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 (Mel): Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

This is definitely a plan-ahead kind of meal. With a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar to caramelize, these tomatoes roasted up quite nicely! They did take two hours in the oven, but let me tell you, it was totally worth it. I'm eager to try this recipe again with maybe other vegetables too. Mmmmmm!!! I don't think I've ever tasted tomatoes like this before. It was just delicious!

So as you can see in the recipe, all you do after the tomatoes are done is let them cool, add the cheese and basil, drizzle with olive oil, shake on a little salt and pepper, and you're all set to dig in and enjoy! I had it for dinner with some left-over mashed potatoes with peas. Oh Ina, you almost never disappoint me! Yes, ALMOST never. . . I wasn't too impressed with her Roasted Potato Leek Soup but hey, no one's perfect. I've forgiven her.

Enjoy the salad! I sure did!

The Tofu Chronicles, Part 1

I'm calling this Part 1, not because there are currently more parts to the story, but because I'm hoping that the future will hold more exciting tofu chronicles for me to share with you. . . so stay tuned.

Once in a while, I get inspired to experiment with tofu. I did so recently, for Jenni! :) My usual attempts don't often pan out very well, typically asking myself why I didn't order takeout instead, letting the professionals cook it for me. This attempt however was pretty good, so here you go.

I've tried marinating, baking, and stir frying tofu. No matter what, it still tastes like tofu. . . which isn't really a GOOD taste, but when mixed with other vegetables, seems to suffice and definitely make me happy because I'm getting a little protein -- so I suck it up and eat. This time, I decided to pretend the tofu was a vegetable.

I bought extra firm tofu, pressed it with a bunch of paper towels to get some of the water out, then cut it up in the thin-ish pieces you see in the picture. I then heated up a medium frying pan with a little bit of EVOO (the more flavor the better when it comes to tofu, right?) and then added the tofu, which I sprinkled rather generously with salt and pepper. I let this sit in the bubbling oil (almost enough to cover the pan completely, but lightly) for a while. . . not sure how long. When it got this nice golden color, I flipped each one (that was fun -- I ended up using tongs after getting frustrated with my spatula) and then added more salt and pepper, letting the other side golden up as well. Once done, I took them out and let them sit on paper towels to drain a bit. It was an interesting texture. . . somewhat crisp on the outside yet not the gushy ickiness tofu typically has on the inside. It was. . . cooked? It tasted okay on its own too. But it was MUCH BETTER tossed in a simple garden salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. I drizzled my favorite dressing on top (365 Balsamic Vinaigrette, the one sold in the refrigerated section -- there are two actually). It was a good dinner!

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.