Catching Up!

Hi, my name is Mel, and I suck at blogging. (Look, Jenni! I'm back!)

Let's rewind a few months. . . I'm always a bit stressed and busy over the winter at work, but now that things are starting to wrap up for the year I'm ready to do some REAL cooking. For the past couple of months, I've gotten into the habit of really easy, fast, cheap meals. For breakfast it has been fruit, toast, maybe cereal (cold, I can't even be bothered with my usual beloved oatmeal!) Lunch has been peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti/ravioli (if I'm teaching a lot and need the fuel), and dinner is either salad, spaghetti (if I didn't have it for lunch!), pizza. . . oh, and if I REALLY want to go crazy, I'll heat up some fake chicken nuggets, make my mom's pilaf (see that recipe on this post), and cook some frozen broccoli or sugar snap peas. Yes, a three-part meal. Shocking, no? I did come up with some great salads though during this whole salad phase. I have rediscovered my love for salad in a bag, namely the Camps Elysee blend from Trader Joes that has mixed greens, radicchio, and shredded CARROTS for only $1.99. . . yeah, who wouldn't love that? So with that mix, I'll add cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper, pre-marinated and grilled tofu that just needs to be cubed (easy AND delicious. . . ), honey roasted sliced almonds, and some kind of light dressing. Mmmm!

Here's a salad that Diane and I came up with over-the-phone that I made for Easter today. I cut some cherry tomatoes in half (maybe three packages?), rinsed and pinched the skin off of two small cans of chickpeas (yes, I pinched the skin off -- because I'm crazy), one English cucumber, three scallions, a small handful of shredded carrots, chopped, a small bunch of fresh basil, a smaller bunch of fresh mint, the juice from one lemon (could've used more but that was all I had), a good drizzle of EVOO, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. It was delicious! I'm not sure how long a salad like this, pre-dressed, will last though. But hey, it might not last too long anyway!


Okay, time to blog about the rest of Easter. This requires a different post all together! Stay tuned. . .

Week 3 (Jenni): Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

This week's new recipe comes from a book my mom bought for me as a house warming present. Well, and part came from Sandra Lee.

I used my roommates grater for the carrots and zucchini, it was super easy and lots of fun. I'm realizing how much easier a food processor would make things. The recipe indicates that the food processor would have done the job in ~25 seconds. It took me nearly 25 minutes to get everything through my make-shift processor. When I was done though, it looked so yummy. My mixture was a little sticky, I feared stacking the patties on the plate, so I wrapped them each individually. I'm likely going to freeze most of them, to eat later! I cooked up a burger, and topped it with some blue cheese, it was amazing! The sweet potato fries were quick and easy, and very tasty. I used my favorite season-all seasoning to flavor them, and just let them bake for about 30 minutes.

All in all, a totally delicious Sunday evening meal.

Veggie Burgers
4 Tbsp evoo
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large carrots, grated
2 medium zucchini, grated
1 16-ounce can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 Tbsp crunchy natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat bread crumbs
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp curry powder*
1 tsp mixed herbs*
1 egg, beaten


Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, and zucchini, and saute about 5 minutes, until softened. Take off heat, and set aside.

Place garbanzo beans, peanut butter, breadcrumbs, parsley, curry powder, mixed herbs, and egg in a food processor.*** Process for about 20 seconds, or until garbanzo beans are broken up and all ingredients combined. Add the onion mixture and process for another 5 seconds - do not overprocess.

Form 8 patties, and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes. To cook, heat 2 Tbsp of evoo in a skillet, and cook about 4 minutes on each side.


*I did not have curry powder, I used some mixture of creole seasoning instead.
**I did not have mixed herbs, persay, so I used a dash each of oregano, dill weed, rosemary, thyme
***I do not have a food processor, so I cycled everything through my immersion blender/chopped apparatus. It was tedious and long. A food processor would have been easier.

something out of nothing

One of the best things that has come from moving into a house with two great roommates, is the company to eat dinner with. Most nights we eat together. Sometimes not the same thing, but we eat at the same time, and it's fun! A few nights a week we'll either all cook something, or one of us cooks something for everyone.

A special bonus is that one of my roommates in particular is always quite pleased to just throw whatever random ingredients we have into a pot and hope it comes out delicious. On Sunday, we had some guacamole and pineapple salsa left over from a study session I hosted, and so it appeared that Mexican was on the docket for the evening. She suggested quesadillas, and who was I to protest? Quesadillas it was - but with what vegetables? We had...yellow squash. So, yellow squash quesadillas with guacamole and pineapple salsa it was. And, they were delicious.

Similarly, last night I had some peppers that needed to be used - best way to deal with that, stuffed peppers. I used to stuff them with ground turkey, but in my less meaty phase I've also stuffed them with white beans, tomatoes and lemon peel. I had none of that last night. So, we did up some brown rice, black beans, taco seasonings, chopped grape tomatoes and topped each one off with some shredded mozzerella.

I must say, using whatever we have on hand has been working out quite nicely for us!

This however, does not count as my Recipe Challenge 2009 - stay tuned for that adventure tonight.

hold the cheese, please

It's no big secret, I love cheese. I put it on everything, most meals I cook include some form of cheese, and often times I'll just eat cheese slices as a snack. Totally delicious? yes. Healthy? no. My definition of a meal has morphed into "must include cheese" and I've made a conscious decision to try and change that back to something more normal.

The other night, an impromptu get-together to decorate my christmas tree resulted in our making dinner as well.  I had some veggies we needed to use and ry-guy had some chicken to bring, so we decided on a simple rainbow stir-fry.  It ended up being quite good.  I had some broccoli, a yellow squash, red pepper, and red onion (which really look purple).  We cut all of these up and put them in a big bowl with some marinade. Meanwhile, we attempted to thaw the frozen solid chicken breasts - first in a pan of water until mostly soft, and then some in the microwave. By the time the chicken was thawed enough to be cut up we were starving, so I tossed it in the bowl with the veggie marinade, and then threw the chicken only (yes, I had to pick through the bowl to find it all) into the frying pan. When it was mostly cooked I threw in the veggies, and started the rice (of the Jasmine variety). It was a deliciously colorful meal, without any cheese in sight.

This afternoon I was looking for something to eat, and I decided to make a pasta primevera. The same veggies (minus the yellow squash) plus some oregano, thyme, cracked black pepper, and a can of tomato sauce gave me another colorful cheeseless meal - just as tasty!!

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II -- Boston!

1:46pm - I'm waiting for my rice to come to a boil. My oil is heating up in the wok. Must run!

1:50pm - I'm cooking up the green curry paste and it smells amazing! I added the coconut milk (the rest of the can that I didn't use IN the paste) and then realized if it ends up too spicy I'm out of luck. . . no more coconut milk to cool it down! Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Oh, and I used two chilli peppers of the optional one to three.

1:54pm - I have ten minutes now, phew! The rice is cooking away. The tofu is cooking with the curry paste, coconut milk, and a medium pinch of shredded kaffir lime leaves. . . ?

2:01pm - I'm starving.

2:15 - I must rescue my frozen broccoli from the microwave and check on the already cooking yam, red bell pepper, carrots, and cauliflower!

2:19pm - Added the snow peas.

2:22pm - Pouring a glass of wine that's left over from Jenni's Chocolate and Red Wine Cupcake recipe that I whipped up this morning for a friend's party tonight. Adding the broccoli.

2:27pm - I tried the sauce and luckily it's not too spicy! I did add a little more soy sauce though because it was lacking saltiness -- just a bit.

2:59pm - I'm ready to eat when you are, Jenni!

3:18pm - Eating! Oh my. This is really quite delicious! I think it's still lacking in the saltiness department, but it's okay because it's so flavorful. I'm going to take my plate into the TV room and devour this yumminess while watching yesterday's Barefoot Contessa. More on her tomorrow. . . she's doing a book signing in Natick that I'm going to! :o

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II - Texas.

All times reported herein are in Central Standard Time!

12:02pm - I've begun draining the tofu, it's weird.  I've got it on some paper towels and sandwiched between two cutting boards with some cook books on top.  There is so much water coming out.  Is this what's supposed to happen?!  I might be ruining this before I even really begin.

12:08pm - mmm, lemongrass!  This is also my first experience with this, and wow - it smells amazing.  Almost as good as lemon pledge.  Who knew.  I'm sans food processor, so I've begun putting all my paste in

gredients into a bowl, and will cycle it through the hand-held chopper I

 do have.  

12:18pm - thanks to the gloves I "borrowed" from the whole foods spice section, I will not be having jalepeno hands!  In go the chillies (or chilli!)

12:20pm - "one small onion", mine was large.  I wanted to use only half, but even that seemed like too much.  I didn't use the whole half.  We'll see.

12:36pm  - so many firsts.  I've never used ginger either.  But lemongrass and ginger may be my two new favorite ingredients.  This smells good, and all I've done is chop so far.

12:37pm - my one loose cup of coriander leaves and stems is in, and it's what I call cilantro.

  The last thing to go in the paste...my interpretation of "kaffir lime leaves", which will include some zest and some juice from a kaffir lime.

12:53pm - the gre

en curry paste is made.  I managed to cycle it all through the hand chopper, and then get it all back in at one time for a final spin!  smells good.  I must pause now to run and get some rice (oops!) and make a few other arrangements for the study session happening promptly at 3pm.

1:18pm - we're back.  Rice is on.  Frying pan is heating up.  I am also sans wok, so I'll be using a large frying pan.  I guess this is the Green Curry Tofu without all appropriate kitchen appliances version!!

1:32pm - I'm impressed really, it's an hour and a half (holy god) after I started and I am just not suffering my first cooking induced injury.  I mean, I've used so many knives, gloves, juggled bottles - this is a miracle.  When adding my "kaffir lime leaves" (aka, more zest and juice) to the frying pan I dropped the lime and grated my knuckle.  awesome!  

1:39pm - I heeded Mel's advice, and I stirred completely the paste and coconut milk before adding the tofu (so as 

not to have to stir it too much).  also, I cut my tofu a bit larger than bit sized, in case it began to fall apart it would still be big enough.  We'll see.  ten minutes on.

1:50pm - I've officially added too much stuff already.  I put in my red bell pepper (or one and a half, they were small) and I used eggplant instead of yams.  The frying pan is getting full.  I still have broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, and baby corn to add.  Maybe I'll remove some of the larger eggplants chunks.  Ten more minutes!

2:01pm - broccoli (is for lovers), cauliflower, snow peas and baby corn added to the mix!  4 or so more minutes...

2:06pm - ten minutes until taste test!

2:18pm - Mmmmm!  This is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

Where did all the spinach go?

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Boston Organics, and it's the best thing ever. I'm not going to get into the details right now, but you can read all about it on their web site. The part I like the most is the whole surprise factor -- you get whatever is in season and available, including produce that you wouldn't normally pick out yourself in a store. Last week, among many beautiful other fruits and vegetables, I got a whole bunch of gorgeous spinach. That's right, GORGEOUS SPINACH. Now you may be saying to yourself, But Melanie, spinach isn't all that unusual, so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the only spinach I buy is baby spinach (for salads or this) or frozen chopped spinach (for lasagna, this, or just to cook up because it's cheap). Since my box came on Thursday, I have all of this food and decided that I should prioritize. I figured the spinach might not last as long as the cauliflower, carrots, and other items, so I used that first. I sauteed lots of garlic in olive oil first, then less than a minute later, started rough chopping the spinach and adding it to the pan, along with salt and pepper. While it was cooking, I drained and rinsed a can of chickpeas, and added it to the pan as well. I reheated some pilaf I had made a couple of days ago, and there you have it. . . a delicious lunch. I just wish there were more of it. There was SO MUCH spinach (before I cooked it. . . ) that it barely fit in my saute pan! So after I cooked it, it was a little disappointing (yet expected, but still. . . quite sad). But let me tell you, the little spinach that was there was SO tender and wonderful. Mmmmmmm!

Chicken-Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese

A schoolfriend of mine has recently gotten a subscription to Cooking Light, so on Thursday before our kickball game she invited me over for dinner.  She made this great tasting salad with tomatoes, arugula, peppers, red onion, basil, oregano, grilled chicken and orzo.  She did a great job, although it was both of our first time with Orzo, so we made it up a little.  It was a delicious dinner, and definitely something I can't wait to make again.

Unfortunately, we lost miserably.  Although I don't think it can be blamed on the salad.

B is for Burrito

Are you sitting down?  I cooked something tonight!  Granted it was just a simple burrito (or two....or three....) but damn if it wasn't good.  And as I cooked it I thought, you know who should hear about this??  M and M!

My burritos are pretty simple, but I swear there are two secrets that make them all the better.  First I cook some rice, usually brown boil-in-bag rice.  When that's done I put it in a pot with a can of black beans, mix it up and leave it on a low burner.  In a skillet I grill up some veggies, tonight I used a red and green pepper, yellow squash and eggplant.  Here is secret number 1, I cut the veggies rather large to grill them.  Tonight I used some avocado oil instead of evoo (because I had it) and then I sprinkle on some store bought Burrito seasoning.  Once the veggies are grilled, I scoop some out onto a cutting board and then I chop them up small.  I find that grilling them bigger keeps in some more flavors, and then chopping them small helps make them fit in the burrito.  

I take my tortilla and put on some sliced cheese, tonight it was colby jack.  Then a scoop of rice-bean mix, and some chopped veggies on top.  Here the key is to pile things up right along the center of the tortilla.  Now to roll it, followed by secret number 2.  First I fold in two ends, say the right and left sides, only a little.  Now I start to roll from bottom to top - be forceful, get all that filling inside, and keep watching the ends making sure they are tucked inside.  Secret number 2 is to immediately wrap it in aluminum foil and pop that sucker into a pre-heated 300 degree oven.  This allows the cheese to melt, everything to get warm and toasty, and the burrito is less likely to come unrolled when you go to eat it.  Totally simple, totally delish!  

Let's go Red Sox!

things I've "cooked" in the past two weeks

boil-in-bag brown rice

frozen lima beans

frozen peas

frozen corn

peanut butter toast

turkey and cheese sandwich

marinaded chicken with frozen snap peas

cereal*

*It's a sad life when cereal makes the list of things I've cooked.

Pizza! Pizza!

While lounging at the pool last Saturday I was craving pizza, and I decided I'd make myself one for dinner. Saturday morphed into Wednesday - but I finally made the pizza. Because I had so many days to dream about it, I went all out. Introducing my white pesto sauce pizza with asparagus, tomatoes and mozzarella!

First, we'll start with the dough. I found a recipe for Parmesan Pizza dough, and I used that. First you combine one yeast packet, a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a cup of hot water. Stir it up until it's all dissolved and let it sit for 5 minutes. It will become foamy, this is good. Then add in 1 1/2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt, and stir it together. Continue adding flour by the quarter cup (until you've reached 2 3/4 total), mixing with hands each time to incorporate the newly added flour. Then, add in a half a cup of grated parmesan. Now for the fun, flour a clean surface and knead the dough. You want to make it smooth and uniform. It may still be a bit 'tacky' which is fine. Drop a tablespoon of oil in a bowl, and flip the dough through that, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warmish place (I use the top of my preheating oven) for an hour and a half. When it's done punch it down - literally - and roll it out. The recipe I read suggested to put corn meal on the pan before baking. I did this, but I'm not sure why!

While this was rising I roasted some garlic. I sliced the tops off of 4 heads of garlic, this proved to be too many, I could have gotten by with 2! Pour a bit of evoo on the cut end, sprinkle some salt and pepper and place cut-end down on an aluminum foil covered pan. I roasted for about an hour, at 350. It might have been too long, they were mushy - but since I don't have a food processor the mush was actually better.

The sauce started with a roux, two tablespoons each of butter and flour. A cup of milk (I used whole!) Heat and stir, heat and stir, until it thickens. Then I added in a few scoopfuls of pesto (not made from scratch, but purchased!) and I added about half of my garlic mush. Stir, stir, stir, heat, thicken.

When the dough was done and punched I rolled it out (by hand, for lack of rolling pin) and made a pizza crust. In retrospect, I made it too thick. I should have made a bigger pizza or used only part of the dough. Practice makes perfect. I poured the sauce on. Now I spread out some pre-sliced mozzarella balls, sliced roma tomatoes, and asparagus tips.

Because the crust was thick it took longer in the oven, maybe 20 minutes at 350. But, it was delish (and will be tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after!)

Sometimes bland is good. . . ?

This was dinner the other night. I don't know. Sometimes bland is good. I started the rice first, because I learned that lesson recently. . . it's always going to take longer than the vegetables (at least for me it does). So the rice was just plain old jasmine, that I cooked in water and added just a little bit of salt to.

I took out my large saute pan (which by the way I LOVE and use all the time) for the vegetables. I used a combination of canola and toasted sesame oil. As I sauted the onion and multiple cloves of garlic with salt and pepper, I microwaved the broccoli and chopped spinach. It's just been easier for me to keep (and afford) frozen vegetables in the house than fresh. Don't get me wrong though, I d still buy fresh vegetables -- I guess I'm just using more of a mix lately. I accidentally let the onion and garlic go a little too long, but it ended up adding some good, sweet flavor to the otherwise ridiculously boring dish. I then added some chopped green bell pepper and celery. It was supposed to be red bell pepper, you know, so my whole dinner wasn't green and white, but I cut into that pepper and it just wasn't happening on the inside. I hate when that happens. It was from Whole Foods too! Whatever. So once the frozen vegetables were mostly warmed through, I added them to the pan, along with some frozen edamame (that I first ran under some hot water in a small mesh strainer).

Okay, I'm not going to lie. I tried to make my own sweet and sour sauce. . . with organic ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, and a little orange marmalade. Sounds gross? It was AWFUL. I luckily tasted it before adding it to all of the vegetables. Instead, I had just about a teaspoon maybe of soy sauce left, so I used that. It added just enough flavor. And that was my quick weeknight meal. I did it all in under thirty minutes, and you know who would be proud of that.

Pasta Salad. . . with BROCCOLI!

I've been making pasta salad the same old boring way for YEARS. It's the same way my sister Diane makes it, which is the same way my mom makes it, which is the same way that HER mom makes it. It's not even Armenian! Usually when all of us make the same thing the same way, it's because there's history. But this is pasta salad we're talking about. It's not rocket science.

So here's what the "old" recipe included: tri-colored rotini, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, atrichoke hearts, black olives, cubed cheddar cheese, and Wish-Bone Italian Robusto dressing. There could be some slight variations, but that's pretty much it. Now I kept some of the old, but wanted to update it because it's not as healthy as it could be. . . plus, WHERE'S THE BROCCOLI?! So my new and improved version includes the following: Barilla Plus rotini, tomatoes, green pepper, celery, broccoli (frozen and thawed, because as much as I ADORE broccoli I kind of can't stand it raw. . . ), low fat cheddar cheese (yes, Michelle, I know. . . ), and Annie's Tuscany Italian Dressing. I used a whole bottle of the dressing, which actually didn't seem like enough (liquid or flavor), so I also added some EVOO, the juice from half a lemon, salt, and pepper. It's pretty good, as far as pasta salad goes anyway.

Big Salad

Part of my May Resolutions involve not just eating better, but EATING. Like taking the time to sit and make myself something good for dinner, or lunch. For far too long I've been surviving (questionable) on special k red berries, graham crackers and yogurt. Sounds appetizing?!

So tonight I made a variation of my favorite salad recipe. It's a recipe that my mom started making years ago at Christmas, I believe it's called a Christmas Salad. I love it, but also crave it in the summer. I'd made an addition a few years back, including avocados (which, are also for lovers!) and they are now a permanent addition to my "Christmas Salad". Tonight, for the first time, I added some chicken - to make it more meal like, give me some protein, and hopefully stave off my recent ice cream cravings. And, it was...delicious.

The Salad includes baby spinach and butter lettuce (or Boston lettuce, or whatever really), sliced strawberries, balled honeydew melon, and Gouda or Edam cheese, and now, avocado. The dressing is a Lime Ginger dressing made with 1/2 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup honey, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon of ground ginger. Tonight, I made some extra dressing and marinaded a few chicken strips in it for a short while and then grilled the chicken. Everything tossed together, and viola - dinner is served. Resolution sustained.

true confessions of a late-twenties drama queen

About a year and a half ago I started making guacamole. Last summer it was my staple bring-this-to-cookout food. I made it a few times, and people liked it. Some people requested it. I then also began to make Mango Salsa with it. So, Guacamole and Mango Salsa went with me to every party, BBQ, what-have-you. Then I moved to Texas. Where we have cookouts and BBQs year round, where Guacamole and Mango Salsa fits in to every conceivable meal plan. And, I've become "famous" for my guacamole. I joke that my friend Ryan would stop being friends with me if I showed up without guacamole - and while I've showed up empty handed a few times, I do wonder if it's just the hope of more that keeps him around. Yesterday I showed up at a pool party, with Guac and Mango Salsa in tow, and was greeted with shouts of "Oh, give me some of that sweet, sweet guacamole" and "Quick, I'm going to tear that thing open and have my way with it" - all this from people who have eaten it once! When I was packing up ready to leave people were huddled around the left over mango salsa (the guac had disappeared hours ago) and I had to fight them for my bowl back - agreeing to stay a few extra minutes while they all but licked the bowl. And today, I've received two emails telling me how good it was.

All these compliments, I try to be modest and just smile and say thank you - all the while hiding my fraud-status. I do not lace this with intoxicating drugs, and these people have not been hypnotized, and I do not know what they think is so amazing about this stuff. But, for you, I'm going to FINALLY share my secret. Here is how I make Guacamole and Mango Salsa.

*about 5 or 6 avocados
*one large, or two small mangoes
*two containers of mild pico de gallo (fresh from the grocery store, usually in the produce section. I used to use this, but in TX I use a different brand)
*one container of medium pico de gallo
*one small lime
*fresh mint, if I feel like it.

In one bowl I combine all the containers of pico de gallo, this is to let it sit together and the flavors to have more time to marry. (ohh, good word!) Also, this is in case my company shows up before I'm done - and the first thing in the trash is any evidence of store bought ingredients! Then I slice the avocados in half and squeeze the guts into a bowl. Using a potato masher I smash them up. Now I add in about half of the pico de gallo, slowly, until it looks like about the right combination of green and red. Squeeze the juice from half a lime into it, cover it up, and put it in the fridge. Then I cube up the mangoes. I've not yet figured these out - there is no pit, but something hard is in the center. I end up just slicing weird shapes off the sides until I can't go anymore, and I often feel like I am wasting a lot of mango. Once it's all cubed, I throw that in the bowl with the rest of the pico de gallo. Squeeze in the juice of the other lime half, and chop up some fresh mint (if i feel like it) and throw it on top. This gets covered and put in the fridge too, right up until you're ready to go!

And there you have it, my "world" famous, to die for, there must be drugs in this, guacamole and mango salsa. Hey, if Sandra Lee can do it, so can I!

Sometimes a plate of roasted asparagus doused in lemon juice hits the spot. Tonight was one of those nights. Fifteen days until my local farmers markets open up for the season, and I cannot wait.