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!)

it's pho time!

Really, when isn't it pho time? (I know Emily would agree with me!) :) Dan and I had a laugh when I asked him earlier this week what he was hungry for; his reply was, "ummmmm . . . something Asian . . . with tofu." OK! Only thousands of meals to choose from, and I settled on pho.

I always loosely follow this recipe from Cooking Light, with several modifications to make the soup vegetarian, as well as slightly simpler to prepare. I don't know whether I've posted my modifications before; I apologize if I have and am boring everyone. :) Here are the changes I make:

1. Substitute vegetable stock for turkey stock, low-sodium soy sauce for fish sauce, and 1 package tofu, pressed and cubed, for the turkey. (Sometimes I sub agave for the brown sugar, just because I don't feel like digging out the brown sugar.) :)
2. I prepare all of the fresh herbs, green onions, lime wedges, and jalapenos and pile them up on a big plate (or in a tupperware container,) to be added at the table.
3. I don't bother broiling the onion -- I just slice it thinly, brown it in a little peanut oil, add the tofu, bean sprouts, and broth, and bring everything to a boil. At this point, soup's on! Simpler, and probably just as good.

And one final tip -- unless you want dinner to take you hours and hours, have an "herb assistant." Dan has become very good at this job, and says he actually enjoys it!

So, what would you have made with the suggestion I was given? "Something Asian . . . with tofu!" The possibilities may be endless!

noodley

Vegan MoFo was a lot of fun, wasn't it? I think I managed to post every single day except for one, very early in the month -- can you believe it? Maybe this exercise will encourage me to keep posting more often?!!?!! Who knows?

Know what else I learned from Vegan MoFo? Dan and I eat mostly vegan food, naturally. I've never really even thought about it, but honestly, we don't eat much dairy or eggs. I do bake with butter and eggs on occasion, and we do love our pizza, breakfast burritos, and occasional poached eggs, but we also love tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans, and all manner of fruits and veggies! It's been fun returning to some of my vegan baking roots this past month, and I may continue to do so in the future; however, I gotta confess . . . I'm gonna make pizza this weekend! Mmmmmmmm! :)

To wrap up Vegan MoFo, I made what we fondly call "Asian Noodley Soup" --

I make several variations on this theme, this one being one of my favorites. Bean thread noodles were smothered in a lemongrass-ginger broth, tofu, bok choy, red bell pepper, and tons of shiitake mushrooms! Yum! Dan said tonight that this type of meal is one of his favorite things that I make -- wow! High praise!

Hope you enjoyed Vegan MoFo, too!

noodley goodness

I made a wonderfully spicy-sweet-salty, veggie-packed noodle soup for dinner last night:

This is loosely based on "Tofu and Snap Peas in a Lemongrass Broth" from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. However, I tripled the broth recipe, doubled everything else, and added a TON more veggies -- red onion, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, kohlrabi, red bell pepper, and green beans, to be exact! Mmmmmmmmm! Pass the sriracha, please!

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!

PAD THAI!

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

Holy tofu, was this amazing. Spicy, sweet, salty, tangy, fantastic! Everyone needs a little "junk food" now and then, wouldn't you agree?

Yoga Challenge (day 20), pad Thai, and cupcake tease!

I must confess . . . I skipped out on yoga last night. In my defense, I had already gotten a lot of exercise during the day, (I walked home and back to work during my break, and then to and from the grocery store that evening,) had a LOT to do last night, and spent some time catching up with my friend Ann on the phone. As it was, I didn't get to bed until 11:30!! Yowza.

I'll be back on track tonight, though -- I'll do either Stress Relief or PM Yoga in a little while, once my dinner has more of a chance to settle in.

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Dinner? Did somebody mention dinner?

"Brooklyn Pad Thai" from Vegan with a Vengeance. (The broccoli addition was my original take on the recipe, to add another veggie serving to the meal, as well as an additional layer of tastiness!) All I can say about this recipe is . . . thank you, Isa! I no longer have to go out for my most favorite Thai dish of all time! (Maybe this will mean I'll start branching out and trying different Thai dishes besides pad Thai, because it won't be my only opportunity to eat pad Thai for a couple of months??)

P.S. This recipe was pretty easy, too -- I came home during my break today and prepped most of the ingredients, (chopped veggies, made the sauce, cooked the noodles, etc.) and then had dinner on the table within a half hour of arriving home tonight!

I really like recipes/meals that can be made mostly ahead of time. (Who doesn't?)

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I did get around to making cupcakes last night . . . but I haven't snapped a photo of them yet, (lousy lighting last night, cloudy/rainy day today,) so I'm going to hold out on you all until tomorrow! Sorry. :)