What Do You Mean You Don't Have a Ricer?

don't let the lack of grill stop you....

2007-05-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

okay, so I had this plan for veggie skewers. except I have no grill, and upon inspection of my various kitchen drawers, nor do I have skewers.
So I improvised.

potatoes first--baby red and white, cut in half, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, basil and oregano. into the 450 oven on a cookie sheet.

Then zucchini, green bell peppers, yellow or white onion--cut into 1"-ish chunks. Mushrooms whole. a clove or two of garlic, minced. Toss with olive oil and the same spices as above. Add to cookie sheet with potatoes.

When everything seems almost done, add a cut up Tofurkey Italian Sausage to the mix (and stir the other stuff with a spatula to make sure it's not getting burnt to the pan).

After about 5-8 minutes, take it all out and eat. Goes well with Trader Joe's organic Strawberry Lemonade--feels cook-out-y!

butternut squash and hominy

2007-02-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

wow! i'm back at cooking!

i don't know about the weather where everyone else is living, but it is frigid cold outside here in DC and today i made a recipe that hit the spot perfectly! i can't remember the last time i had such a happy cooking and eating experience.

i got this recipe from a website i subscribe to and use the recipes from fairly frequently.
Saving Dinner

i subscribe to the vegetarian menu-mailer, which uses a lot of beans, but otherwise, i recommend it, if you are looking for a way to make your grocery shopping super easy! not all the recipes are vegan, however, so you have to pick and choose if you are trying to eliminate dairy and eggs.

but to the recipe! lol

butternut squash and hominy:

ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
about 1 1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
1 cup diced green bell pepper
2 tsps paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
pinch cayenne pepper
1 (15 oz) can hominy
2 1/2 cups water
3 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp tomato paste

Cooking Instructions:

Heat oil in large skillet; add onions, garlic, squash, green bell pepper, paprika, and cumin; cook for about 10 minutes, until veggies are browned.

Add flour, salt and pepper to taste and cayenne pepper, stirring constantly for 1 minute. (i'm gonna fess up here, i forgot the flour, and it was great that way too.)

Add hominy, water, parsley, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until squash is tender. Add a bit more water if veggies look dry.

-----

the perfect little bit spicy little bit sweet food combo. it's like a main course and dessert all in one dish! i must say i adored this dish and highly recommend it, it serves 6, so you put a little time in on it in one cooking session and can have enough leftovers for few lunches. yum!

i added a small spinach salad, with grape tomatoes, sprouts, a little diced red onion and my favorite sesame ginger dressing to my meal to complete dinner.

and afterward, i enjoyed a hot cup of kukicha tea sweetened with the world's greatest natural sweetener, agave nectar (it's low glycemic so it doesn't spike your blood sugar the way that almost all other sweeteners do). agave nectar is even approved by my husband, world's most wary of weird natural food alternatives individual. he uses it to sweeten everything, from oatmeal to tea to making messy almond butter/agave nectar sandwiches. it really is an awesome alternative if you are looking to reduce your sugar intake and regulate your blood sugar levels.

can you tell i'm working really hard to cut my sweet tooth the holistic way? lol. if anyone is trying to cut a sugar addiction gone wild (like me!! :) sweet vegetables like squash and sweet potatoes as well as kukicha tea (which i highly recommend adding agave nectar, too. i don't normally sweeten my tea, but this tea needs it! lol) are supposed to be great helpful healthy substitutes when you want to tame the sweet tooth.

and i must say, today is the first day in two months that i haven't been suffering from intense sugar withdrawal. which always leads me to eating something full of sugar.... i'm willing to say there might be something to this theory!!

but enough about me! try this recipe! it's good! i promise!

hard boiled eggs

2007-01-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

okay, I have to tell you that this old wives tale is true:

put salt in the water when you are boiling eggs to make hard-boiled eggs. They will seriously peel easier.

Weird, I know, but I've done extensive testing (aka I forgot a couple of times) and it really does work.

In other news, I'm having Indian for dinner tonight. mmm, lentils, brown rice, chickpeas in tomato sauce...veggie samosas (from the freezer section of Trader Joes). You know you're jealous and want to come visit me. I knew it!

Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza

2006-10-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

Ryan and I made this last night. We made a side of baked sweet potatoes and totally didn't need them. This pizza filled us up good!

Ingredients:
Pizza dough - suppose you could make it fresh but we used Pillsbury and that worked out great
Butternut squash - a small squash (3 cups or so cut up) will do
Fresh sage
Shallots (however much you want on the pizza works)
Pizza sauce - we used Ragu, worked just fine
Mozzarella/Chedder - shredded, we mixed the two and it worked
Gruyere - cubed
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - 2 T
Butter - 1 T

Pre-heat the oven to 400F
Cut squash and shallots into sizes want for pizza toppings
Heat the oil and butter in a roasting pan
Add squash, shallots, 4 sage leaves to pan, toss in oil/butter mixture
Let roast for 20-25 minutes

Roll out pizza dough onto pan (we used a non-stick cookie sheet)
Cook in oven for 5-10 minutes (or whatever the directions on the package tell you)
Take dough out of oven: add pizza sauce, layer of mozzarella/chedder, squash/shallot/sage. Add more mozzarella/chedder if desired, 4 more sage leaves, gruyere

Cook for 15-20 more minutes.

Serves 4.

Yummy!

asian peanut noodles

2006-07-21T01:39:00.000-04:00

so i dicovered my male counterpart at seminary... is counterpart the right word?

this new friend of mine is crazy about the kitchen, just like me, but he's much better at all the good for you foods where i tend to get stuck in the baking realm, until of course the winter rolls around and then i make soups and stews and things....

anyways... he cooks tofu much better than i do... (mine always ends up looking scrambled)... and so we've had this killer dish a couple of times now...

soba noodles, tofu marinated in asian marinade and pan seared and peanut sauce- made with pb, mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, and maeploy (this spicy condiment that's sweet and sour too)...

you mix all those ingredients to get a peanut sauce, toss everything together, frigerate overnight, plate it up, sprinkle on chopped peanuts and a twist of lime, maybe cilantro if you have it, it's OH so delicious, it makes my belly amazingly happy...

ding ding!

2006-07-09T08:39:00.000-04:00

yesterday I decided to use up some of those things I have lying around (since I'm leaving this place soon). THe result was an incredible re-creation: something very like Rice-A-Roni (tm).

One of Jason's favorite foods in the whole world is cheddar broccoli RiceARoni. So, having rice to use and broccoli leftover from last week, I tried it out. Here's how it goes:

a few T butter
3/4 cup vermicelli
1 cup organic long-grain white rice
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli crowns--keep those little bitty pieces too because they make it look more like rice-a-roni!
1/2 onion, chopped very small
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
salt, pepper, basil, oregano, any other spice you think might be tasty
about 6-10 slices of cheddar cheese

(if you have a big skillet, feel free to just do it in there. I don't, so had to work with two things...hence the strange directions)

melt half the butter in a skillet, add vermicelli. fry one minute. add (washed) rice, fry a couple of minutes until it all seems to be turning a little brown. melt the other half of the butter in a pot. Add onions and broccoli, saute a minute or so, until broccoli begins to brighten. Transfer rice/vermicelli mix into pot with onions and brocolli. Add veggie broth and water. stir well. Add spices. bring to a boil. lower heat and cover. simmer, stirring occasionally, until water is all absorbed. put cheese in, two or three slices at a time. re-cover and allow cheese to melt. stir it in, then add more...repeat until you feel like there's enough cheese. taste...season more according to your taste. Eat.

Jason and Stephen both gave it two thumbs up--and several fingers as well...between helpings. I thought it was pretty darn good myself! And we all know it's better for you than that sodium-filled, MSG laden box stuff. I can't tell you about fat content or anything (it depends how much cheese you use!), but dang...it's good.

Baked Bananas

2006-06-19T18:35:00.000-04:00

i have a horrible horrible sweet tooth.

me love me some candy.

anyway, i saw something similar to this on tv, and got this recipe from a healthy cookbook and it made my sweet tooth very happy. it's super easy, so if you like bananas, or are looking for a not so heavy dessert, you should definitely try it.

Baked Bananas

oil a baking sheet and preheat oven to 375.

peel bananas and slice in two lengthwise

place on baking sheet, sprinkle generously (or to your taste) with cinnamon and nutmeg and some raisens.

bake for 10-15 minutes.

the recipe suggested adding chocolate sauce if you like, but i didn't have any. i drizzled honey on top instead and it was divine. just enough sweet.

enjoy.

curried tofu

2006-05-24T14:43:00.000-04:00

i love tofu. i love curry. what could be better than both together?
at teri's request, here is the recipe!

Curried Tofu:

(serves 6! wow! that's a lot of food! i think this recipe could easily be halved if desired)

Ingredients:

-4 tsps vegetable oil
-2 packages of extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 cup light coconut milk
-2 tsps curry powder
-2 cups carrots, julienne
-2 tsps crushed red pepper flakes (this makes it very very very SPICY, feel free to use less(or none!) if you don't want it to have some serious zing!)
-2 15-oz cans pineapple chunks in juice, drained
-2 medium red bell pepper, seeded, de-ribbed and cut into strips
-1 cup fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

In large skillet saute tofu in oil until lightly browned; remove from skillet and set aside. In the same skillet, add coconut milk and curry and cook for another minute or so, continuously stirring to prevent scorching. Add carrots, red pepper flakes, pineapple, bell pepper and basil. Continue stirring and cooking for another 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, then return tofu to skillet and cook for another two to three minutes. Done!

I served this with whole wheat couscous (definitely necessary for me to cut the heat of this...i was feeling the burn!) but you can eat it alone or with rice or bread or however you choose!

as my husband said, 'it is tasty, but it makes your lips burn!'

i love me some spicy food...embrace the zantac! lol.

Not so much a receipe but...

2006-05-09T15:21:00.000-04:00

It's a little tip.

My friend Ryan came over for dinner last night and we made tostadas. Very yummy. What made them particularly yummy was two things:
1. Peach salsa - we added a mild peach salsa to the refried beans and then a small dollap on top of the finished tostada. Very tasty.
2. Red bell peppers - we cut up (okay, Ryan did the actual cutting, and hey, did you know you're supposed to cut out the fiberous part, apparently you don't actually digest it) a pepper and added it on top of the tostada - gave it a little something sweet that made it extra yummy.

And then we ate pie with Bailey's Ice Cream on top... oh yeah, so much for starting to watch what I'm eating again this week.

i heart hummus...

2006-04-08T01:10:00.000-04:00

so i know ter is living in one of the lands of hummus, but for those of us who have to search a little harder for that delectable treat... saveur magazine has devoted an entire article to it in this month's issue!!! haven't treid them yet, but everything that comes from saveur is a divine culinary masterpiece! soo... i'm posting my personal fave...

BLACK BEAN HUMMUS
15oz can drained black beans
fourth cup water
fourth cup tahini
a crushed peeled clove o garlic
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin

puree around 2 min, or until smooth.... season with salt, garnish with paprika & parsley and voila!! YUMMINESS IN A BOWL!!!

they also have a recipe for something called masbaha that looks absolutely divine... whole chickpeas floating in tahini lemon juice garlic and olive oil.... YUM

springtime for salsa!

2006-04-05T19:42:00.000-04:00

ok... so i fried up some corn tortillas for big chips and since i am a fish eater added some of daddy's pan seared fresh salmon to the meal but you could eat this salsa any ways you wanted cause it's freakin awesome!!!!!

diced tomatoes (no juice!) out of the can or chopped fresh
an onion or two
a few mangoes
some fresh diced (deseeded) jalepenos
freh cilantro
fresh lime juice
some avocados
a few cans of corn and black beans (drained)

toss it all together in a bowl and let it sit for a while, it's OH SO YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

brookie cookies

2006-04-03T07:33:00.000-04:00

noell, I made the cookies. damn, those are good. I want to make them again ASAP. but then I really would get fat. :-)

for mustard lovers

2006-03-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

so WOW it's been awhile since i've posted here! it's not that i haven't been cooking, but more that time just seemed to disappear!
so today i've got a mustardy creation for you. being a true lover of one of the greatest condiments around, i had fun trying this recipe for a dijon potato salad! with spring at our doorsteps i thought this would be a different and interesting dinner. and it hit the spot for me tonight!
here in dc spring lasts for about 6 days and then it suddenly becomes the muggy swampy summer again. so i'm embracing light and crisp while i can! lol.

dijon potato salad

-about 1 lb cooked, quartered red potatoes (i made them a tad bigger than bite size)
-1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut, then boil for a couple minutes and then drain and rinse with cold water
-1 1/2 cups canned white beans, drained and rinsed (i put in two 14 oz cans, cuz i didn't want a half can of beans leftover :)
-1 small red pepper, rid of innards and diced

directions: toss above with the dressing below!

dijon dressing:

3/4 cup honey mustard
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced (except i'm incapable of mincing anything)
3/4 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

warning: the dressing is strong! but it has great bite to it along with the sweetness of the honey mustard. this recipe also makes a LOT of dressing, so i recommend not dumping it all on at once, so you can decide how much sauce you want! lol. i, of course, love me some mustard and love me some sauce, so i used it all!

YUM!

2006-03-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

I totally made this recipe up, but dang it was good.

Stuffed Zucchini

4 large zucchini
2-3 tomatoes
about 1/2 cup uncooked rice, cooked
olive oil
yummy spices
some cheese--shredded cheddar or something like it

cut a "top" off the zucchini length-wise. carefully scoop out the innards of said zucchini and toss 'em (unless you can think of something else to use them for). rub insides with olive oil, sprinkle with spices (I used garlic, salt and pepper, and oregano). turn cut-side down in a cake pan and bake for about 15 minutes.

meanwhile, chop up the long "tops" of the zucchini very small. chop tomatoes pretty small too. saute zucchini pieces in olive oil, add some spices here too (i used garlic, salt and pepper, and basil this time...and a dash of Emeril Spice without the BAM!)--for maybe 3-5 minutes. Add 2/3 of the chopped tomatoes. let them get all juicy together. after a couple minutes, add rice. You don't need all the rice--I probably used betwen 1/2 and 2/3 cup cooked brown rice. cook all this together for a couple of minutes, stirring until the rice has absorbed all the juices. I added more spices here--a teensy bit more garlic powder, some more basil, and emeril spice again. taste to see what it needs, add it if you want.

take the baking upside down zucchinis out of the oven. turn them over in the cake pan, and stuff with the rice/veggie mixture. put some shredded cheese on top (I used cheddar), then top with remaining tomatoes.

Bake again for about 10-15 minutes.

Eat. I served with spiced brown lentils (topped with chopped tomatoes) and mashed potatoes. yum!

i wish i had a submersible hand held blender...

2006-03-03T18:01:00.000-05:00

I had a huge lentil soup triumph tonight. it was tasty AND still mostly orange! amazing. I put orange lentils (1c), an onion, a carrot, the insides of some tomatoes (I made stuffed tomatoes yesterday so I had the insides left over), a potato, and some spices in a pot with water, veggie broth, apple juice, and a little vinegar (8 cups liquid in all). cooked it for a while. then i put it in the blender (a little at a time, not wanting a repeat of the LAST lentil soup experience) until it was all blended up. Then a little lemon juice and YUM! It was good.

I also made mashed-potato stuffed bell peppers tonight. Stuffing bell peppers is totally labor-intensive, what with the gutting and all. but i did it. then i "parboiled" them for a few minutes, let them drain, and sauted up some onions, more green peppers (the recipe calls for red but we don't have those here), and some carrots (my own addition). i mixed that with the mashed potatoes i already made (before the parboiling), added some spices, then stuffed all that into the peppers. I ended up putting the peppers in a bread-loaf pan (lined with foil cuz it was kinda rusty) because it was the only thing deep enough. Then I put tomato sauce around the bottom half of the peppers, covered it all in foil, and baked it for 20 minutes. then i took the foil off and baked another 10 minutes (while I reheated the soup and the leftover mashed potatoes on the stove), and voila! yumminess in a nice little self-contained edible green package. :-)

for dessert: assir farowla (strawberry juice). about a pound of strawberries, and two lemons (deseeded and peeled because, umm, eew) into the blender (in two batches unless you want a mess) with a little apple juice and some water. pour into a cup. refrigerate a little while. stir, add water if needed, and enjoy. you can also freeze it in mugs or little bowls for a delightful sorbet-esque dessert. all natural!

butternut squash

2006-02-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

okay...so my butternut squash weighed in at between 10 and 13 kilos (a kilo is 2.2 pounds). It was so large that when it was plopped into my hands i could barely hold it (hence the bad pic) and I think it was larger than most 6 month old babies.

Needless to say (and yet I'm saying it), I made several different things with it throughout the week.

Noell: I took your two ideas from last week!

I made a butternut squash soup...no white wine, though, so i had to substitute apple juice. I also added a few carrots to boost the vitamins and whatnot. It was REALLY REALLY good. I roasted the squash first with oil and lots of yummy spices (fresh garlic, cinnamon and cloves, rosemary, some basil and some oregano and some sage). Then it was: cook in liquid, mashy mashy, puree in the blender (much less mess than my lentil soup was!). It was a nice, mild, yummy yummy soup! Everyone loved it AND I got to eat it for a couple of days. I love when I can share food and still eat lots of it.

I also made the foil-pack-in-the-oven thing, with butternut squash, potatoes, zucchini, green peppers, onions, and carrots. With olive oil and spices. yum. On Monday. Because on Monday my flat gets cleaned (and my dishes washed)--which means it is the WORST POSSIBLE NIGHT to cook something that makes lots of dishes. Foil packs = no dishes. :-)

And then, tonight (so exciting!):

I made something like a risotto, only with regular organic brown rice, not arborio rice. It went basically like this:

(need: butter, hard white cheese, veggies--in this case, winter veggies, rice, veggie broth, white wine (see below for substitutions), a big pot with a lid or lots of foil, and a wooden spoon.)

cut lots of veggies (I used zucchini, butternut squash, green bell peppers, carrots, and mushrooms--I was out of onions but that would have been yummy too)
mince some garlic
melt some butter (a couple tablespoons)
saute the (onions if you're using them), mushrooms, and the garlic a few minutes in the butter...add salt and pepper...saute a few more minutes
add the rice (I used about 1-3/4 cups brown rice)...saute like you're making rice-a-roni even though you aren't
add all the other veggies
add 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1-1/2 cups of dry white wine (I used a mixture of veggie broth, orange juice, and white vinegar b/c we don't have wine here)
add some more spices: I used basil, oregano, thyme, and some Emeril Spice (I love that stuff)
cover
cook for a while, until the rice is cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed
stir and let stand a couple of minutes
if the liquid isn't going away, cook a few more minutes (uncovered)
add another T or two of butter, stir.
add some grated cheese. Any hard-ish white cheese will do...I used cheddar. parm or pecorino would be good. stir.
eat.

This was so good, I can barely express it's yumminess to you. You will have to take my word for it. It tasted even better than some of the risottos we had in florence. I am not joking. :-)

black bean stuff

2006-02-19T07:28:00.000-05:00

okay ames (and everyone), here you go. two recipes to try:

Black Beans and Olives--a side dish great with rice or with mashed potatoes...

some minced garlic
lots of green olives with those red pimiento things in them, sliced
a couple cans of black beans
some olive oil

heat big saucepan. add olive oil. saute the sliced olives. add garlic, saute more. olives should start to look a little brownish-transparent-ish. Add beans (do not drain). cover and lower heat. simmer a while. when it's all cooked and tasty, eat.

Black Beans and Pasta (martha clay's recipe...basically)--a meal in itself

some cans of black beans (like umm, three?)
a couple cans of RoTel
an onion or two
minced garlic
olive oil
some veggie broth, just in case
some nice spices--salt, pepper, maybe some cilantro or basil or something...
Gemelli pasta
Cheese--shredded yellow is best (mmm, cheddar)
sour cream, if desired

saute onions in olive oil. add garlic. add black beans (undrained) and rotel. cook for a long time on medium-low heat. season with spices. if it's dry or burning, add some veggie broth. if it doesn't taste right, add a few squirts of lemon juice. about fifteen minutes before you want to eat, cook pasta.
put in a bowl like this:
pasta, then bean mixture, then cheese, then sour cream.
eat. especially good with french bread...

a roasting we will go...

2006-02-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

well, after a warm spell in east texas, we're experiencing the normal february cold snap... today i woke up to go take a yoga class and froze my sockless toes on the way to the car... so... when i got home, i built a fire, and decided it was time to cook, winter style! my favorite way to cook in the winter is by roasting, and my favorite thing to eat is soup.... so i took a census of food items in the kitchen and decided to make a roasted winter squash soup.... here goes...

take a couple of squashes (i used one butternut and one acorn) and chop in half and deseed... then you can quarter them, or leave them halved and toss them on a baking pan (if you line it with foil it will be much easier to clean later). spray drizzle or brush the squash with olive oil... season with salt, pepper and seasonings of your choice (i used fresh ground nutmeg) smash a few cloves of garlic to place in the squash cavities... i also threw some fresh rosemary and thyme on.... i roasted these in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour at 425 degrees. then i turned the oven off and went to visit my grandmother allowing them to cool...

.... when i returned, i sauteed garlic and onion with some olive oil in the bottom of a big soup pot.... then i peeled my squash from it's skin and added that to the pot (i also added the roasted garlic from the pan).... next smash the squash with a tater masher... add 1/2 c to a cup of dry white wine and 2 cans of chicken or veggie broth (depending on whether youre a carnivore or herbivore)... season to taste (i added a sachet of bay leaves, rosemary and time) and walk away with the pot on low so it can simmer and absorb all the flavors. when you decide it's "done" puree it in small batches in the blender or food processor OR if you don't have those high tech tools, force it through a mesh sieve. if it's too thick, add more broth... goes great with crusty bread and goat cheese- YUMMY!!!!

AND.... everyone knows soups taste better the next day, so i made something different for dinner:

a roasted foil pack dinner! the easiest thing in the world to cook... again you're using a 425 degree oven... in a bowl mix whatever it is you want for dinner (i used broccoli, asparagus, garlic, carrots, and cubed chicken breasts) this can easily be made for veggie or meat fans, in fact it would be a great hands on dinner party where folks each choose their own ingredients (when i lived in german a friend cut a block of feta in half and wrapped it in foil with onions, tomatoes and bana peppers, it was killer!)... then i seasoned everything with salt pepper, and accompanying flavors (i used lemon zest, spicy paprika, and rosemary) a few tablesppons of olive oil, and toss until well covered.... you can use separate squares of foil if your making individual sized packets, or one big square of foil for a large dish... wrap it all up throw it in the hot oven and leave it there 40 to 60 minutes.... these are also great on camping trips... you can bury them under hot coals! anyways... when you take it out of the oven let it sit a few minutes and be really carefully opening the packet because crazy steam will escape.... whatever you've created will be super moist and juicy... in fact i cooked a pot of cous cous to serve as a pillow for my roasted goodies.... OH YUM!

i love days that involve cooking, fires, yoga, reading, and npr... it's been a really nice friday...

**FOOD TRIVIA**
did you know ricotta is the whey that comes from making mozarella cheese? then it's cooked a second time and that's why it's called ricotta (italian for twice cooked)!!

there were olives, and behold, it was very good.

2006-02-13T02:25:00.000-05:00

okay, I made the olive tapenade stuff. And all I have to say is: wow.

We have "fresh" olives here, of course, so naturally I had to go to taste each kind and decide which would be best. After deciding on the darkest ones, I also bought some "gebna rumi"--country cheese--which is somewhere between soft and semi-soft, is kind of salty, and in general tastes good. (sorry, no goat cheese here.) Then I picked up my favorite breadsticks from the bakery and we were ready to go!

I had to mortar-and-pestle it, and the mortar/pestle in our "big kitchen" (the communal kitchen) is made of plastic. So this took a while...and a couple of different people, actually. After smushing the pits out of the olives, chopping lots of garlic, and sticking it all in there, I smushed.

And smushed.

And smushed.

Then Jennifer smushed.

Then Jay smushed.

Finally, it was ready right around the time the rest of dinner was ready. LOL.

It was so so so good, that it was all gone by the end of dinner. All of it. No leftovers for Teri the smusher, oh no.

yum.

crockpot incident #2

2006-02-11T12:25:00.000-05:00

i hope i'm not annoying anyone with my obscene amount of posting here. i just do a lot of cooking, almost all of it being new things i am just trying and am too enthused about sharing with the world! especially vegetarian foodies, like me. at work the other day i tried having a good food chat with some of my foodie friends there, but unfortunately they are all carnivores, and while i have an appreciation of the meat products from my former carnivore days, i just have nothing fun to contribute to the conversation when it turns to the wonders of sausage. and they don't care about my experiments with lentil stew. which is what i want to share with YOU! the foodies who appreciate the beauty of a lentil!

the lentil is something i only discovered last summer when i was visiting my mom and reading through a bunch of new vegetarian cookbooks i had just purchased at the FABULOUS half-price bookstore near her house. at that moment i had never cooked lentils or made anything with curry in it, so i was intrigued by the recipe i found for curried lentils. we decided to make it together since my mother couldn't believe HER daughter had reached the age of 25 and never made anything containing curry or lentils. it was fun and i was delighted with how easy lentils are to prepare. yay for lentils!

but i digress into sentimental memories. nowadays i am always excited when my menu planning for the week includes a lentil dish because of my newfound fondness for the lentil. unlike dried beans, which i still struggle with sometimes, i never have issues with lentils. they are so very low maintenance.

anyway, yesterday was the second time i have used the new appliance: the crockpot. and i used it to make lentil stew. and once again it has held its own.

lentil stew:

i dumped a pound of lentils + 3 cups water, a big 28-oz can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, 1/2 cup red wine, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, oregano, basil, and a little crushed red pepper into the crock pot and set it on GO! about ten hours later i had dinner.

and it tasted really good for lunch today reheated with a little leftover shredded gouda melted on top. the perfect food for the snow storm they keep telling us is coming.

we'll see about that.

Help!

2006-02-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

I'm not posting a receipe - sorry ladies, haven't had time to cook in a while - but I am asking for one.

I'm having my prayer group over for lunch in 2 weeks and thought about Ter's yummy black beans and olives medley... So if Teri or someone else who knows what I'm talking about could tell me how to make that, I'd be super thankful!

all things cheesy mushroomy and potato-ey good

2006-02-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

i'm posting again. ;)

so tonight i had the best thing ever. according to me. cuz it includes most of the elements i require for the perfect food.

mushrooms.

cheese.

and

potato.

anyway, so i made some baked potatoes and then i sauteed three kinds of mushrooms: portabellos, shitake, and button with a little garlic and onion until they were cooked. now to me, that mushroom combo would be a satisfying meal. give me a fork and the pan and i'm set. BUT i had to be patient cuz it was about to get better. next i split my baked potatoes in half and spooned the mushroomy goodness on top. THEN i loaded it up with shredded gouda cheese. mmmmm....goooooouuuddddaaaa.... and THEN i sprinkled the whole thing with chopped green onion and a little marjoram.

next it all went under the broiler until the gouda was all gooey.

it was yummy in my tummy.

i'm posting!!!

2006-02-05T10:44:00.000-05:00

with pictures!

now, this little experiment wasn't that exciting, but i thought it was colorful and pretty enough to perk up the blog, photo-wise. i was awfully proud of myself for making this meal. it was more labor-intensive than i thought it would be, but it made my mouth happy enough to make up for the extra time. the squashes make you work soooo hard to get at their goodies.

anyway, may i present: my dinner! (two nights ago. ;)

so, this is a new variation of the stuffed pepper that i tried and it was pretty good.
it involved:

br. rice
black beans
hominy (first experience with hominy, what a weird product, but it tasted pretty good)
chopped walnuts!
green chilis
onion
a little cumin
and a delightful little ingredient i just discovered: liquid smoke! it gave the dish just a little hint of smoked flavor, which was a really nice touch!

with a little jack cheese melted on top.

here's a close-up of the pepper's goodies. as you can see i had already devoured my side veggies by the time i got to the pepper. this was my first experience with butternut squash as well. i just baked it in the oven till it was tender, melted a tiny bit of butter on top and sprinkled with nutmeg. it was good. kinda like sweet potatoes, but not. and it made a nice sweet contrast to the smokey pepper. and the finishing touch was a little steamed broccoli.

my husband eddie's comment (being the carnivore he is): it's good, but i feel like a rabbit! ;0)

don't worry, we are getting pizza today for superbowl sunday, he will be sure to get his meat fix in on his half of the pizza.

yay! for thin crust veggie pizza from our local pizza joint!

oh, and i must say, the crockpot did a good job. i made a spicy veggie chili with garbanzo beans! (i normally use kidney and black beans.) it would certainly be a great investment for those times when you have to be gone all day. you come home to a really nice meal, instead of having to work up the energy to cook something. just in the door and time to eat! and it makes cooking dried beans a no-brainer. ya just soak em, and then toss em in with whatever else you want with it, and however many hours later....voila! bean food. except i'm still no expert on the perfect bean. i think i just need a little more practice before i can finally turn a dried bean into something wonderful. me and the canned beans have been pretty tight up until this point.lol. i'm learning. slowly, but surely.

i'll keep you updated on my progress with the beans and the crock o pot as we get to know each other better. ;)

lame

2006-02-04T16:50:00.000-05:00

sorry i'm so lame with the cooking right now.
I totally came down with a cold the night we returned from our YAV field trip, and I can't taste much so I don't know if what I've been cooking is particularly good or what. We had burritos in a bowl yesterday for lunch--with highly imported Taco Bell refried beans because I was too lazy to make my own. You know, soaking the beans, etc... Also I made a pasta dinner yesterday...with my own sauce, naturally (onions, zucchini, carrots, green bell peppers, green beans, fresh tomatoes, canned stewed tomatoes with their juice, and some tomato paste and water...lots of spices like basil and oregano and garlic and stuff). Jason said it was really really good, and it looked really tasty--all bright red with green stuff--but I couldn't taste much of it. I ate it again today...still not a lot of taste. But I also couldn't taste the vanilla tea and cookies, or the twix, so I'm sure it wasn't the sauce. I stayed bland with dinner--baked potato with butter/salt/pepper. Then I coughed up a little of it... boo. that's why I had to eat twix. To make myself feel better. Except I couldn't taste it very well, so it didn't work like i'd hoped. And that has nothing whatsoever to do with cooking....

I started blogging about Italy over at my other house. I wrote some about food. It's way more exciting than this. Sorry...and now Jason's gone for a week so I don't know if there will be any excitement. Mashed potatoes, when I can taste them again. other than that...eh. we'll see. Maybe I'll eat out a lot this week. Especially if I can't taste it anyway--those 12 cent sandwiches are good, but how much better if you can't taste them? At least you only spent 12 cents.

I think I'm done now. I clearly should be in bed. I hope you all are having better food days than me. :-)

Tastey Sandwich

2006-02-02T15:45:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday my prayer group and I had a picnic on top of a hill that overlooked Staunton (and right next to the grave of the very first Stauntonian settler). It was lovely - much meditation goodness and belly happiness. Our host made us a sandwich that I have now remade 3 times in the past week. It's either that good or I need to get out more.

Need:
bread (ciabatta bread or a wheat baguette will do)
olives
tomatoes
mayo
provolone cheese
feta cheese (I like the basil and tomato feta myself)
lettuce

Instructions:
Er, make a sandwich? You need to cut the olives up into a spreadable mush, and toasting the bread gives it an extra umph. Just a tasty sandwich that goes create with a nice chai.

intro

2006-02-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

i have nothing to say cooking wise, but i thought i would introduce myself to the blog! i'm the new girl and my name is emily! :) teri and i go way back to undergrad, where we were both dreaming of being world famous clarinetists and then realizing that maybe we should find a dream that was a little less silly and heading off into grad school to accomplish worthier things than hanging around in a practice room breaking reeds against stands. teri actually made her getaway. i somehow got sucked back into the practice room vaccuum and now employ myself as a working musician.
But more important to all of you is that i like to cook!!! and have been doing quite a lot of it. most of it experimental. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...you know how it goes. teri invited me to join cuz she has been reading about my fascinating cooking exploits on my other blog and i'm excited to be here cuz i've been reading your adventures so far, and look forward to sharing my stories and getting to know all of you better by reading yours!
ok then. that's it for now.
but just for the record, i don't have a ricer. i KNOW! i've just never actually had to use one so i haven't bought one. oh the SHAME!!! lol.
BUT, i do have fond memories of pad thai with tofu from noodles in the pot, teri. it's the best.
and tomorrow marks my first experience cooking ala crockpot. i've always considered myself above the crockpot, that somehow it represents all things way older than me. like grandmother old. and i wasn't yet willing to embrace it. well, i gave in. cuz i've got some good pot full o crock recipes to try.
tomorrow:

the truth.
is the crockpot really worth the $20 i spent?
will it change my life like so many say?
is leaving food to cook aaalllll ddddaaayyyy really that wonderful?

alright. i'm really done now.

chili

2006-01-20T06:36:00.000-05:00

okay friends,
I made our now-famous veggie chili the other day, and we ate it yesterday, and let me just say something:

Thank the Lord for RoTel.

It never occurred to me just how much work is saved by those little cans with their green labels.

It also never occurred to me that chopping and removing the seeds from green chiles would cause my fingers to burn/tingle for many many hours.

AND, finally, it never occurred to me to leave some of the seeds in because RoTel definitely has a little spice and this chili required a lot of spices to make up for that.

But it tasted really really good.

I have some left over, but I'm sick today and probably shouldn't eat that, as much as I want it. boo for throwing up.

I can't wait to get home from Italy and try this olive tapenade. It sounds good. The one I have made before has pine nuts in it, so I'm glad to see this doesn't--cuz we don't have those here. boo for no pine nuts.

I hope y'all are cooking a lot because I need to read about more adventures! And post some pics of you two in the kitchen or eating or something. :-)

Yummy Oliveness

2006-01-17T16:28:00.000-05:00

Noell and I went to a great restuarant in Charlottesville after I picked her up at the airport in Richmond on Saturday. There we had, among other muoy tasty things, an olive tapenade with goat cheese on toasted bread. Not surprisingly, Noell said we could make it at home and so on Monday we did!

I get to post this (even though Noell developed the receipe) because it's my new favorite food... well, that and because I did the intensive smushing the olives labor.

Ingredients:
tasty olives - about a cup worth
olive oil
fresh garlic (a couple cloves)
sea salt/kosher salt (a pinch or two)
fresh ground pepper (to taste)

If your olives aren't pitted, take a large knife and smush the olive so you can take the pit out with more ease. You might want to do some smushing of the garlic too while you're at it.

In a blender, or a food processor, or a mortar and pestle, add the garlic, olives, and salt. Blend/process/pestle. Add olive oil a little at a time until mash is the right spreadable consistancy. Add pepper to taste.

Get some toasted bread, goat cheese, and enjoy!

my newest cookie creation

2006-01-17T16:26:00.000-05:00

last week i "invented" a new cookie (it's a spinoff of the original choc chip recipe you'll find on your average c chip bag) that tastes like a browine with the texture of a cookie, or something that like, let's call it a brookie! anyways, while making these cookies i got into a huge argument with my mom that basically went like this...

why are you baking cookies?

i guess cause i was feeling stressed and the kitchen calms me

do you want to be fat again!?!?!

anyways, it went on like that and was frustrating and in general mom fashion rather than talk about anything she stormed off and pretended like the conversation never took place once she returned.

just for clarification, one can eat cookies and manage to not get fat, amazingly enough.

so here's the brookie cookie recipe...

2 sticks of butter
3/4 c sugar
3/4c brown sugar
2 eggs
1tbs real vanilla extract

cream all those ingredients together

then add the following ingredients:

1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp b. soda
1/4 c cocoa powder
2.5 c flour

mix well.... then mix in

1/2 bag mini c. chips
1 or 2 cups of pecan pieces
1/2 bag mini m&ms

scoop big spoonfuls onto a tray and cook at 375 for 10 minutes or so or you can put them in a jelly roll or glass brownie dish as bars and cook at 350 for around 20 minutes....

YUMMY!

Eastern Christmas = big dinner

2006-01-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

For Eastern Christmas (Jan 7--today!) we had a big dinner party. 12 people, all in our house. We sent Naadia and Martha for the veggies: 10 kilos of potatoes, 1.5 kilos of zucchini, three kilos of tomatoes, and a kilo of onions, plus half a kilo of green bell peppers we already had. (one kilo=2.2 pounds) It was crazy! Jennifer and I LOVE mashed potatoes, which is why we needed so many potatoes. obviously. anyway, we had mashed potatoes, zucchini-stuffed-tomatoes, lentils, garlic bread sticks, and rotisserie chicken...then there was fruit salad and cookie bars and brownies oh my! it was crazy.

Here are some pics from the preparation, and also the recipe for zucchini stuffed tomatoes. They are so good, y'all need to eat them ASAP.

making cookies sans electric mixer....

sauteing the stuffing for the tomatoes.....

mixing more salt and pepper into the mashed potatoes (pot 1)....do you sense a theme here? (please note, we did not use a ricer. Also please note that we cooked all these things using the same ONE wooden spoon in our posession at Dawson Hall. And no we didn't actually stuff all that food in our mouths, sadly.)

the result of all our efforts...

Zucchini-stuffed tomatoes:

4 large tomatoes
Salt and sugar
1 1/2 - 2 pounds zucchini
1 teaspoon salt
3 shallots, sliced (I just use 1 onion, finely chopped)
1-2 green bell peppers, finely chopped
some olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh parsley (I don't have any, so I substitute all kinds of different spices--I usually use garlic, basil, oregano, sometimes cumin, and always Emeril Spice)
some fresh thyme (again with no fresh...I use dried thyme)
1/2 pound grated Gruyere (I use whatever kind of cheese the local market is selling this week....usually white cheddar of some kind. We don't have gruyere in Egypt.)

Preheat the broiler (or, if you're in Egypt, the oven. We don't have broilers.). Cut the tops off the tomatoes. Scoop out the centers leaving the outer thick flesh intact. Sprinkle the interior shells of the tomatoes with a couple pinches of salt and sugar, and invert them on a paper towel lined plate to drain until ready to stuff.

With the grating attachment of a food processor or on the large-holed side of a box grater, grate the zucchini, and place it in a strainer. It will look like a TON of zucchini, but it will cook down and you'll be glad you have this much. Trust me. Toss the zucchini with 1 teaspoon salt and place the strainer over a bowl to catch the juices--or just set it in the sink to let the juices drain away. You don't need them. Allow to drain for 5 to 10 minutes, or until you're done with everything else.

In a large heavy skillet, saute the shallots/onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil, until they begin to caramelize. Meanwhile squeeze the zucchini to release as much water as possible. Add the bell peppers to the pan and continue to saute.

Add the dry (drier?) zucchini to the pan, and saute the zucchini with the shallots/onions and peppers for 5 minutes, or until it actually gets cooked (for me this takes about 10 minutes, actually). The zucchini cooks down substantially AND I usually burn some to the bottom of the pan.

Add chopped parsley and thyme (or whatever spices you want), and then toss the zucchini with the cheese, reserving 1/4 cup of the cheese for topping.

Stuff the tomatoes with the filling, mounding it slightly, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Place in tomato halves in ovenproof baking dish and broil/bake them until the tops are golden. Serve hot.

Good side dishes to try (a couple at a time, not all together!): brown lentils, mashed potatoes, brown rice, salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I use the one from the balsamic portobella recipe).

Yum.

what genre of meal do you call this?

2006-01-07T08:55:00.000-05:00

Dinner last night with fellow YAVs (but cooked all by myself).

Fried rice with veggies (tasted better than this photo looks...). Note to self: sticky rice needs more than 24 hours to get dry enough to be QUICKLY made into fried rice.

and Deviled Eggs (my first attempt at these...). Jason and Sarah said they were good. I was worried because I thought the filling tasted too much like mayonnaise. Apparently the Emeril Spice (mostly paprika...i didn't have any plain paprika so Emeril it was!) did the trick. :-)

And, I topped the meal off with a glass of no-sugar-added Apple Juice, and had a box of Strawberry Milk for dessert. mmm...

all about food, all the time

2006-01-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

i love food. and i love cooking it and sharing it with other people. therefore, this is for sharing about food...cooking, eating, recipes, stories, etc. and especially in my case right now (in Egypt, land of the "what do you mean they don't have _____"), adventures in substitution-on-the-fly. :-)