catchin' up

First, here's the laundry list of tasty eats we had this past week . . .

The black bean burgers from VCON, with sides of roasted sweet potatoes, coleslaw, and the obvious pickle:

Not complete without the pickle, right? :)

Simple pasta and salad:

Whole-wheat penne dressed in my homemade marinara was a huge hit with Dan, as always. I tend to think of pasta w/red sauce as kind of "boring," but it's one of Dan's favorite meals! Who knew?

Red Curry over brown rice:

MMMMMMMMMM . . . spicy delicious! Tofu and tons of veggies made our usual coconut curry extra-special. Yum!

A wheatberry, black bean, and edamame salad we're taking to a potluck tonight:

I only sampled a bite of this earlier, but I was impressed by how a few quality ingredients combined to make something so tasty! Score.

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I took advantage of the gorgeous weather today and walked to the co-op for our weekly shop:


BULK:
local, organic cashews
local maple syrup
local, organic rolled oats
local, organic wheatberries

CHEESE:
local pepper jack
local mozzarella

FROZEN:
local, organic, shelled edamame

HERBS AND SPICES:
kava kava

PACKAGED GROCERY:
organic yellow corn tortilla chips
kalamata olives
vital wheat gluten
Virgil's root beer (to take to the potluck!)
Annie's Goddess dressing (on sale!)
organic salsa (on sale!)
organic crushed tomatoes

PRODUCE:
organic bananas
organic mangoes
organic limes
papaya
organic asparagus
organic eggplant
organic spring mix
organic cilantro
organic white button mushrooms
organic red onions
organic green onions
local hydroponic lettuce
local hydroponic tomatoes

REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
grapefruit juice
extra-firm tofu
local, organic, vanilla yogurt
local whole-wheat pita (made w/organic flour)
local, organic eggs

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I'm excited to try a couple of the recipes in the most recent issue of Eating Well for meal-sized salads . . . I'm also planning pizza and curried tofu with awesome side dishes this week.

How has your weekly fare changed with the change in seasons?

finally!

Here's a small selection of the pictures I took this past weekend, during Dan's and my trip to Duluth. We had a great time hiking and hanging out, and were pleasantly shocked by the weather -- 61 and sunny on both Saturday and Sunday! Wow! I don't think we've ever been up to the north shore when it hasn't rained at least a little bit. :)

On our way to Duluth, we couldn't contain ourselves much longer, and stopped at Jay Cooke to hike a little bit:







After arriving in Duluth and checking into our (lousy) motel, (hey, but you get what you pay for, right?), we enjoyed dinner at Pizza Luce and a quick browse at the Electric Fetus before watching a little cable and crashing pretty early.

Saturday morning, we enjoyed breakfast at Amazing Grace cafe, (and picked up sandwiches to go for lunch,) before heading a little further north to Gooseberry Falls. We hiked a TON and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the shores of Lake Superior:











After all of that hiking, I was pretty beat, but we didn't want to miss Split Rock Lighthouse. We stopped for a short cup of coffee on the way, and then walked around the lighthouse and the beach a little bit:






(We saw about four deer munching at the side of the road as we were on our way out of the park, and they weren't bothered much by us, so I was able to snap several pictures. This was the best one!)

We enjoyed a slightly greasy, murderously large dinner at Fitger's on Saturday night. I tried their wild rice burger with a side of sweet potato fries, which was pretty good, considering I really don't much care for "veggie burgers." Sweet potato fries are always awesome, though!

Sunday morning, we went to Uncle Loui's Cafe for breakfast before bumming around Duluth. We poked into a few stores before crossing the lift bridge and walking along the beach:





Realizing we were pretty worn out and we had a ton of stuff to do once we got home, we drove back to the cities early afternoon. We had such a relaxing and fun weekend!

kids say the darndest . . .

Upon arriving at work this morning, one of the kids told me that her mom sprayed perfume on her this morning, and that she smells like perfume now.

Later, when she was sitting in my lap, she turns to me and says, "you don't smell like perfume -- you smell just like Miss Catherine!"

Deodorant and coffee, that must be my signature scent!

pile o' veggies

Dan and I have been out of town all weekend, and even though we've been eating reasonably healthfully while away, today was an exception. We got up late, went to brunch where I had French toast with bananas, blueberries, and walnuts, did a few things, ate some candy, drank some chai, then hopped in the car and headed home. We had some fruit and almonds in the car for snacks, which I enjoyed, but by the time we got home, I was HUNGRY. Why? Because I had nothing to eat all day except bread, fruit, a few nuts, and a bunch of sugar.

Eeek! Bring on the veggies!



"Tempeh Nicoise" salads totally fit the bill. I feel so much better after plowing through this pile o' veggies!

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!

nom nom nom nom nom!

After finally finishing up the leftovers from last week, it was time to get back into the kitchen!

Coooooooookies!

Basic chocolate-chippers, nothing out of the ordinary, but Dan was about due for a batch of his favorite. :)

Dinner Sunday Night:

More tofu quiche! I switched up the veggies this time, using spinach, artichoke, mushroom, sun-dried tomato, and olives, and chose complimentary herbs, (dill, parsley, and oregano.) I un-veganized the quiche by topping it with a little crumbled feta before baking, which was unneccesary but delicious! This should have baked a little longer than it did, but it was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we sacrificed in the texture department a little bit. Despite the slightly creamy center, this is definitely worth repeating!

Dinner tonight:

When talking with Dan about the kinds of meals he really likes, he mentioned he likes it when I make "huge hunks of tempeh." Happy to oblige. :) "Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh," from VCON, with "Messy Rice" (also from VCON,) and simple garlic-roasted broccoli, finished with a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Deeeeeeeelicious! I know it was an exceptionally good meal when I can't WAIT to eat leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

spring is HERE!

Spring has arrived very, very early in Minnesota this year, which is a very, very good thing!

Dan and I officially kicked off spring by taking a hike at Sand Dunes State Forest yesterday afternoon. Pictures:





















How have you been enjoying spring so far?

kids say the darndest

My kids at work have met Dan a few times -- he's come to play guitar with them and sing kid songs.

The other day, Dan came to pick me up from work (he's on spring break.) He walked into our classroom, and one little girl said,

"HI DAN!"

(Keep in mind she's only met this guy twice.)

Dan says, "hi!"

Then, the little girl says to me, "Ms. Catherine, that's your favorite Dan."

True!

quiche

Even though I have always loved the idea of a savory vegetable pie, I've never quite been able to get behind quiches and frittatas . . . I really DON'T like eggs. (You will see eggs on here from time to time, because Dan loves them and there are a few ways I can tolerate them, but I really find scrambled eggs vile.)

HOWEVER, I knew, deep down, that tofu quiche was a good, good thing! I finally got around to making a tofu quiche this week:



Yummy! Delicious! Egg free! I made the "Provencal Vegetable Quiche" from Vegan Planet for dinner last night, and even though it took an eternity to bake, (almost twice as long as the recipe suggests,) both Dan and I were thrilled with the results. Since I used a store-bought whole-wheat piecrust, and prepared the veggies and tofu custard over the weekend, this dinner came together in a snap, too.

I made/would suggest the following modifications:

1. Add 1 tbsp cornstarch to the custard. (I can't believe it didn't call for some type of thickener!)

2. The recipe suggests spooning the veggies into the unbaked crust, then pouring the custard over the top. I found the custard to be quite thick, and it didn't really settle into the veggies. Next time, I'll fold the veggies into the custard before pouring the lot into the crust.

3. With all of my ingredients cold or frozen, the quiche took about 90 minutes to bake, as opposed to the suggested bake time of 45 minutes in the recipe. If you make your quiche ahead like I did, plan for a much longer bake time.

Since we both liked this SO much, I think I'm going to give it a try again next week with different veggies!