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!)

treats!

I can't believe I've forgotten to post about my last TWO baking projects!  The horror.  :)

First up, more rhubarb crumble:

This rhubarb crumble was supposed to be a strawberry-rhubarb pie . . . what happened, you ask?  Well, John and I had planned on going strawberry-picking this weekend, but decided against it at the last minute after calling several farms and hearing tales of the long lines and large crowds . . . we'll wait a week or two until all of the excitement dies down!  So then, no strawberries.  I thought I'd just make a rhubarb pie . . . and then I got to chopping, and realized I didn't have nearly enough rhubarb on hand for a pie!  Oh well -- crumble to the rescue.  :)

I made my standard Joy of Cooking crumble recipe, (3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup butter for the topping,) and mixed an additional 1/4 cup of sugar with 4 cups of chopped rhubarb for the fruit base.  The last time I made rhubarb crumble, I used only 2 tbsp additional sugar, and it turned out to be a bit too tart for John.  (He's not at all a picky eater, but it seems he's very sensitive to highly acidic foods.  Go figure!)  The additional sugar pleased both of our palates, and organic vanilla ice cream took things over the top.  :)

Next time, I promise I'll (literally) dust off the ice cream maker, and make my own for a change!

And here are some cupcakes I made last week for the church choir end of season potluck:

I whipped together a batch of "Banana Cupcakes" (with chocolate cream cheese frosting!) from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers after work, the day of the party, and still had plenty of time to spare before heading out to the 'burbs to hang out!  Can you believe it?  Cupcakes on a weeknight?  (And I didn't need to go to the grocery store for any special ingredients, either!)  This just goes to show how amazing this cookbook is -- and I know I've written about how much I love this particular book at length in the past.  I have tried many recipes from that book, and every recipe has been simple, speedy, reasonably healthy, and incredibly delicious!  I love the Moosewood cookbooks in general, but Simple Suppers is my all-time favorite.

Anyone own that book?  Favorite recipes?  Favorite Moosewood books?

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?

cupcakes, stress, and FLOGging

Whoa -- I promised cupcake photos a million years ago, eh? Here are the tasty treats I made last weekend:

Dark chocolate cupcake, topped with a simple coconut buttercream. Nothing too fancy, but sweet, moist, and delicious! Yum!

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I think I have hinted at the level of stress I've been under this year, and I'm starting to see my stress reflected in my diet -- I have been eating way too much processed food, (even though it's mostly been decent processed food,) "junk" food at work, and have also fallen prey to eating out far too many times. I haven't cooked a single thing this week, and have been eating mostly salads, sandwiches, cold cereal, and quesadillas. The horror!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Why? We don't have much going on, and I will actually have time to COOK! I'm looking forward to making a few nice meals for Dan and I, (including a celebratory pre-Valentine's Day meal,) some cookies to take to work for the kids (for our Valentine's Day celebration,) and homemade instant oatmeal packets. (More on that in a future post!) I'm excited to get my hands (and teeth!) on some gorgeous veggies, healthy whole grains, and quality proteins.

I'm considering starting to FLOG (i.e., "food log") on a daily basis, just to get back on track a bit -- but I'd love input. Have you ever FLOGged? Do you read others' blogs who do? Do you find it interesting, or monotonous?

It's nearly Friday . . . wahoo!

eats and treats

Hope you have been having a wonderful weekend! Dan and I really took it easy this weekend -- mostly hung out at home, did a little laundry, had a picnic and a hike at Lake Maria state park, etc. I spent plenty of time in the kitchen, of course!

Dinner last night was both speedy and delightful:

"Black-Eyed Peas with Spinach," from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, over cheesy grits, with a few slices of heirloom tomato on the side. Simple, nourishing, and fantastic! I added a few dashes of smoked paprika to the beans, which I didn't really detect in the finished dish, but it couldn't have hurt, right? The cheese grits were easy and amazing, and the sliced tomato added a fresh, bright note to the meal. Best part? I think this entire meal was on the table in less than 30 minutes! Wahoo!

I've REALLY been loving my Moosewood cookbooks lately. Example #2:

"Banana Cupcakes," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Oh yum! I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from the pumpkin muffins I made last weekend, and decided to melt a little semi-sweet chocolate and whip it into the leftovers -- ta-da! Amazing!!!!! Dan and I split one of these this afternoon, and they are GREAT. Dan mentioned the frosting tastes a little like chocolate pudding, and I loved the sweet, dense, comforting banana cupcake. I think the only thing that could possibly make this treat better would be the addition of peanut butter in some form . . . hmm . . . time to experiment! :)

Since you can't have cupcakes for breakfast, (well, technically you can, but you know,) I felt compelled to make a breakfast treat as well:

Now, we usually have granola, toast, or PBJ for breakfast, but every once in a while, it's lovely to look forward to a little pastry something first thing in the morning! AB in Five bake-a-long to the rescue! Crystal, Victoria, and I have been talking about starting the brioche dough, and I decided to take the plunge this weekend. Now, know this -- I will probably bake my way through the dough, and then wait a year while I work on losing all the weight that I will inevitably gain! (The dough recipe, which yields 4 to 5 pounds of dough, enough for 4 to 5 projects, calls for 3 sticks of butter and EIGHT eggs. Gasp!) Oh, but how delicious these "Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls" are! Buttery, soft, light, with a wonderful, crisp-chewy caramel topping. Jeff and Zoe, how dare you make caramel rolls so EASY!

Thankfully, the dough freezes well, so I have appropriately-portioned chunks waiting patiently for us to detox from all of the saturated fat. :)

Sunday night is a great time for pizza!

Artisan Bread "Olive Oil Dough," topped with organic pizza sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses. The front slice also has red onion, green pepper, mushroom, green olive, oregano, and chili flakes. The back slice has roasted red peppers, dried tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, and oregano. Side of green salad with apple, fennel, walnuts, bleu cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. A GREAT way to end the weekend, if you ask me!

The kitchen is still a mess, so I'm off. G'night!

more yum

Just a couple of dinners from this week . . .

Rice and Dal:

I'm constantly trying to "perfect" my dal recipe, and it's getting closer every time. My theory? "More." More ghee, more spices, more chilis! This was quite a tasty batch, especially over Jasmine rice. I know brown rice is superior nutritionally, but hot damn, white rice just tastes so good!

Huevos Rancheros:

Other than warming up leftovers, this might be the fastest meal I have in my repertoire. Dinner was on the table in less than a half-hour last night! Plus, what's not to like? Tortillas? Beans? Cheese? Eggs? Salsa? Yum all around.

I felt compelled to use up the leftover frosting from my birthday treats:

Yes . . . MORE cupcakes. Chocolate this time, and mighty tasty! :)

just the food

Since I'm SO far behind on posting, I thought I'd focus on "just the food" while catching up!

Remember when I found morels at work?

I sauteed the morels, some shallots, thyme, and asparagus in plenty of olive oil, added some salt and pepper, a wallop of sour cream, and some lemon juice, and mixed the lot with some whole-wheat fettucine. Heaven! I've been keeping a careful eye on my "spot," but no new mushrooms have popped up since my lucky day last month. Oh well!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble:

Dan actually made the majority of this dessert, (I only sliced the rhubarb and strawberries,) and he was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was! And I quote, "wow -- now I know how to make crumble! That was simple!" Yay for Dan baking!

Homemade pizza:

It's been so long, I really don't remember what went on this. It's always good, though!

I'm always game to try out a new tofu recipe:

I was excited to try the "Chili-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu" recipe from VCON, since it looked so simple. Not only was it a snap to throw together on a weeknight, it was a nice, basic, delicious preparation for the ever-versatile block o' 'fu. Simple steamed asparagus and roasted (yellow-flesh) sweet potatoes rounded out this meal. My only complaint? That I didn't make more! I had plenty of breading left for a second package of 'fu, so I just stuck it in the fridge for a later date. Next time, I'll just make a double-batch!

Dan's famous stir-fry:

Gotta tell you, I can't think of anything better than coming home from work to the smells of peanut oil and Jasmine rice wafting through the air! Well done, Dan!

Local whole-wheat fettucine with homemade mushroom marinara:

Much more exciting than writing "pasta again," right? :)

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES!

I made the vanilla cupcakes from VCTOW, topped them with (dairy-full) cream cheese frosting, and home-dipped chocolate-covered strawberries. Yes, I did eat two, although I shared the rest with the kids and staff at work!

I was so excited to try out my new camping cookware set last weekend:

I realize this is a "lame" thing to get excited about, but since I've only been a "real" camper for a few years, each year, I add a few more things to the arsenal. My nesting set of pot, pan, detatchable handle, and universal lid were fabulous to have on hand this past trip! We made . . .

Black Bean and Chipotle Soup:


AND, whole-wheat banana pancakes!

It's definitely a challenge cooking in the outdoors, but not terribly difficult if you plan ahead. The soup and pancakes made nice changes from our usual cold camping meals!

All right . . . I think that leaves me caught up in the food department. Next? Pretty pictures of nature! More later!

recipe ideas?

Hello folks. I need advice! The conundrum?

I don't really like cake. And I promised my kidlets at work cupcakes next week for my birthday. And they don't like chocolate! (Weird, I realize.)

Anybody have a foolproof, moist, delicious, yellow or white cake recipe? (Or lemon cake -- I think that would go over well, too.) I'm thinking of making cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, decorated with chocolate-covered strawberries, but I only have a good chocolate cupcake recipe. And that just won't do, I guess. :)

Any suggestions welcome!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I must confess, I'm not a lover of Valentine's Day . . . I fear the holiday has grown far too commercial, and has become all about pre-packaged cards and candy for children, stress about finding the perfect "gift" for grown-ups in couples, and grumpiness for those grown-ups not in couples.

So, I thumb my nose at Valentine's Day, and make it about what I love most -- food! (Well, and Dan, too.) :)

We had a nice "date" day today -- we went to see a play this afternoon, and enjoyed a fantastic treat for dinner:

That, my friends, is BRIE FONDUE. Yes, indeed, my all-time favorite cheese, melted into something alltogether tastier than I even imagined. :) Yum, yum, yum. Dippers included homemade Artisan Bread baguette, sliced apple, steamed broccoli, steamed potato, and homemade veggie sausage slices.

I also managed to bang out a batch of cuppers this weekend:

Ever-thrifty, I pulled leftover Christmas buttercream out of the freezer, and decorated with a box of conversation hearts that Dan or I hadn't gotten ahold of yet, plus leftover holiday sprinkles. Score! (P.S. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe ever -- Moosewood's Vegan Chocolate Cake. Full of nothing but pantry staples, whisks together in minutes, and bakes up moist, chocolatey, and delicious!)

Hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day!

the dinner that wasn't.

Let me tell you about my AWESOME Friday night last night . . .

So, those of you who have worked or know someone who has worked child care, you know that kids NEVER go home early, especially on Fridays. (Families are usually busy trying to squeeze in one last errand before the weekend, etc., at least in my experience.) You can imagine my surprise when, last night, my last kid was picked up at 5:15 pm! (We close at 6:00.) I spent some time cleaning and tidying in my classroom, doing silly things like pulling staples out of the walls and rotating the children's artwork, and checked my work email TWICE IN ONE DAY! (Whoa!)

I packed up and headed out the door at my usual time, and walked down to my bus stop. I waited for the bus. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, my bus showed up at almost 6:20 PM, WAY too late to make my connection to the express bus from St. Paul to Minneapolis. DRAT! Fortunately, I thought, I had figured out a plan the last time this happened -- I hopped off my usual bus with the intent of grabbing a slower, but direct "high frequency" bus that connects St. Paul and Minneapolis.

And then I waited some more. Over fifteen minutes later, a #16 FINALLY showed up, and I hopped on -- only to find the bus jam-packed, and I had to force half a buttcheek on a seat next to a very large man who was at least reading a book (not drunk and passed out, which is usually the only half-buttcheek seat left.) As the 16 crawled towards Minneapolis, I started getting REALLY cranky -- and by the time I got home, I was livid! My typical 1-hour commute took nearly TWO hours. And there was no snow or any logical reason for the busses being so unpredictable! BLAH.

I had every intention of arriving home last night, relaxing over a short yoga practice, and fixing Dan and I some gnocchi, leftover homemade sauce, and green salads for dinner, and maybe settling into a movie after a while. Not so much . . . since I didn't get home until almost 8:00 I was crabby, hungry, tired, and did I mention crabby?

Dan kindly offered to take me out to dinner to cheer me up. :) After murdering a veggie burger and waffle fries at the Uptown Diner, I felt much better. Whew!

Today was a little different, thank goodness, and I did manage to finally make that gnocchi!


AND, I had the pleasure of stopping into a little bakery and coffee shop this morning, (appropriately called "Cupcake,") and picked up a couple of treats for Dan and myself:

Pumpkin Spice cupcake for me, Lemon Merengue cupcake for Dan! Yay cupcakes!

Farmers Market finds, turned into dinner

Dan and I started our Saturday at the Farmer's Market. We had planned on picking up whatever looked good, and then meeting up with his family for brunch afterwards. However, Dan's brother, Ryan, ended up meeting us at the Farmer's Market, so the boys could pick out some plants for their mom for Mother's Day! They chose raspberries, chocolate mint, orange thyme, nasturtiums, and alpine strawberries. In-between the careful plant selecting, I managed to score the following:

Local, whole-wheat egg pasta, and BASIL!!

After brunch, we stopped at the Franklin Street Bakery, and I picked up a lemon vanilla bean cupcake to be enjoyed later:


Much later on, I made dinner:

Greek salad, artichokes, and pesto covered pasta! I practically licked my plate clean.

Dan and I shared the cupcake for dessert:

And we each added a scoop of mango-banana sorbet on the side. :) Yum.

Off to watch a movie . . . enjoy the rest of the weekend!

happenings in my kitchen

I did manage to squeak out a little cooking yesterday, in-between a trip to the Farmer's Market, some yoga, getting Dan's hair cut, picking up Dan's new glasses, etc. When you only have one weekend day off a week, you have to make it count, right?

I made, in my opinion, a very visually-appealing batch of granola for Dan to take home for his breakfasts this week:

Sweetened with locally-harvested maple syrup, and chock-full of almonds, sunflower seeds, dried apples, dried blueberries, and dried cranberries, I think this might be one of my tastiest batches yet!

Dinner:

I ignored recipes this time, and made a simple saute of onion, garlic, chard, mushrooms, and chickpeas, seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil, za'atar, and plenty of freshly-ground black pepper. A delicious puddle of polenta hiding underneath, and a sprinkle of feta on top. Yum.

You know, polenta is another one of those foods, like couscous, that I have a tendency to forget about. Love them, but hardly ever make them. Hm. Curious.

Treats:

Cupcakes! I swear to you, the Moosewood Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is the best cake I've ever had. Tender, moist, and TONS of rich chocolate flavor. (It's also the most ridiculously easy thing I think I've ever thrown together.) I topped the cupcakes with vegan almond buttercream, and Dan was in charge of the sprinkles. :)

cupcakes, muffins, and kamikaze pancakes!

Finally, the cupcake reveal:

"Lemon Gem Cupcakes" from Vegan with a Vengeance. I didn't make Isa's lemon frosting, however -- my buttercream intuition kicked in, and her recipe seemed to call for way too much liquid, in my amateur opinion. So, I made a simple lemon buttercream out of Earth Balance, powdered organic sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Delicious!

Cupcake for breakfast, anyone??


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I made "Vanilla Ricotta Muffins" from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe this morning, just to have on hand . . .

Not much to look at . . . but mighty tasty! Even though the recipe said the yield was 8 to 10 muffins, I ended up with 12 . . . could have been 13, actually, but I didn't want to waste all of that electricity just to cook one additional muffin!

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And, I made kamikaze pancakes for brunch this afternoon:

I used the recipe for Banana-Oatmeal Hotcakes with Spiced Maple Syrup from The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook, and topped the 'cakes with sliced bananas, fresh blueberries, and toasted, crushed walnuts. The pancakes were awesome, even though a bit labor-intensive to make -- the pancakes were strangely buttery-tasting, although there was no actual butter in them! I'd skip the spiced syrup next time -- I didn't get any cinnamon-clove flavor from the syrup, so in my opinion, it wasn't worth the extra effort (and extra dirty saucepan!)

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I'll probably be back tonight with a yoga report and a dinner report -- later!

banishing the Sunday night blues

It's awfully tough to have the Sunday night blues when you're making cupcakes:

Yes, I realize I've been on a "buttercream 'n' sprinkles" kick lately. In my defense, one of my coworkers does have a birthday this week. :)

cupcakes?

Wait . . . I thought I didn't even like cake! Regardless, around 10:30 last night, I got it in my head that I REALLY needed to bake chocolate cupcakes. Why? I still don't know. I made the chocolate peanut butter cupcake recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking, let them cool overnight, and frostened them with peanut butter frosting this morning. (Basic buttercream, subbing peanut butter for the butter.) Yum?

Review? The frosting is amazing (how could peanut butter, powdered sugar, and almond milk NOT be amazing?) but the cupcakes were just okay. I probably wouldn't make the recipe again -- not chocolatey enough for me, and the middles sunk big time.

Speaking of chocolate cakes . . . my coteacher, Missy, has a birthday coming up, and has requested a gigantic double-chocolate cake for her birthday treat. Anybody have a rock star chocolate cake recipe they care to direct me to? I don't make many cakes, because I'm not a huge cake fan, and really want to knock this one out of the park! Ideas??

beet salad, cupcakes, and lentil soup

I made Cooking Light's Roasted Beet Salad With Tarragon Vinaigrette last night, and boy is it tasty! I've never really had beets before, and I have to say . . . I think I like gold beets! (At least prepared in this way!) I have to tell you, between the recipe calling for the same ingredients in different parts of the recipe, and then cutting the recipe in half, this was a bit confusing to execute . . . until I rewrote the recipe "Joy of Cooking" style. Here is is:

Toss together and roast 1 hour in a 350 degree oven:
1 1/2 pounds gold beets, scrubbed well and root ends trimmed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon

Cool, peel, and cut up the beets into about 1-inch cubes, or a little larger.

Whisk together:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Toss the beets and 1 cup thinly sliced red onion in the vinaigrette. Chill overnight before serving.
This salad is a bit spicy from the raw onion, raw garlic, and raw shallot. Enjoy!


Then, while the oven was still on, I whipped up a batch of Double-Chocolate Cupcakes -- I'm still tweaking this recipe for Party of One, and I think I've almost got it! They are plenty chocolatey enough, and they don't sink any more -- they aren't nicely rounded on top like a normal cupcake, but they suffice, I think. I made a test batch of my Creamy Vanilla Frosting for them as well, and then topped each cupcake with a slice of strawberry and a mint leaf. Cute and yummy!


This morning, I decided to whip up a batch of Post Punk Kitchen's French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme, to use some more of the leftover tarragon and thyme I had from making the beet salad. I have always been a bit frustrated by this recipe, because it makes a really simple thing seem more complicated than it really is, but the ingredients blend together nicely and make a killer lentil soup. Here's my edited, simplified version:

Saute together on low until everything is softened and beginning to brown:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
about a cup of roughly chopped mushrooms (my addition)
4 cloves garlic, minced

Add, bring to a boil, lower the heat, then simmer for 45 minutes:
6 cups vegetable broth
1 14-ounce can no-salt added diced tomatoes with liquid
2 cups French green lentils, rinsed well
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
black pepper to taste

Fish out the bay leaves and thyme stems with tongs once the lentils are tender. Cool and freeze in small portions for a non-90-degree day!


I still have a big bunch of fresh oregano leftover, as well as some mint, thyme, and Thai basil. (The basil may go into more spring rolls later this week.) Any suggestions?