Friday evening, I had another Vegetarian Times win. In the latest issue, they have a whole thing on cheesy dishes redone healthy. 2 weeks ago for lunches, The Pedant and I made their enchiladas - their secret was fat free cottage cheese rinsed and drained so it resembled cheese curds. It was a fantastic dish. (Also, we added more salsa verde because we can take the spice.) They also have a baked macaroni and cheese which I made for dinner Friday (and we've been subsequently eating it all weekend). It was very tasty - made with a roux and skim milk and only 1 cup of cheese for a pound of pasta. Their secret was panko to give it a crisp top. If, nay - WHEN!, I make it again, I would actually use a dash bit less panko. It was almost to crumby. I would probably add the 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese that's put into the cheese sauce on top to create a decadent cheesy crust with the panko. (Also, I would take it out of the oven when it says to, not leaving it in for an extra 5 minutes - the bottom was a little browner than needed.)
Dinner last night was from our new favorite salad book. It was a lentil salad with cucumber, onions, celery and parsley with a lemon/red wine vinaigrette. It was really tasty. Simple and delicious. We added some spinach artichoke poppers and chocolate for dessert, plus a glass of Virgina Rose wine. Perfect Sunday dinner.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Cookin' With Beer, continued
Made Bittman's spiced squash tart last night for a gathering tonight. Hope it works out; I tried to slice the squash as I was cooking the onions and I think I burned the garlic.
As the Sherbs pointed out, we went on a bit of a beer foods kick recently, which is kind of funny as the Sherbs doesn't like beer and I rarely drink it. Not only did we make tasty beer-sauced mushroom tempeh (which really could be anything in the mushroom gravy; white wine would work just as well, as would a tasty stock), we made our regular favorite, beer-glazed black beans.
The beer and black beans we made was pretty tasty, in my view, but using Heineken (and some Rolling Rock when we ran out of Heineken) instead of a darker brew gave it less of a malty, wheaty taste, and highlighted the spice more. Still good, but not with a hint of caramelized porter sweetness.
As the Sherbs pointed out, we went on a bit of a beer foods kick recently, which is kind of funny as the Sherbs doesn't like beer and I rarely drink it. Not only did we make tasty beer-sauced mushroom tempeh (which really could be anything in the mushroom gravy; white wine would work just as well, as would a tasty stock), we made our regular favorite, beer-glazed black beans.
The beer and black beans we made was pretty tasty, in my view, but using Heineken (and some Rolling Rock when we ran out of Heineken) instead of a darker brew gave it less of a malty, wheaty taste, and highlighted the spice more. Still good, but not with a hint of caramelized porter sweetness.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Hearty Stew!
Another Vegetarian Times Win: Mushroom Tempeh Something with Lager (I can't remember the exact title!). Basically, a delicious stew with cremini and shiitake mushrooms, tempeh toasted in oil and given a bit of flavor with soy sauce, lager and time. It was really tasty. A bit bitter for my tastes, but mixed with the brown rice we made it was excellent. Hearty, thick, comforting. And after going to work in snowstorm yesterday, just what The Pedant and I needed!
[Note: When linking to the Heineken website, I needed to be of "legal drinking age." Odd! Furthermore, their website sucks. I was going to link to the lager we used but I can't find it, navigate or handle it. Lame.]
[Note: When linking to the Heineken website, I needed to be of "legal drinking age." Odd! Furthermore, their website sucks. I was going to link to the lager we used but I can't find it, navigate or handle it. Lame.]
Monday, March 2, 2009
Don't that beet all?
The Sherbs has pretty much covered all of our meal at Founding Farmers, save two things:
1) My salad, which had pretty much everything in it. Mixed greens, slivered almonds, tomatoes, grapes, olives, cheese, and a champagne vinaigrette. Really delicious.
2) My closing cocktail, which was a Hemingway-inspired mix of champagne and absinthe. It was green and thujone-tastic. Seriously, though, it was cool, crisp, and would make a great apertif at parties, although, given its combination of anise flavors and tartness, less is probably more.
Last night we had a salad from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Twelve Months of Monastery Salads Where You Can Totally Halve the Amount of Oil in the Dressing. One of the more attractive Benedictine salad recipes was a "Dutch egg salad," which we had to try.
The salad involves beets, endive, cheese, shallots, and hard-boiled eggs in a dijon/yogurt dressing. Other than painting half the kitchen pink while chopping and boiling the beets, the food prep was uneventful. The end result: tasty, save for one too-sharp shallot. A keeper of a salad.
1) My salad, which had pretty much everything in it. Mixed greens, slivered almonds, tomatoes, grapes, olives, cheese, and a champagne vinaigrette. Really delicious.
2) My closing cocktail, which was a Hemingway-inspired mix of champagne and absinthe. It was green and thujone-tastic. Seriously, though, it was cool, crisp, and would make a great apertif at parties, although, given its combination of anise flavors and tartness, less is probably more.
Last night we had a salad from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Twelve Months of Monastery Salads Where You Can Totally Halve the Amount of Oil in the Dressing. One of the more attractive Benedictine salad recipes was a "Dutch egg salad," which we had to try.
The salad involves beets, endive, cheese, shallots, and hard-boiled eggs in a dijon/yogurt dressing. Other than painting half the kitchen pink while chopping and boiling the beets, the food prep was uneventful. The end result: tasty, save for one too-sharp shallot. A keeper of a salad.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Local Food Locally
Yeesh! It has been too long since my last post. New Month Resolution: Post more! Especially since The Pedant and I, like everyone else in the country, have decided to eat out a bit less. We did so on some very good and mediocre restaurants in the month of February so the month of March will be devoted to making lots of good food at home. So hopefully I'll update more about our adventures (especially dinner tonight - it sounds tasty).
Last night was one of those very good restaurants in the month of February. It happened to be our semi-anniversary and we kind of needed an excuse to go out to a superb restaurant. Founding Farmers was all booked up for restaurant week, so I made a reservation for 9 (the earliest I could get that wasn't 5!). The restaurant focuses on local food and organic foods (the former is more important to us, and this summer we will be sharing information about cooking from our CSA!) and it seemed really interesting. After both of us had a very intense hour at the gym (and burned only about 1/8 of the calories we'd eat later...but...) we headed over the restaurant and had a spectacular meal.
Cocktails:
We were about 25 minutes early and headed over to the bar for a drink. TP had "The Constitution" and I enjoyed "La Paloma" which was tequila, grapefruit soda and agave nectar. It was very tasty and very good. The hint of tequila in the background mixed with the tartness of grapefruit was very interesting and tasty.
Salad:
We each got a salad that was very tasty. The house salad was presented very well: the red onions, tomatos (which TP ate because tomatoes are icky), and croutons were topped on an iceberg lettuce half and the green goddess dressing was divine. Literally, goddess-like. It was made from an avocado cream base and decadent.
Wine:
Since we were celebrating, TP and I shared a glass and a half (such an interesting idea and great for sharing if you don't want a bottle and aren't huge wine drinkers!) of the Horton Viognier from VA. (It was only one of two Virgina wine options, and for a restaurant dealing with local food, that's a bit sad, but fine...). It was a very good viognier: not too clawing or dry. We both agreed not quite as good as Pearmund's.
Main Course:
TP wanted to get Fried Chicken and Waffles which just sounded good so to save him some calories I volunteered to eat his mac & cheese and some of the waffles. I opted for the Roasted Vegetable and Avocado sandwich (sans tomato). Basically, a divine sandwich which came with homemade potato chips. The bread was really wonderful. The veggies were roasted well, but not too overdone. The mac & cheese was just so amazing - a cheese sauce made with high quality cheese. The waffles (I could only eat 1/2 of one in the end!) were light and airy, but crisp and crunchy.
Dessert:
Good decaf coffee went well with their carrot cake. We split an ENORMOUS piece which wasn't too sweet and had the best frosting. It was like a butter cream base that just had a hint of cream cheese so that it wasn't sticky, but light and airy. We then sat around and digested for a good 30 minutes. We definitely weren't going to be able to walk the 4 blocks to the metro we were so full!
Verdict:
Going back soon but for less food. The salad was a meal itself! Plus it wasn't too pricey so it's definitely a keeper.
Last night was one of those very good restaurants in the month of February. It happened to be our semi-anniversary and we kind of needed an excuse to go out to a superb restaurant. Founding Farmers was all booked up for restaurant week, so I made a reservation for 9 (the earliest I could get that wasn't 5!). The restaurant focuses on local food and organic foods (the former is more important to us, and this summer we will be sharing information about cooking from our CSA!) and it seemed really interesting. After both of us had a very intense hour at the gym (and burned only about 1/8 of the calories we'd eat later...but...) we headed over the restaurant and had a spectacular meal.
Cocktails:
We were about 25 minutes early and headed over to the bar for a drink. TP had "The Constitution" and I enjoyed "La Paloma" which was tequila, grapefruit soda and agave nectar. It was very tasty and very good. The hint of tequila in the background mixed with the tartness of grapefruit was very interesting and tasty.
Salad:
We each got a salad that was very tasty. The house salad was presented very well: the red onions, tomatos (which TP ate because tomatoes are icky), and croutons were topped on an iceberg lettuce half and the green goddess dressing was divine. Literally, goddess-like. It was made from an avocado cream base and decadent.
Wine:
Since we were celebrating, TP and I shared a glass and a half (such an interesting idea and great for sharing if you don't want a bottle and aren't huge wine drinkers!) of the Horton Viognier from VA. (It was only one of two Virgina wine options, and for a restaurant dealing with local food, that's a bit sad, but fine...). It was a very good viognier: not too clawing or dry. We both agreed not quite as good as Pearmund's.
Main Course:
TP wanted to get Fried Chicken and Waffles which just sounded good so to save him some calories I volunteered to eat his mac & cheese and some of the waffles. I opted for the Roasted Vegetable and Avocado sandwich (sans tomato). Basically, a divine sandwich which came with homemade potato chips. The bread was really wonderful. The veggies were roasted well, but not too overdone. The mac & cheese was just so amazing - a cheese sauce made with high quality cheese. The waffles (I could only eat 1/2 of one in the end!) were light and airy, but crisp and crunchy.
Dessert:
Good decaf coffee went well with their carrot cake. We split an ENORMOUS piece which wasn't too sweet and had the best frosting. It was like a butter cream base that just had a hint of cream cheese so that it wasn't sticky, but light and airy. We then sat around and digested for a good 30 minutes. We definitely weren't going to be able to walk the 4 blocks to the metro we were so full!
Verdict:
Going back soon but for less food. The salad was a meal itself! Plus it wasn't too pricey so it's definitely a keeper.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Great Eggs
Last Saturday, I made one of my better impromptu recipes. I wanted an egg, but I wanted more than one egg could provide while still keeping the cholesterol and fat down.
So, I combined the following in a bowl:
then I cooked it in a pan until I was sure that the egg was safe to eat.
It was amazingly good on toast. I added a little Texas Pete's, but it wasn't really necessary.
So, I combined the following in a bowl:
- 1 egg
- maybe a quarter cup of dehydrated onions
- 1 Breakstone's "snack pack" of 2% cottage cheese
- a healthy squirt Golding Farms Three Pepper Mustard
then I cooked it in a pan until I was sure that the egg was safe to eat.
It was amazingly good on toast. I added a little Texas Pete's, but it wasn't really necessary.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Tempeh!
My post on Friday alluded to our dinner Friday night, Tempeh au Vin. Well, the outcome was excellent. Granted I can't compare it to Coq a Vin since I doubt I've ever had it (although The Pedant can address it; his comments about the time he had it in France always include the words "so tasty," "really great," "amazing") but this was good. I mean, how could it not be?! The recipe was pretty simple:
Saute 3 leeks and 2 onions chunked in some EVOO. Let them get brown and delicious looking. Add in 1 lb. mushrooms halved, let them get tasty looking. Add in carrot slices, some flour, 4 smokey tempeh strips (we used Light Life Bacon which didn't add as much as it could have - next time we may just use liquid smoke) and 8 oz cubed tempeh. Then pour in some water and a bottle of beaujolais (good thing we can get some for under $10 at costco!) and let it cook for a while getting yummy. The recipe calls for spelt berries (since it's a hippie mag) but we substituted egg noodles. It was just wonderful. Also, I felt justified using our (expensive, but worth it) french oven.
Yet another winner from the Vegetarian Times!
Saute 3 leeks and 2 onions chunked in some EVOO. Let them get brown and delicious looking. Add in 1 lb. mushrooms halved, let them get tasty looking. Add in carrot slices, some flour, 4 smokey tempeh strips (we used Light Life Bacon which didn't add as much as it could have - next time we may just use liquid smoke) and 8 oz cubed tempeh. Then pour in some water and a bottle of beaujolais (good thing we can get some for under $10 at costco!) and let it cook for a while getting yummy. The recipe calls for spelt berries (since it's a hippie mag) but we substituted egg noodles. It was just wonderful. Also, I felt justified using our (expensive, but worth it) french oven.
Yet another winner from the Vegetarian Times!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)