Lunch - February 25, 2010

I used the left overs from the sandwiches to make a salad. I thinned the adobo/veganaise with a little water and tossed it all together just before eating. Find the original post here.

I thought this was great. It is inspiring me to eat more salads for lunch.

Dinner - February 17, 2010

This is Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach from Berley's Fresh Food Fast. I am debating on whether to rename this "Instant Soup" or "Pound Soup".

I made a version of this before I had a pressure cooker and liked the results enough to make it again. This time I made it in the pressure cooker and hence the idea for the "Instant Soup" rename. It is not only the quick time on the stove but the fact that there is really no chopping involved either. Peeling the garlic is the most time consuming part of the recipe. I also skipped wrapping up the spices and just pulled them out individually before adding the spinach. This left the rosemary leaves in the pot but I think that was okay.

This time I made about a recipe and half. That kicked the lentils up to a pound. I then rounded the tomatoes up to about a pound which matched the can of diced tomatoes I had. I also used a pound of baby spinach. Hence the idea for the renaming to "Pound Soup". I also used a whole head of garlic because I was close and I just thought that would be cool. Now I have a recipe I can almost remember but I will be checking in to get the spices right.

The soup and bread were not the best combination. I enjoyed the soup greatly as lunches.

Dinner - February 14, 2010

For Valentines Day, I was going to make a fancy meal and serve the last bottle of Italian Barolo that Matt got me several years ago. Instead we did laundry and had pizza and beer. It really was quite good and made the laundry tolerable.

One pizza is caramelizes onions (cooked with thyme and garlic) and sauteed portabello (cooked with garlic). The second pizza is sauteed spinach (blanched and cooked with shallots). The onion and mushroom pizza was the winner but it was nice to have both.

The crust was a recipe and a half of the whole wheat crust in The Healthy Hedonist cooked on a hearth stone (borrowed from my mother). Ten minutes at 500 degrees.

With the hearth stone I can make the crust from scratch and all of the toppings by the time the oven is hot.

Dinner - February 13, 2010

This is Potatoes and Chard with Green Curry Sauce from Bishop's Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen served over brown jasmine rice. That thick tasty sauce is based on coconut milk. I thought serving potatoes over rice was a bit excessive in the starchy category but we really enjoyed it. This is a great way to get your greens, rainbow chard was used here. I used a mixture of Yukon Gold and Klamath Pearl potatoes. You leave the peel on and they turn out great. There is something slightly strange about this dish but we both think we are going to be craving it. I will serve to some guests but I don't know which ones. I look forward to trying this again.

Dinner - February 6, 2010

This is Indian-Spiced Cauliflower, Chickpeas, Potatoes, and Kale from Kornfeld's The Healthy Hedonist.

The notes in my cookbook said I made a double recipe previously that didn't quite fit in my dutch oven. I also noted that I used coconut oil, diced tomatoes in place of crushed, and 3/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. I also noted that I served it over half a serving of brown basmati rice. I wrote "good" at the top of my notes.

This time I used the the pan from my pressure cooker. I didn't have coconut oil so I used 2 tbsp of canola oil, 2 tbsp of roasted peanut oil, and 2 tbsp of roasted sesame oil. I was gong to go with just 4 tbsp of oil which follows my general rule of double the recipe but not the oil. I opted for 1.5 times on the oil since the pressure cooker is not non-stick. I only had a can of whole tomatoes so I just chopped them before adding to the pot. I think I was a little shy on the coriander.

This dish smelled heavenly and I think it tasted "great". The broth that developed was excellent. As noted in the cookbook this recipe makes great leftovers. I think serving it over a limited amount of rice is good since it is already full of great starches. I think this as the entire meal could serve 6 when doubled. The recipe says 4 to 6 for a single batch which it pairs with some raita and rice pilaf.

This recipe comes together including all the prep and cleanup in less time than it takes to make the rice. I think the taste of this dish is good enough to serve to any guests but I am still reluctant to serve a stew with kale to guests because I fear they will not see it as beautiful.

I also want to note that the vegetables from Farm Fresh Delivery were excellent. I was at about 5 days from the deliver and the vegetables were still in beautiful condition. The Klamath Pearl potatoes were perfect in this recipe and about half of them I left whole. It is now nearly a week since our delivery and I just washed up the remaining lettuce and it still looked better than when I get it at the grocery store.

Dinner - February 5, 2010

I had a note in my recipes for the week for Orecchiette with Spicy Broccoli. I did not have orecchiette and I could not find the recipe. I made this up based on my memory of several of Bishop's recipes but I think I can claim it as mine.

Orzo and Broccoli with Olives
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 big stems of broccoli, broken into bite size florets and peeled and chopped stems
1/2 cup chopped olives
1 tbsp capers
salt
pepper
6 oz whole wheat orzo

Bring a pot of water to boil, cook the orzo about half way, add the broccoli and cook both until done. Meanwhile saute the garlic and red pepper flakes in the olive oil in a large pan. Drain the orzo and broccoli and add to the saute along with about 1/3 cup of the water. Add the olives, capers, salt, and pepper. Saute for a minute or two and serve.

We both liked this. It was great with some red wine. It is fast to make too. I would say this serves two for dinner with a good vegetable to pasta ratio.

Dinner - February 4, 2010

Pizza for dinner - no cheese.

I made a recipe and a half of the 50% whole wheat crust from Kornfeld's Healty Hedonist. I made three pizzas and backed them one at a time on my mom's oven hearth insert. I thought they all turned out great.

Carmelized Onion: Sauteed 2 onions in olive oil, added 3 sprigs of thyme, 1 large clove of garlic, and some salt. Removed the sprigs, spread on crust, and added olives that were sliced in half.

Asparagus Pizza: Sauteed 2 shallots in olive oil, added asparagus pieces, covered for a bit to cook, sauteed with out the cover until nearly dry. Spread on pizza and drizzled with 1 tbsp olive oil.

Potato Pizza: Boiled potatoes for 10 minutes then cooled and sliced. Blanched 4 garlic cloves then cooled and sliced. Spread a 1 tsp of olive oil on crust. Spread potatoes and garlic on pizza. Sprinkled with chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper. Drizzled with 1 tbsp olive oil.

Baked them at 500 degrees for 10 minutes.

Served with a little green salad. We have enough pizza left for lunches tomorrow.

Lunch - February 4, 2010

This morning I made chili and cornbread for our lunches. The night before we had some prepared soup and bread along side a big green salad for dinner. All of those ingredients were delivered by our new grocery service, Farm Fresh Delivery. It was great to have an easy, healthy, and tasty meal. Next time I will have to order enough for leftovers.

I am working on developing my own chili recipe. Below is a quick rundown on the ingredients.

Kristen's Chili - Try 1
1 onion chopped
2 shallots chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 jalapeño chopped
3 mini peppers chopped
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin
8 oz seitan ground in food processor
2 tbsp tomato paste
12 oz chopped fire roasted tomatoes
1 14 oz can black beans rinsed
1 14 oz can chickpeas rinsed
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup cilantro
Salt

Vegetable broth
Onion trimmings
Shallot trimmings
Carrot tops
Celery
Olive oil
Water

I made the broth as I was making the chili.

We both thought the chili was quite good. I had planned on developing a chili with pinto beans but I was pretty happy with the texture of the chickpeas today. I am not sure which way to go next.

Lunch - January 9, 2010

I made a last minute trip with my mom down to see my sister and her family before I started my new job. I took three recipes with me from Kornfeld's The Healthy Hedonist. One was the standard Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry. The second was this salad, Asian Chicken Salad with Crisoy Wonton Strips, that can be made with the same Glazed Tofu. The third was Spinach-Tofu Wontons which is a version of ravioli in red sauce. I picked them because they were three very different dishes that were tied together by several ingredients.

Matt and I had enjoyed this salad before with the tofu. On this day we tried it with the chicken. I didn't have breasts on the bone with skin but rubbed some boneless, skinless breasts with olive oil. I also opted to replace the watercress with arugula. Both of these substitutions worked well. I think I do like the dish better with the tofu because you add a little sweetness.

Breakfast - September 25, 2009

I enjoyed this bread for breakfast, but I made it the day before and ate quite a bit that day too. The recipe is called Whole-Wheat Flatbread with Grapes and comes from the www.culinate.com website and can be found here.

I found an error on the recipe which I mentioned in the comments of the site. It looks like they straightened it out pretty quickly.

Mostly the recipe came together well. The sugar on the grapes on top became liquid and ran off the end of the bread and provided a little too much caramelizing on the bottom of the pan.

I plan to make this again when we have company.

Update: Found some notes on making this. I reduced the recipe so that I was at just 3 total cups of flour so I could make the dough in the food processor. When I put it in the baking sheet I went to about an inch from the edge.

Dinner - September 22, 2009

Yellow oyster mushrooms (before) are pictured above. Yellow oyster mushroom (after) with some flat green beans are pictured below. This is again based on the Eating Well recipe that can be found here.


Myra Kornfeld's The Healthy Hedonist has become one of my favorite cookbooks. I don't think I go a week without hitting it. The dish below is Glazed Tofu (with brocolli added) which is part of her Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry. The stir-fry is a great dish and works with a lot of vegetable substitutions. I have posted on this one before where I served it with some noodles. You can find the old post here. On this day I just made the Glazed Tofu step and added broccoli.

Dinner - September 3, 2009

Again, I revisited a favorite. This recipe is Three Sisters Stew with Okra and Leeks from Berley's Fresh Food Fast. Have I mentioned how much I love cookbooks organized by season?

I used purple okra and tomatillos. I had no cilantro for garnish and of course I skipped the sour cream for garnish. I also used olive oil in place of the butter. Besides this full oil try, I have made this recipe with half the oil and with none of the oil and have enjoyed all.

My notes say start to finish in under an hour and that you can chop the vegetables as you go.

I think that you can consider this a complete meal because of the beans. If I were going to serve this to a guests I would probably add some cornbread or some other starch on the side. I will stick with the taste rating of 4 that I gave it before but this is really good and I hope everyone tries it.

You can find a previous post here.

Dinner - August 12, 2009

We had a first course of fresh tomatoes and basil with chickpeas in a room temperature salad. After enjoying the salad I started cooking dinner.

Later for the second course we had a version of Eating Well's Five-Vegetable Curry. You can find my original post here. This time I had no sweet potato so I used carrots as a substitute. Still a great dish and a good way to eat eggplant.

I am still giving this a taste rating of a 4 but it is good enough to serve to meat eaters. The dish is just more of an everyday dish. Maybe next time I will think of a way to fancy it up a bit.

Dinner - July 16, 2009

In the background we have "Asian Slaw with Tofu & Shiitake Mushrooms" form the Eating Well website. You can find the recipe and a pretty picture here.

In the foreground we have Sugar Snap Peas with Bacon from Bishop's Vegetables Every Day. We had some leftover bacon from our yearly BLT festival.

The slaw was hearty and satisfying. The sugar snap peas were fine but not anything I would ever bother to make again. The slaw could be a meal on its own.

I am going from memory here but I think the slaw was pretty easy. I also think that I used locally grown bok choy that was baby size. I did not use silken tofu but used regular firm tofu. I also used regular soy sauce.

Dinner - July 14, 2009

Made a version of Berley's "Spicy Summer Bean and Chickpea Salad with Harissa Vinaigrette" from Fresh Food Fast. I had lots of squash and no green or wax beans so I substituted some sauteed zucchini and yellow squash.

I did a lower fat version of doubling the recipe. I doubled the chickpeas, garlic, cumin, and caraway. I did not double the oil or the cayenne pepper. I increased the lemon juice by about 50%.

We enjoyed this dish. If you are trying to use up some squash, give it a try. If you want a really good dish make the original recipe with the beans. You can find a previous post for the real recipe here.

I served this salad along side a simply dressed leafy green salad and some crusty bread. This felt like a light meal but was quite filling.

Dinner - July 1, 2009

Way behind. Need to post these old dishes.

Curry with local veggies. I need to find this recipe so I can make it again today.

Found it. You can find the recipe for Five-Vegetable Curry from Eating Well at http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/five_vegetable_curry.html

Lunch - June 18, 2009

I rarely have lunch posts because we just eat dinner leftovers for lunch. I was not going to have any lunch to send with Matt the next day so I decided to make up this extra meal a day ahead. It ended up that Matt came home from work early and we both had this for lunch on the day that I made it. I later took the left overs up to my parents and the three of us had it for lunch.

This is from the Healthy Hedonist and is served over 50% whole wheat pasta. This is the Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Glazed Tofu. The recipe says you can make this in half an hour but I found that is just the cooking time. It took me an hour to get this together. The tofu recipe is separate and is located just one page ahead in the cookbook.

Matt and I liked this and my dad really liked it to. It is probably a little bit sweeter than I am used to making things but it made it taste like it came from a restaurant. I will definitely make this again. It could become a weeknight regular that would work for unexpected company.

I have the Glazed Tofu at 184 calories per serving for 4 servings. I have the Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry (including the Glazed Tofu) at 364 calories per serving for 4 servings plus the pasta. I said the pasta was about 200 calories per serving.

I made a note to try cutting the sesame oil back in the Glazed Tofu next time but I doubt it would be as good.

Dinner without Photos

The camera battery needed charged and I was too hungry to wait.

I tried the Chilled Tomato Soup with Shallots, Cucumbers, and Corn again from Berley's Fresh Food Fast (page 100). This time I made a half recipe and tried to just use a food mill. This didn't work and I had to dump the mess into the blender and then back to the food mill. So if you are making a whole recipe I suggest blending in two batches.

The soup was still good. I used a whole ear of corn for a half recipe and liked that. Again I didn't peel the cucumber but this one probably should have been.

I also made a side of pan grilled zucchini and summer squash. I cooked about 1.5 lbs sliced in long slabs lightly salted in 3 or 4 batches. In a separate pan I nearly caramelized a small red onion. I then returned all the squash to the pan with the onion and heated through. At the end I tossed in a small handful of chopped basil. The onion really helped this one out.

I had visions of staking these grilled slabs of squash into some sort of sculpture in the middle of my plate but I was hungry so I went for a pile next to the soup. It would have been a waste anyway since the camera was charging.

We indulged and had a little bit of bread with this meal which helped it feel more like a meal. I also had a glass of Moulin-a-Vent which while not really going with the meal is not a bad generic choice for food in general.

I finally wanted some Okra and I couldn't find it

I made the Three Sisters Stew with Okra and Leeks from Berley's Fresh Food Fast without the okra (page 105). I have never gone looking for okra so I didn't know it was hard to find. Berley notes in the intro to the recipe that you should make the recipe even if you can't find okra and I agree.


While this was cooking I made up some Spicy Summer Bean and Chickpea Salad with Harissa Vinaigrette from the same cookbook (page 125). I was planning for this to be for lunch the next day but it was so good we decided to have some with dinner. We were glad to have it also to have some variety of texture to the meal.

On the stew I left out the butter and the olive oil in the cooking and the sour cream in the garnish. This means we ate a soup of nothing but vegetables, water, and salt. It was excellent. I am going to guess it is the leeks that create the decent broth but the ripeness of the vegetables that carry it the rest of the way. If you can get the vegetables, I suggest making it tonight. In a month you may have missed your opportunity. The chopping on this is not to bad since most of the items remain large. I chopped as I cooked to save time.

On the beans I used 2 Tbsp of lemon juice instead of the 3 since I left out the olive oil. I also only used 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Maybe I will try a little more next time. We found that the chickpeas could use a little salt. Trimming the beans is the biggest time on this recipe.