Lunch - February 21, 2010

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Sage from Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine. I didn't have any sage. Still an excellent dish. I serve these to everyone.

Fusilli with Green Lentils, Root Vegetables, and Parsley Caper Puree from Bishop's Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. I used 12 oz of pasta instead of the pound and still think this was too pasta heavy.
The lemon and parsley give a nice brightness in the winter. I used multi colored carrots for this dish. I probably wouldn't bother with the pasta again except that it looks like it is one of those handy recipes where the ingredients are always on hand.

We started this meal with Yukon Gold Potato & Cauliflower Soup with Truffle Oil from Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine. I forgot to snap a picture. I reserved and used a cup of the cooking water to thin the soup and it was still a too thick. I used the food processor instead of a blender which may have effected the outcome. It was good even if it resembled mashed potatoes. I will make it again. Thanks to Betty and Mark for the truffle oil.

We were going to go to lunch with my parents but as I was behind on my cooking due to illness earlier in the week I wanted to use up some vegetables and so subjected my parents to trying new recipes.

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 - September 21, 2009

For a starter we had a "Tomato & Bread Salad with Basil" that I made up. When I was packing Matt's lunch I cut off the end piece of the whole wheat bread that was starting to dry up. I cubed it and left it on a plate to finish drying during the day. For the salad I mashed 1 small clove of garlic with some salt. I chopped two large tomatoes (one red and one yellow) and mixed with the garlic. I chopped a handful of basil and mixed it in. I added a teaspoon or so of balsamic vinegar and tossed in the bread cubes. I tossed and served the two of us. This was good but I add some course salt when I served it that ended up being just a bit too much.


For the entree we had a curry from Berley's Flexitarian Table called "Lentil and Rhubarb Curry with Potatoes and Peas". I did not have the ginger or the shallots. I used all onion, oil in place of the ghee, and added a bit of prepared curry powder along with a bit of ground ginger. I doubled the red pepper flakes and upped the garlic cloves by one. I also used regular lentils in place of the french lentils and did no soaking ahead of time.

We both liked this. It did not work out as perfectly as the last time I made it but I thought it was still pretty good. I think trying to compare it to our carry out curries doesn't work since they rely so heavily on cream and fat to taste good. This is a nice healthy basic curry to make when ever you have some rhubarb around. I would say this could feed 4 if served with some bread.

Dinner - August 26, 2009

When the camera battery is low the auto-focus does not appear to work.

The first picture is a Tomato Curry. The recipe is from a cookbook that I already returned to the library. It was tasty but not what I expected. I had cooked up some yellow split peas over which I was going to serve the curry. I ended up just mixing them into the curry and calling it soup. It was a nice taste with the fresh heirloom cherry tomatoes of strange colors but anything is good with that much coconut milk.


The second recipe was the topping from Jack Bishop's recipe "Crisp Tortillas with Pattypan Squash, Eggplant, and Tomato." The recipe can be found in A year in the Vegetarian Kitchen. I did not use the tortillas or the queso fresco. I believe I doubled the rest of the recipe. This was again not what I was expecting but pretty good. The lime and chipotle chile gave the dish some variety from a regular ratatouille.

I enjoyed both dishes but I would say they have a little work to become regulars. I am giving these a taste rating of "have potential" and I really mean they have a lot of potential. Cooking up lentils, soup, and veggies separately was a lot of work so as a whole I would say this was a weekend meal but the individual dishes all have weeknight potential.