Weekend PLUS PICTURE!

The Pedant (while cooking breakfast): Oh, did you want to take a picture of it?
Sherbs: Oh, right.

(Taken with iPhone)

This is basically about 1/2 of the cooking we did all weekend, which is unlike us.

Friday night, we ended up ordering in Chinese food, which we haven't done in ages. It was warm out, we had little food to cook and we were really happy watching TV.

Saturday, we ended up eating at Subway for lunch and then had dinner with friends at Not Your Average Joe's. Dinner was good. Nothing fancy, and well priced. The portions were also really reasonable, which is sometimes hard to find in chain restaurants (where they overcharge you for HUGE portions...Cheesecake Factory, I'm looking at you...)

Sunday, we made this for breakfast. It was a fun creation:

• Leftover rice from Chinese food
• 1/2 a can of black beans
• Salsa
• 1 egg
• Taco seasoning

TP did most of the cooking and I took this token picture.

We ended up having Costco pizza for lunch. Which was tasty. Tasty, tasty, tasty.

I did cook for dinner (but 100% forgot picture...will work harder). We had gotten greens from our CSA so I improved on a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Assertive Greens with Kielbasa. We used soy chorizo instead of the kielbasa. Quite tasty. Paired with roasted mini peppers and a low fat cherry muffin (random, but...) that TP's sister made up the recipe for, it was great.

The best part of dinner: caramel sea salt dark chocolate from Trader Joe's. Mmmm...

Tonight's plan is sushi. I was supposed to go out with friends and that feel through, so TP and I will go out together instead. We've eat out a lot lately (we usually just eat out 1-2x per week, not 4+ times), but things change.

Breakfast Rut

I've been having issues with breakfast lately. I usually don't have time for something fancy, plus I want something healthy and filling. In the summer, it's often Greek yogurt and fruit and in the winter it's often oatmeal. Lately, I've been having the same breakfast (well, 3-4 times per week):

Oatmeal (with cinnamon and brown "sugar")
Apple with about a tablespoon of peanut butter

It's tasty and I end up not getting hungry until noon. Plus, it's super fast. I used to combine it all: dice apple and microwave it with cinnamon and sugar, add oatmeal and peanut butter. But, dicing the apple took time. And I got bored.

The new problem: I am SO bored with oatmeal. But it's SO fast. I love eggs for breakfast but I've been having trouble getting out of bed in the morning so I never want to take the time.

Today: I took the time. And it was worth it.

I made 1 serving of egg product and put in 1 oz of goat cheese. I made it in my little egg pan (which I love) and it was perfect. I had it with a mini rye muffin that we made on Sunday and ate a grapefruit along with it. Lovely. And I'm not getting hungry!

Will be happy to take suggestions for other exciting breakfast options...

Snowy Breakfast

Since I have (yet another) snow day from work, I made my new favorite breakfast. It's a bit odd, and I don't know why I feel in love with it but I did, nor do I know what made me want to make it in the first place. It's whole wheat pita, sliced apple and hummus. And it's DELICIOUS. Basically, I toast a frozen whole wheat pita and slice up an apple. I then make little sandwiches (I'm sure I could do a big sandwich, but I like playing with my food) with the apple slices and hummus. And it's really good. I get fruit and protein in one meal! I've had it like 3 days this week (since I have time for breakfast). I do feel a bit like Zohan.

The Pedant made himself a barley breakfast where he cooked barley, melted some cheddar cheese, added some whole-grain dijon mustard and some chopped walnuts. He really enjoyed it.

Now we both have mugs of tea and are watching the snow fall down while doing work.

Brunch 2: The Brunchening

Yesterday the Sherbs and I made brunch for about ten people. Our menu, revealed now that the guests are no longer surprised by our cooking ability:

1) Mini Fritatta from our super-difficult vegetarian cookbook. This recipe puts sauteed leeks and cubed sweet potato into an egg/feta mixture, then bakes them in muffin tins. They were crumbly, but delicious.

2) Shakshouka from the Sherbs's personal recipe.

3) Egg salad with caramelized onions, also from the Sherbs.

4) The corn, snap peas, pepper, and dill salad from the diet blog that had done so well for us in the past.

5) Home-made pita chips (whole wheat pita) coated with a little bit of olive oil and zatar, then baked. Served with store bought hummus and babaganouj, and home-made lima bean dip.

6) Fruity couscous from a Weight Watcher's cookbook. You can put in three times as much orange juice as the recipe requires and it will turn out OK.

7) Fruit salad.

Other people brought desserts, including some delectable lemon squares, and delicious fun was had by all. Today the Sherbs and I had Brunch 2, where we ate the leftovers; the mini fritatta went quite well with two strips of Morningstar fake bacon and slices of toasted blueberry breakfast bread spread with Smart Balance "spread."

Two Dishes of My Own Creation

I haven't blogged often enough, and certainly not about food, so let me tell you about two recent food inventions of mine (and no, they are far better than the stuff on Trashy Eats).

SATURDAY BREAKFAST: Deli-Style Egg & Cheese "Tartine"

Took a halved segment of whole wheat baguette, toasted both halves in toaster oven. While doing this, sauteed red onion and fresh mushroom. Set aside. Fried egg over hard, melted one of the remaining fat-free American cheese slices on top. Made two strips of fake bacon.

Half an egg with cheese, bacon, and sauteed onions and mushrooms topped each toasted baguette half. Sauced lightly with ketchup. Ate open-faced.

Pretty tasty, if I say so myself.

MONDAY DINNER: Asian Something

The Sherbs was coming home late on Monday, which put me in the solo seat for food preparation, but we also had a standing order to get rid of our remaining tofu before it went bad and to use some of the garlic, because we bought a bag of bulbs at Costco, not realizing that they are packaged there in a quantity more for vampire prevention than for the timely supply of garlic to a couple who do not work in food service.

I realized that, having made a trip to a Fairfax County Asian grocery, that I also had preshredded nori, soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles), and a bag of lotus root. My course of action was clear-

• Mince garlic
• Put garlic in pan with mixture of Kikkoman low sodium teriyaki sauce and San-J Szechuan sauce; heat
• Start water for soba
• Cube tofu, cut lotus root into quarter-rounds
• Cook tofu and lotus root in sauce/garlic mixture, stirring until coated
• Cook soba
• Drain soba
• Put soba in bowl
• Put cooked tofu and lotus root, which have basically absorbed all the sauce, on top of soba
• Sprinkle on shredded nori and sesame seeds
• Get lazy about vegetable side dish and use one of those Bird's Eye Steamfresh pouches that I bought at the Teet because we had a coupon

The Sherbs and I both thought it was mighty tasty, but today I realize that, had I just done a little internet search, and stopped by the Teet for some kale, I could have used even more garlic, plus parmesan cheese. Now, I get the powdered stuff in the green Kraft bottle (also from Costco), but if Germany can call it "parmesan," so can I.

McYummy

Since moving home for an interim period, I have been giving myself more time to eat breakfast. Also, because I'm leaving for work an hour earlier, so that's more time between breakfast and lunch. So I've been having fun experimenting with eggs and cardboard cereal (not together...yet...). Today was the best meal yet:

1 Whole Grain English Muffin
1/2 slice Swiss cheese (all we had left...mom: go shopping!)
1 fried egg with a runny yolk that's not too runny
1 "Sausage" Patty
A little "butter"

The result: AMAZING. It was a party in my mouth. Take that "Continental french" breakfast!

Also not good for Passover

The internet enables chametz addicts by showing them how to cook pancakes using a mirror, a credit card, and second-hand syringes.

I am not that desperate, despite the Honey Bunches of Oats this morning.

(link passed to you from where I found it on Andrew Sullivan's blog)