weekend noteworthies

As I began my weekend on Friday night, I started to think that there was no way I was going to find time to put the tree up -- between laundry and other housework, multiple sets of plans with friends (yay!), church choir rehearsal, and our Advent concert on Sunday morning, I was feeling pretty booked! However, some things changed come Saturday afternoon, and I found myself with a free evening! Time for the Christmas tree!

It's kind of a lot of work to put up (AND take down,) but it's fun to enjoy!

I also managed to squeeze in some more baking and cooking over the weekend:

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars, for church choir rehearsal:

I followed the "Raspberry Oatmeal Bars" recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking, except I promptly de-veganized them by using butter instead of margarine, (what I had on hand, after all,) and used leftover cranberry chutney from Thanksgiving instead of raspberry jam. The chutney worked beautifully! The bars have a nice tart-sweet contrast to them, and I was happy to have the opportunity to find something to do with most of the leftover chutney. :) People gobbled them up at rehearsal, so they must have been good!

Sunday night dinner was a repeat that I had been waiting far too long to make:

"Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, with a side of chile-garlic roasted broccoli. Thanks to lots of help from a now-expert onion chopper and caramelizer, this was on the table in no time. :) (Plus, it's always good to have help in taking down a pound of pasta! I still have lots of leftovers, but not an insane amount.)

And in my book, life is incomplete without dessert:

Homemade butterscotch pudding, recipe from The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Homemade pudding is so damn easy, (and so incredibly tasty,) I wonder why I don't make it more often?

Last, I leave you with a snapshot of the hike I took at Ft. Snelling State Park yesterday:

It was the perfect day for a winter hike, if you ask me -- not too cold, not too windy, not too much snow! Woo!

appetizer, dinner, dessert!

(UPDATE: I'm joining along with Vegan MoFo this year! Woo! All of the flurry and excitement got to me, and well, why not, right? Although we're not strictly vegan at our house, this will encourage me to make many more vegan meals this month -- and to blog a bunch more, too! App/Dinner/Dessert was 2/3 vegan last night -- ignore the traditional pudding, please!) :)

Munched on a few of these . . .

(Although I saved the above for Dan, since pumpkin seeds are his FAVORITE,)

While making this . . .

("Indonesian Sweet Potato and Cabbage Soup," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers,)

And will enjoy this in a minute . . .

(Homemade chocolate-vanilla swirl pudding . . . and no, I'm not superwoman. I made the pudding yesterday!)

Off to bed early tonight . . . I sense a cold coming on. GRRRRR!

HOW TO: amp up the nutritional value of instant mac & cheese

I finally indulged that lingering craving this weekend!

Organic or not, instant mac is still instant mac -- junk food, in a BAD way! (Yum!) I can't leave well enough alone, though, and I felt compelled to slightly improve upon the nutritional value of our lunch today. Dan and I split the box of Rising Moon Organic "Original" mac and cheese I bought yesterday, and I made the following additions:
1. Added about 2 cups of small broccoli florets to the macaroni during the last 2 minutes of boiling
2. Added an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the "cheese sauce" (to "stretch" it a bit)
3. Placed 2/3 cup white beans in the bottom of the colander, before draining the mac and broccoli. The beans warmed nicely this way, before being combined with the cheese sauce.

This lunch made me very, very happy. :)

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Other happenings in my kitchen this weekend . . .

Saturday Night Pizza Feast:

I made two pizzas this week, since Dan's friend Mike joined us for dinner. Both pies started with my ususal half-whole wheat Artisan Bread crusts, and were smeared with homemade tomato sauce (using fire-roasted tomatoes this time!) The front pizza was topped with roasted red peppers, (frozen, home-roasted peppers from the FM,) broccoli, mushrooms, diced red onion, and sliced garlic. The back pizza was topped with canned artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and feta. Mozzarella and parmesan on both, as usual.

I finally got around to continuing the bake-a-long today! I had made up a batch of the "Oatmeal Bread" dough last weekend, but never baked any off. Tragedy! Rectified this afternoon:

Gorgeous, non? Tasty, too! I enjoyed a slice this afternoon, still slightly warm,with a little butter, cinnamon, and sugar, when I got home from my walk to the library. Divine! I can't wait to see how this will perform in our grilled-cheese sandwiches planned for dinner tonight. I'm starting to think this loaf might make it into "everyday bread" rotation!

While I was busy in the kitchen, I worked on a few other cooking projects as well:

Inside that blob of foil is a whole head of roasted garlic, to be pureed into a bean soup later this week. I also cooked up nine cups of (very plump!) chickpeas, and eight cups of kidney beans. My freezer has been looking a little empty as of late, so I felt the need to fill it up with something. :)

PUDDING:

Chocolate? Vanilla? Yin? Yang? Well, when I asked Dan if he wanted chocolate, vanilla, or butterscotch pudding this week, he replied, "um, chocolate or vanilla." Why not both? Some in glass cups for enjoying at home, some in to-go containers for packing in lunches! I love pudding, and it's so freakin' easy, why not make a double-batch, right?

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So, what would your vote be: chocolate, vanilla, or butterscotch?

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!

"I always have time for garlic".

To explain the title of this post . . .

Dan has a habit of asking if I need help with anything in the kitchen, listening to a job/assignment I offer, then stating, "I just have to _______ first." (Insert whatever you think appropriate in that blank -- finish this newspaper article, go to the bathroom, check email, etc!) By the time he's ready to help, I'm usually past the stage where I'd need that job done, so I do it myself.

You'd think I'd find this behavior frustrating; I just think it's hilarious!

So, this afternoon, as I was busy making pizza for our lunch, I exclaimed that I had forgotten to slice up a few garlic cloves to top our pizza; Dan immediately hopped up from the computer, grabbed a cutting board and knife, and went to work.

Needless to say, I was surprised, especially since Dan HATES peeling garlic. When I described my surprise, Dan's response?

"I always have time for garlic."

You'd think he was of Italian ancestry or something.

Anyhow, here's that glorious pizza:


AND, the baked mac and cheese with broccoli I made for dinner:

I promise you we each consumed two side salads over the course of the day, too! One cannot survive on cheese and carbs alone. :)

Dessert:

Not much to look at, but this was some fantastic homemade butterscotch pudding! Yum, yum, sweet and caramelly goodness!

I'm thrilled to report that today I also prepped a bunch of greens for consumption later this week, washed and spun a bunch of lettuce for salads, whipped through a batch of granola, baked a pan of oatmeal-raspberry bars, and made our ENTIRE dinner for tomorrow night, save baking it off and making a salad. Woo! I love being prepared for the week!

supper tonight!

Chili, that I put in the Crock Pot this morning, and corn muffins, which I baked last night!

Talk about an easy supper! All I had to do was slice up half an avocado for us to share.

Dan had banana ice cream for dessert:


And I had homemade butterscotch pudding:


Even Oliver got to have a little ice cream, too!

(Dan was kind enough to let him lick the bowl.)

a mini-meal, and other good food

BRUNCH:

Standard Sunday brunch around here, (poached eggs, greens, hashbrowns,) with a minneola on the side. Coffee and vitamin, too.

TREAT:

I also had a couple of cookies at a lecture Dan and I went to this afternoon.

MINI-MEAL:

Leftover egg noodles from last night, with shredded parmesan, and a banana on the side. Very beige, but very good. I had the last Medjool date, too.

DINNER:

"Instant Tamale Pie" from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, with a side salad of romaine, sliced tomato, and sliced avocado. I made up a pretty delicious creamy chipotle-lime salad dressing, too!

TREAT:
Rice pudding. It was delicious, but my camera refused to cooperate -- all of the pictures I took were horribly blurry. Regardless, the pudding was made with short-grain brown rice, almond milk, a bunch of spices, coconut, sugar, and raisins.

SNACK:
Half a dozen dried apricots.

EXERCISE:
25 minutes of yoga, and a 20-minute walk with Dan.

Until tomorrow.

hollandaise saga

Apologies: I didn't intend on skipping the FLOG two days in a row -- things just got in the way. Today, we return to regularly-scheduled flogging action.

AM SNACK:

Sliced local honeycrisp apple. Coffee not pictured.

BRUNCH:

Eggs florentine and oven-roasted rosemary and garlic blue potatoes. Orange juice and vitamin not pictured. (I ended up only being able to finish one of my two egg stacks . . . I hate it when I overserve myself and waste food! Now I know for next time.)

So, about that hollandaise saga . . . I followed the recipe and directions in Sunlight Cafe. Mollie Katzen made hollandaise sound so easy! My first batch "broke," so it was oily and chunky, and not at all appetizing-looking. (I even tried whisking in an extra yolk, which I've heard can fix a broken hollandaise. No luck.) My second batch, I followed her ingredients but came up with my own directions. Success! Thick, lemony, rich hollandaise. Dan has been begging for hollandaise for months and months, so I finally decided to indulge both of us a little bit! Fan-tastic.

TREAT:
Will remain a mystery, since part of it was my Daring Baker's project for this month. More on that in a couple of weeks. :)

SNACK:
Half a banana-cherry-almond scone, based on the Banana-Date Scones from VCON. Sorry about the lack of picture . . . I was THAT hungry. I'll snap one tomorrow, promise!

DINNER:

Pizza! Crust is from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, topped with the end of the jar of marinara, mozzarella and parmesan, sliced mushrooms, quartered artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and some leftover eggplant pickles from New Year's Eve. Greens with balsamic and olive oil on the side. (I did go back for a second piece of pizza . . . YUM.)

TREAT:

I made butterscotch pudding from Joy of Vegan Baking this afternoon -- it's pretty dang tasty! Creamy, sweet, caramelly . . . just what you'd expect from butterscotch pudding. :) Not pictured: Medjool date.

EXERCISE:
Walk to the library -- about a mile. We had planned on walking home, too, but the sun had set and it was COLD, so we took the bus. Alas.

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I'm pretty full, even though we finished dinner over a half an hour ago. Let's hope I can prevent Dan from convincing me to make popcorn later!!! (He's a bit of an enabler when it comes to salty snacks. Oh well!)

Until tomorrow.

October = SOUP MONTH!

Before I get into Soup Month, a few food photos:

Basic Marinara (from Cooking Light):

A very, very easy recipe (we're talking, 20 minutes of prep and an hour simmering virtually undisturbed on the stove,) which I haven't actually tasted yet! This past issue, Cooking Light ran a master recipe for "Basic Marinara" that could then, in turn, be used for upwards of 10 different recipes. Most of the recipes weren't vegetarian, but a few of them were, and the sauce also freezes well. Super-cheap, compared to buying bottled sauces all of the time, and I had the option of using FIRE-ROASTED TOMATOES intead of regular ones. (Mmmm . . . fire-roasted tomatoes . . . !) This recipe yielded four 2-cup packages for my freezer, plus a quart to keep in the fridge for now (12 cups total.) I think this recipe could also be easily adapted to use zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, or whatever other veggies you really like in your pasta sauce. I may never buy another jar of bottled sauce again! (P.S. It calls for fennel seed, which is just plain yummy.)

Coconut Rice Pudding (with Banana!):

This is a recipe that I significantly modified from this month's issue of Cooking Light as well. I would like to continue to tinker with it, since I used Arborio rice this time, but would prefer to use brown rice in the future. I also used a couple of eggs this time, since they have been hanging out in my fridge for a while, but I would like to come up with an eggless version in the future, too. (P.S. This has stored and reheated well for breakfast all week long!)

Roasted Tofu 'n' Veg:

Oh, how I love purple potatoes. :) This is just a total, cheater, go-to meal for me, but it still tastes good and gets those veggies in!

And now . . .

With all the power of my Food Snobbery vested in me, I officially declare October to be . . .

SOUP MONTH!

(At least in my kitchen, although you're welcome to hop on the Soup Month bandwagon.)

The idea for Soup Month began, away back in August, when it was still hot and humid. I love soup, and boy, did I miss soup when it was so hot out. I also have a mountain of delicious-looking soup recipes that I have never tried. SO, the idea of Soup Month was born -- not that I will only eat soup in October, but that I will try my darndest to try out a whole bunch of new soup recipes, and also, stock up my freezer with leftovers to last the winter through!

Soup Month will begin with a preview couple of recipes later this week. Let me know if you want to join me in Soup Month, and I'll link you in my next post!

"She's a maniac, maniac . . . "

. . . in the kitchen, that is!

Must tell you about my day first:

After a lengthy phone conversation with Chelsea this morning, (she was going to head on down with the girls and we were going to hang out today, but because of our recent blizzard and subsequent crummy road conditions, she decided to keep them home and safe,) Ann and I decided to take the bus Uptown and have lunch at Lucia's bakery. I had heard rumors about Lucia's . . . wonderful, wonderful rumors. I was not in the least bit disappointed. I had a carrot-ginger soup, a popover, and a salad of arugula, some kind of blue cheese, thinly sliced pear, sunflower seeds, and a delicious sort of vinaigrette. The soup was incredible -- perfectly balanced, not overly anything, just perfectly sweet-gingery-smooth-creamy deliciousness. The popover . . . well, it's a popover. Eggy, fluffy, crispy-on-the-outside heaven. And the salad . . . again, perfectly balanced. I was in food snob heaven. :)

After lunch, Ann and I headed over to my work so I could pick up a few key ingredients for this evening's cooking projects, and then hit the Wedge for some additional ingredients. (P.S. the Wedge has started carrying Laptop Lunchboxes! Many months ago, I contacted the ladies at LL and suggested they contact the Wedge as a potential retailer . . . who knows whether it was me that made it happen or not, but it's awesome that the Wedge now has the full lineup of lunchbox fabulousness!)

Then I came home, put away all of the groceries, cleaned up the kitchen, and began to cook.

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I made chai from scratch, using a recipe from Cooking Light magazine, which I altered slightly. I've made chai before, and it's always a bit of a hassle, but it tastes so incredible, it's always worth it. I always make a fairly large batch, because it is such a hassle, and well, it's just as easy to make two servings as it is to make four!
CHAI FROM SCRATCH
Combine, bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes:
3 cups water
14 cardamom pods, crushed
12 whole cloves
8 peppercorns
1 3-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
2 cinnamon sticks, broken up a bit
1 2-inch piece vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 star anise
1 bay leaf
6 whole allspice
(look how pretty:)

Then, add:
2 cups plain soy milk
2 tablespoons loose black tea
Continue to simmer your chai for 4 to 5 minutes.
Whisk in:
1/2 cup honey (or agave)
Strain through a cheesecloth lined mesh strainer, and you get:

Mmmmmmm. Perfect mid-afternoon snack.

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I decided to use some of the ultra high-quality Valrohna chocolate I bought and make vegan chocolate pudding pops. I can't remember which fellow blogger I got this chocolate pudding recipe from, but it's INCREDIBLE! I've never tried freezing it before, so we'll see. (I got the popsicle mold for free from Ann's sister Katie. Thanks, Katie!)
CHOCOLATE PUDDING
puree until incredibly smooth:
12 ounces firm Mori-Nu, obvious water drained off
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
pour into a serving dish and chill, or popsicle molds and freeze. So cute:

(*** UPDATE . . . Best. Fudge. Pop. EVER. Make these! ***)

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I also made lentil soup. This soup recipe is based on Isa's French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme from Post Punk Kitchen, but with several of my own modifications.
KILLER LENTIL SOUP
Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a 6-quart soup or stock pot.
"chop and drop:"
1 cup carrot, scrubbed
1 cup celery
1 cup onion
1 cup white button mushrooms
4 cloves garlic
Saute the above for about five minutes, or until soft.
Add and bring everything to a boil:
30 ounces diced tomatoes with liquid
6 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
several cranks of black pepper
Add:
2 cups French green lentils, rinsed,
then lower the heat, cover the soup, and let it simmer for 45 minutes.
Little soup soldiers, all queued up for the freezer:


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The real reason I bought the Valrohna chocolate (and, well, Valrohna cocoa powder for that matter,) from work was to make these brownies. They were also from Cooking Light, and I'm not as impressed with these. Don't get me wrong -- they are an incredible, deeply chocolate, fudgy yummy pan of tastyness. They just don't taste "spicy" enough for something called "Chai Latte Brownies." I'll have to perhaps bulk up the spices next time, and then I'll post the recipe for all to see. Picture, regardless:


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And last, but not least, a non food photo. Dan bought me a plant!


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Stay tuned . . . because I'm in the middle of working on no-knead bread. SO EXCITED!!!!!!