Dinner - February 10, 2010

This was Linguine with Orange Sauce and Cilantro from Bishop's Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen served with Bok Choy from Bishop's Vegetables Every Day.

The pasta dish was as weird as it sounded. I made the orange sauce from fresh squeezed orange juice. It was a reduction that was kind of fun to make. I then tossed it with some pretty bad pasta. First mistake was that I used whole wheat pasta. The second was that I tried a local brand that was actually quite like cardboard. I would say that this dish with the poor pasta choice boarded on "Lets order carryout" but the bok choy saved the day.

The bok choy tasted great. I based my dish on Bishop's recipe but his calls for some broth. This was so soupy without adding broth that it wasn't needed. Lots of garlic and bok choy make their own broth that tastes great.

Dinner - January 29, 2010

From my meal plan for the week we have Black Bean Tostadas with Cherry Tomato Salsa from Berley's Fresh Food Fast. We have liked this recipe for years and have served it to guests.

This night I tried reducing the lime juice in the salsa to half and doubling the black beans in the black bean and seitan mixture. I rounded the measures on the spices to compensate for the extra beans. I used a potato masher to smash some of the beans while they were cooking. I put about half of the seeds and core from the jalapeno in the salsa and that was plenty hot for me.

I think these adjustments are improvements. Next time I think I will try and make a little more salsa to balance the increase in the bean mixture.

I made up all ten of the tortillas in the package into tostadas. Two is probably a meal but I think someone ate four.

Dinner - January 18, 2010

We have two dishes here based on the memory of some recipes. The roasted vegetables are based on Immer's Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Okra. The beans are based on the white beans from the Pork Tenerloin with Pistachio-Gremolata Crust recipe from Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy.

For the vegetables I substituted bell peppers and zucchini for the okra. I varied the spices and used whole mustard seeds.

For the beans I used lime in place of the lemon, cilantro in place of the parsley, and avocado in place of the nuts and breadcrumbs.

I found the meal satisfying. We were looking for a meal with no pasta or rice and this fit the bill. For a refrigerator clean-out meal I will call it a success.

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.