Saturday, July 24, 2010

Good God-Almighty, which way do I steer?!



I haven't had "carnivorous habits" in more than 25 years, so I don't find myself in the position of trying to "amend" anything. Nevertheless, I give you: Cheeseburger in Paradise. No, I didn't have a draft beer, but a cold Anderson Brewing Company (Booneville Beer) Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema worked out just fine, thanx. It's brewed in Mendocino County, California, and I do love to support local(ish) businesses ~ especially when they brew delicious beer :)

I fixed my burger just like Jimmy (Buffett, in case you have forgotten) says:

"I like mine with lettuce and tomato,
Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes,
big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer ~
Well, good God-Almighty, which way do I steer
to my cheeseburger in paradise?"

I skipped the onion slice and (I think) mustard that he mentions in other parts of the song (sorry, Jimmy). My cheese was soy, of course, so I am on a bit of a soy overload (ended up scraping most of it off, actually, as I am not a soy cheese fan). In the future, I can totally live without the cheese, and go for a veggie burger in paradise. I don't think Jim will mind. Do you think he minds if I call him Jim? Let's pretend he doesn't.

By the way, have you read his "Tales from Margaritaville?" No? Run right out and get it. Now. Perfect Summer reading. I highly recommend you read most of it in a hammock, if at all possible. In fact, I just highly recommend spending time in a hammock.

Next time, I will make my not-quite-yet-famous homemade veggie burgers, but this time, I went with Morningstar Farms Grillers (I like the "vegan" variety best). I will not condescend to tell you how to cook a veggie burger. We used the grill, so the house stayed nice and cool.

Oh, and, as you can see, the children enjoyed theirs with a cold ROOT beer. We felt that was more appropriate, while still remaining true to theme :)

Zucchini Fettuccine






Sometimes I get a song stuck in my mind. Often (perhaps, rather perversely, all things considered) it's this one:

"Tried to amend my carnivorous habits
Made it nearly seventy days
Losin' weight without speed, eatin' sunflower seeds
Drinkin' lots of carrot juice and soakin' up rays

But at night I'd had these wonderful dreams
Some kind of sensuous treat
Not zucchini, fettuccine or Bulgar wheat
But a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat..."

That's right. Jimmy Buffett's "Cheeseburger in Paradise." In truth, I never dream of meat. In fact, I am not even a huge fan of veggie burgers. I'll admit, once in a while, I might crave one, but they aren't at the top of my list. Zucchini, however...Now, I LOVE me some vegetables. And, as my garden is actually starting to come through on the zucchini front, I got to thinking about this.

Zucchini fettuccine...hmmmm... See, in my brain, it wasn't zucchini (comma) fettuccine, but "Zucchini Fettuccine," and that sounded damned good.

Now, if you really want to go all out with the home-cooking (I often do, so I totally understand that), you can make your own fettuccine. It's fun. If, on the other hand, you had to race out to have your hair thinned because you were starting to resemble Bugs Bunny's "Interesting Monster," and you don't have a lot of time to devote to dinner prep, you might want to just buy a pack. I recommend the fresh kind you can find in the refrigerator section of your grocery. IMO, dried fettuccine just doesn't quite have the same body as fresh, but I suppose you can use the dried kind if you prefer (in fact, I know you can. I totally cannot stop you, nor will I try). Cook it according to the package instructions, but not until your veggies are almost done.

For the veggies/sauce, here's what you'll need:

2 TBS olive oil
1 large or two small-medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, then cut into 1/4" slices
6 cloves garlic
approx 15 large basil leaves
6-8 Roma tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper to taste
approx 1/4-1/2 c. water

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add zucchini and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for a few minutes. As soon as you toss your zukes in the pan (zuke 'em ~ zuke 'em ALL!!!...oh, sorry...Moving on:) As soon as you toss your zukes in the pan crush and/or mince* your garlic, then sprinkle it over the top of the zucchini. Chop up the basil and toss it on top, then sprinkle the whole thing with salt and pepper. Gently stir things around for a minute or two, then, add your diced tomatoes and stir again, so it all cooks through. This will only take a few moments. If you want your zucchini to brown a bit, move it less often in the beginning, but be careful not to brown the garlic much, or it will go a bit bitter on you. When the zucchini looks almost as done as you would like to be, pour the water overall (use more or less water, depending on how juicy your tomatoes are). Turn up the heat, give it a stir and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer just a moment or two, to reduce the liquid to a slightly thick-ish broth. Turn off heat.

If you timed everything perfectly (you did, right? I always do. And, while I have your attention, I have some gorgeous real estate I have been thinking about selling. It's hard to part with, but, for you...) your pasta should be just about ready. Drain the pasta and turn it into a bowl ("Poof! You're a bowl!" oooohhh...magical...).

Using a slotted spoon, carefully move all of your veggies up to one end of the skillet, letting the juices drain toward the other side (tilt your skillet up a little, so the juices collect in the lower end). Spoon the broth/sauce over the pasta and toss lightly. Then arrange your veggies on top. Or, if you don't care how it looks, just mix the whole shebang together and eat it.

YUM.

Serve with good crusty bread (and a good quality olive oil for dipping your bread) and fresh salad. I happened to have a variety of lettuces from our garden (yay!) and some corn on the cob.

Normally, I would serve this with a nice wine ~ a blush or white would probably be appropriate, but I am almost always partial to red. However, in further homage to Mr. Buffett, who, after all, was the inspiration for this dish, I served margaritas (for Shane and me ~ the kids had lemonade).

* Here's how I deal with my garlic most of the time: Place peeled garlic clove on a cutting board. Lay your big 'ol chef's knife on top of it. So, you're holding the handle, but the knife is lying flat on its side ~ DO NOT point the blade up or down. The side of the knife blade is resting on the garlic clove. Now, using the heel of your hand (that's the bottom part of your palm) give the side of your knife blade, right on top of the garlic, a good, firm whack. I will see if I can find (or make) a video illustrating this. Please don't hurt yourself trying this. Please. If you don't understand, or you're worried about it, just use a garlic press or mince your garlic. It'll be fine.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Adventures in Quinoa



Quinoa. What can I say about it? I could tell you what the package says: "Quinoa is an ancient grain that is wonderfully textured, delicately flavored and highly nutritious. In addition to having a higher protein content than any other grain, quinoa also contains all eight essential amino acids, making it a complete protein."

That sounds pretty good, right? In fact, every time I am at Costco, I hesitate for a moment over the ginormous packet of quinoa thinking, "Wow, I keep hearing about this stuff ~ I really ought to try it..." Every single time, I walk away empty-handed, telling myself that, if we don't like it, I will be stuck with enough quinoa to feed a...um...well...uh....something very large...that eats quinoa.

I think it was, in part, a mental block. Quinoa, in my mind, had become one of "those" foods. You know, the off-the-wall, only-hardcore-vegetarians-eat-this kind of foods. I know, I know, my popularity with hardcore vegetarians has just plummeted. No, wait. *checks her list of "followers* (*giggles over the idea of having "followers"*) Not a lot of hardcore vegetarians, as far as I can tell, so...I think we're good. Y'all still love me, right? I mean, even if I don't want to serve you a great big, steaming mushroom-bulgur-sprout burger on sprouted 97-grain ancient flatbread, with vegan mayonnaise? In truth, I imagine some of you love me more because I don't try to make you eat such things. Some of you might be inclined to run if I came at you with shit like that. Hell, I would run from shit like that.

So...quinoa...? Really? I just keep hearing how great it is, and I see all of these friendly-looking people tossing it into their shopping carts at Costco ~ and they're all kinds of people: college-aged, middle-aged, families with young children, grandmas, men, women, black, white, brown, purple, green, yellow, orange (It's true ~ Oompa Loompas LOVE them some quinoa)... So I got to thinking. I mean, they can't ALL be wrong, can they?

So, today, I picked up a rather reasonably sized packet of organic quinoa at Whole Foods. It probably cost more per ounce than I would pay at Costco, but it seemed a fair amount to experiment with, but not enough to, say, build a scale model of Los Angeles. I thought it was a good compromise. I also picked up a pack of black beluga lentils, because they are tiny and cute. Yes, I think that is perfectly logical.

When I got home, I checked the garden to find that, to my dismay, it hadn't suddenly burst forth with dozens of ripened tomatoes. I got, instead, a couple of zucchini. At first, I thought they would be on tonight's menu, but...eh. I just couldn't get in the zucchini spirit. They are very nice zucchini, and I love them very much. Probably, I will eat them tomorrow. Tonight, I decided to experiment with my two new grocery items.

After zipping around online for a while, I came upon this: http://quinoa-recipes.com/

The "Curried Quinoa" sounded okay, but I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I improvised a bit. Here's what my recipe looked like:

1 Cup Quinoa
1½ Tbsp. Olive Oil
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced (about 4 or 5 oz.)
¼ tsp ground Ginger Root
1 Fresh Green Chile, finely diced
1 Heaping Tsp. Turmeric
1 Heaping Tsp. Coriander
¼ Tsp. Ground Allspice
1¾ Cups Water
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
Salt to Taste

You may note that it is very similar to the original. I just didn't have an onion, fresh ginger or cinnamon. Oh, or peas. So...

I heated the oil and scallions and cooked them for a few minutes, then tossed in the quinoa (which I had rinsed exhaustively, because the idea of my dinner tasting bitter or soapy did not particularly turn me on) and all of the spices and cooked, stirring, for about two minutes. Added the water and salt, brought it all to a boil, covered, reduced the heat and simmered for 15 minutes. Then, I added the mixed veggies, covered it again and continued to cook for another 5 minutes. After that, I turned off the heat and let it stand for another 5-10 minutes before I removed the lid and fluffed it with a fork.

In the meantime, I rinsed 1 cup of black beluga lentils and placed them in a medium saucepot with 2 1/2 cups water and 2 tsps. vegetarian chicken broth powder. I brought them to a boil, reduced the heat to very low and cooked them very gently for 20-25 minutes. The package said 15-20, so yours may not take so long to cook, but I cooked mine on super-low because I didn't want to risk them getting all mushy and broken up, as lentils sometimes do. When they were done (but not mushy), I turned off the heat, drained the lentils and tossed them lightly with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. That was all they needed.

By the time I got the table set and managed to pry the children away form their play, the food had cooled to about room temperature. Honestly, I think it is better that way than it was hot. I tossed my lentils right in with my quinoa (the kids wanted theirs separate), and served cherry tomatoes and mango on the side, because I happened to have them. It was delish. In fact, I am looking forward to having it tossed together as a cold salad for lunch tomorrow. This one is definitely a keeper, and I will continue to experiment with both of these ingredients.

The texture of quinoa is interesting. Somewhere between barley and couscous, I would say. I was a little freaked out by the descriptions telling me that a little squiggly thing would pop out of each grain as it cooked, but that wasn't as nearly freaky and alien-like as I anticipated. The flavour is...well...mild, I suppose. I mean, mine had a lot of spices cooked with it, so it tasted like them. It's a little bit chewy, and a little...um...tiny...and...uh...round. I don't really know how to describe it. You'll have to give it a try for yourself.

My friend, Heather, tells me it is good with tahini sauce and zucchini, too. I like the idea of preparing zucchini and tahini together, because they rhyme. Maybe I should do a series of rhyming foods ~ that could be fun. I think I will start with "zucchini fettucine." We'll serve it with Margaritas while listening to Jimmy Buffett. I hope he doesn't mind, but I'll skip the bulgur wheat.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Pasta w/ Cabbage & Veggie Burger Crumbles

The dish we had tonight hearkens back to my childhood. I think (in retrospect ~ I didn't think about this until I tasted it) that it was inspired by my mom's "Poverty Stew." Poverty Stew is basically made by browning ground beef with onions, pouring water over that and adding egg noodles. Season with salt and pepper, and that's it. I used to pretty much drown mine in Worcestershire sauce. YUM. Really.

Tonight, I found myself facing the daily dinner dilemma once again. After a rousing day of birthday party shopping and furniture moving (yes, I moved the furniture again. Sue me), I got home at 6:00 p.m. and started to hunt around the kitchen. * insert voice-over: "Join me, as I go In Search of...the elusive...dinner."*

It is imperative that I clean out fridge and free up as much space as possible to stash food for Kaia's birthday party. On Saturday morning, it will need to house a birthday cake. I happened to have stocked up on Morningstar Farms frozen goods recently, when I found that I had a large number of dollar-off coupons and they were on sale at Target for $2.99 apiece. That meant I could get them for $1.99/package, instead of the usual three-and-a-half to four dollars. So now I have a freezer full of meat analogs, which aren't the sort of thing upon which I rely every day, but, you know, a sale is a sale, right? There was also a head of cabbage taking up a lot of prime shelf space, and I always have pasta, so...Here's what we ate. It has no title. I defer to the aunt of one of my dear friends who, upon being asked what a particular dish she had prepared was named, replied, after a rather puzzled pause, "We don't name our food ~ we eat it." Makes perfect sense. I give you: the dinner that shall remain nameless.

1 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 package frozen veggie burger crumbles
1 small head green cabbage, chopped
1/2 c. water
salt and pepper to taste
cooked pasta (I used rotini)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and cook it 'til it's dead. (I HATE onions, but... sometimes a recipe really needs one, so, if possible, I cook it until it is unrecognizable. In this case, I diced the offending vegetable as tiny as possible, and cooked on low until it almost dissolved. I did not want it to brown, but you can brown yours if you prefer.)

Add veggie burger crumbles and garlic and cook until burger is browned and hot through. Spread the cabbage over burger mixture, sprinkle with salt and pepper, pour water over all, cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes, until cabbage is wilty. Remove lid and stir thoroughly. Cover and continue cooking until cabbage is done. This is a matter of opinion. Some like it crisp, some (like myself) prefer it thoroughly cooked. Just keep checking, stirring occasionally. When done to taste, toss with pasta and serve.

It's really good with (vegetarian) Worcestershire sauce, or, if you are one of those there cheese-eaters, you can stir in some cheddar cheese (and/or a dollop of sour cream). And then you can grin ~ you know how :)

Okay, so...that was dinner. What did you eat tonight? I could really use some inspiration.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Polenta w/ Cauliflower...and a surprise dessert!



Okay, it's not really a surprise. Is anybody reading this who is NOT friends with me on Facebook? If so, here are some recipes. If not, here are those recipes I already posted.

Tonight, we thought about ordering pizza, but...well, that is always problematic. Justice and I can't eat cheese, and Kaia will only eat plain cheese pizza, with not much sauce...oh, and Hallie likes extra sauce... Besides which, I had some things in the fridge that needed to be cooked before they went bad so, as attractive as Shane's offer to call the local pizza man might have sounded (it did sound attractive, considering that the thermometers around here hit 105 today, and I was not looking forward to slaving over a hot stove), I decided to do the right thing and actually cook dinner for my family.

I had a roll of prepared polenta in the fridge that I had been planning to use, and the expiration date was July 19, so I figured that ought to make the menu; and the cauliflower had been there for a while, but still looked pretty good, so it made the cut, too.

I also had a LOT of eggs, so I started by putting on 6 of those to boil.

Next, I heated a good amount of olive oil in a large skillet. Sliced the polenta into 1/4" thick slices and fried them in the oil, turning once, until they were just barely golden and hot through. I drained them on paper towels and arranged the cooked slices on a serving platter, sprinkled them lightly with ground black pepper and garnished with basil ribbons.

Then, I cleaned out the skillet and heated a bit more olive oil, tossed in about 3-4 cloves minced garlic, turned off the heat and swirled it around in the pan until the garlic was starting to soften, but not brown. Added the fresh cauliflower florets (it was 1 smallish head), a couple of tablespoons of water and a sprinkle of salt, covered the pan and cooked until the cauliflower was just tender. Tossed that on to the platter and topped with a few more ribbons of basil. Done.

By this time, the eggs were done. Hallie doesn't like deviled eggs, so I put aside a couple for her, which she mashed up with a bit of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of salt & pepper. The rest, I deviled. Everybody has their own recipe for this. Mine is very simple. First, run cold water over the hardboiled eggs to cool them. Peel under running water (makes them easier to peel), then slice each egg in half lengthwise. Carefully remove the yolks to a small bowl, and place the whites on a serving dish. In the bowl, mash your egg yolks with mustard and mayonnaise. I use more mustard than mayonnaise, but you can adjust it to suit your taste ~ some people like it more creamy, some less. (Today, I ran out of plain yellow mustard, so I used some lovely whole grain dijon mustard, and it was just fine.) Using a teaspoon, spoon the yolk mixture back into the whites, then sprinkle with paprika. Once, recently, I accidentally sprinkled them with cayenne pepper, instead. Wow! Were those eggs DEVILED!! Actually, we kinda liked them that way, and we'll probably do it again sometime (on purpose) ~ but we decided to stick with the mild paprika this time :)

I think, with the addition of a green salad and a glass of wine, I might have achieved Summer dinner perfection. Nevertheless, for a hot, lazy night, this was not bad at all.

Now, let's see if I can figure out how to add pictures...

And now...dessert!

Today, the kids and I discovered a fantastic no-bake treat. I wish I could remember where I found this recipe originally, but I know I saved it a long time ago because I knew there would be days ahead when we would want a sweet treat that didn't involve heating our sweatbox of a house. It was PERFECT.

Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

* 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 cup peanut butter
* 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 4 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Friday, July 9, 2010

feeling not-so-groovy :(

I feel yucky. Tired, queasy, achy...blech!

Nevertheless, the children must eat. For lunch, I went with the quintessential kid lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup. Soy cheese from Leonor's for Justice, regular cheese for the other girls. I am sure you know how to make a grilled cheese, right? If not, ask, and ye shall receive...instructions, that is...later...when I am feeling better.

I used this tomato soup: http://www.imaginefoods.com/content/organic-creamy-tomato-soup It is one of our favourites, and I happened to find it at the 99-cents Store (and where is the "cents" symbol, come to think of it?) recently. I am partial to it because it is creamy and delicious, but does not contain milk ~ and I recognize all of the ingredients. Oh, and it was cheap.

So, there you have it. I am hoping Shane or the kids will decide to make dinner. Otherwise, I fear I will be forced to move again, and I have a feeling that will not go off without a hitch.

No, really, they are.

These peanut butter cookies are the simplest and best I have ever tried.

When I read that I am supposed to mix together peanut butter, sugar and an egg, bake it and expect it to turn into COOKIES, I was skeptical. I understand that is hardly a revelation. I am, after all, a skeptic by nature. But...I think it sounds a little nutty (if you'll pardon the pun). I mean...Yeah. Right. Where's the flour? Vanilla extract? Baking powder?? Salt??? These people are crazy.

Right?

Nope. Turns out, they are not. Here's the recipe:

1 cup peanut butter*
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar**
1 egg***

Mix all (yeah, all 3 of them) ingredients well. Form into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork (first press down lightly with the tines from top to bottom, then again from side to side, to create the signature criss-cross pattern). Bake at 350 (for crying out loud! ~ where is the freakin' "degrees" symbol??) for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes just under 2 dozen (for me, anyway).

You can try to eat them while they are warm, but they will sort of fall apart. That's it.

Yum.

Really.

I swear.

Go try it.

* I use organic, natural peanut butter when I bake. It contains only peanuts and salt. If you use peanut butter that contains sugar, you may want to cut the sugar in the recipe a bit.

** I thought that seemed like a lot of sugar, so I didn't pack it very firmly, and used a little less than a full cup. I think they could be slightly less sweet and still taste great, but Shane and the girls like them as they are.

***Is you are vegan, you can probably use an egg-replacer. Although I haven't tried one with this recipe yet, I have found that they generally work well in cookies.

Are you still sitting here? Go make some peanut butter cookies.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Really, this is what I am posting?

I stated at some point during this, my latest blogging adventure, that I would simply post what we eat for dinner. Whenever possible, I prefer to be a woman of my word, so here goes nothing (no, really, trust me on this ~ NOTHING):

Tonight, Shane, Kaia and Hallie had cheese ravioli ~ the frozen kind from Costco ~ with canned sauce (yes, CANNED) and canned green beans. Justice had leftover spaghetti and green beans. I had...an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed before I go away for the holiday weekend. Rose was sweet enough to squeeze me in, right at dinner time.

What can I say, a gal's gotta keep her priorities straight, doesn't she? I mean, I can't be expected to spend the weekend at the lake with lots of friends, lots of cameras and one giant eyebrow. Yes, I am vain and shallow. I accepted this year's ago. Moving on!

I later gave the kids some homemade ice cream (J's was dairy-free, of course) which we made last week, so maybe I will get all crazy and post those recipes later.

At this particular moment moment, I have finally managed to get all of the kids into bed and am taking a moment away from packing and cleaning to enjoy a beer. Well, I say enjoy, but the only beer I have in the house is Pabst Blue Ribbon, which I keep around because it makes surprisingly good beer bread, and is not a bad addition to a pot of chili. Well, however comparatively crappy it may seem to some other people's beer choices, I am pausing to drink a beer, anyway, and...hold on a sec...*gulp*...yeah, that's not the worst thing I've ever had for dinner. No, really. It's not.