cheese blended with the wet ingredients, and sprinkled the last of the hand-picked frozen blueberries over the top of each pancake before flipping. Recipe:

Blend together until very smooth:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
zest of one lemon

Stir together, then blend into above:
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

(I used my Bamix to blend up the pancake batter, but I'm sure you could use a regular blender or even a whisk instead.)

After running errands on foot downtown, Dan and I came home hungry for lunch. I threw together a bunch of leftovers for a colorful, nutrient-packed meal:

I LOVE sweet potatoes, and although Dan's not a huge fan, he will eat them as long as they aren't used in a sugary application. I topped baked sweet potatoes with a dash each of salt and chili powder, black beans, steamed broccoli, a little shredded cheese, and a big scoop of salsa. Yum! I know this sounds like a really weird combination of foods and flavors, but it's one of my all-time favorite things to do with sweet potatoes.

After an afternoon of kitchen projects and laundry, it was time for dinner!

Whole-wheat pasta and a green salad never fail to satisfy! I have been on a huge fire-roasted tomatoes kick lately, and I love the smoky flavor they bring to my basic homemade pasta sauce. MMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Off to finish the laundry and watch a movie! Happy Saturday night, all.