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Archive for the ‘Yum’ Category

Random Gratin

Again, way behind. This was quite a while ago. 

For a really wonderful veggie meal that makes amazing leftovers for several nights, uses up random vegetables in the fridge, and provides a really comfort-food level of satisfaction, this gratin is a great choice.

I started with a couple different recipes, and can’t remember exactly what I ended up doing (the danger of waiting months to post these things).  The veggies used: potatoes, onions, sunchoke (jerusalem artichokes), carrots and zucchini. 

They all got sliced thin and layered (with cheese).  Some liquid (a milk mixture, I’m sure) gets poured down through the veggies, and then it’s all topped with a seasoned breadcrumb mix.  I’m pretty sure I just used a basic gratin recipe from Better Homes & Gardens and switched up the vegetables based on what I had.  Keep in mind that some veggies that you might add (zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant?) might provide more  liquid, while root veggies like potatoes, carrots, etc. will soak up more liquid….adjust the amount of milk/broth/liquid accordingly.  Bake it up until everything is tender and cooked through.  We had this a couple times as a whole meal and it was really satisfying.  We also enjoyed it as a side (and I took some to work for lunches as well).  Wonderful all around.  And a great way to get random vegetables out of your fridge.

Although it doesn’t really dish up so well, you can see the pretty layers at least a little bit…

waffles and coffee

This is so ridiculously late it’s not funny at all.  For Christmas, part of my present to Matt was some fun kitchen stuff…a waffle maker, coffee grinder and a sampler of Vermont Maple Syrup! This called for a taste test!

I think we preferred one of the middle syrups, but can’t remember which for sure.

Santana was intrigued (as she always is when we’re eating at the table), and was sporting her new holiday sweater & fancy Hawaiian collar that she got in her stocking! 

The coffee was an anniversary surprise from Matt’s favorite coffee place in Seattle…Caffe Vita.  Now two and a half months later, we’ve just finished the first bag (Caffe Luna blend), so we’ll be starting the Holiday Blend in March.

The waffles we made came from AB’s I’m Just Here for More Food, and were spectacular.  Instead of paring down the recipe, we made about 18 waffles and froze the 12 or so that we didn’t eat.  They have been wonderful homemade frozen waffles ever since then.  They were thin and crispy and very very tasty.  Not your typical waffle batter, but very delicious and froze really well.  Here is our gigantic stack.

Matt loves his coffee and waffles!

Santana may or may not have had a bite of waffle.  We’ll never know!

Celebrations!

I went a little crazy last week baking all day on the President’s Day holiday…the prettiest creation? Mardi Gras cupcakes!! The frosting is wonderful cream cheese frosting from a can, but I made the cupcakes from scratch! Fun! It was a simple yellow cake recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.  Fairly easy (would have been easier with a stand mixer!) and very tasty.   I went a little crazy with the frosting colors and played around for a bit…the batch made two dozen, so by the time Matt got home from work, the kitchen was covered in cupcakes and the other food I’d been working on (chili, mac & cheese, apple bars). Very exciting!

Why all the excitement??? Big huge enormous wonderful news!

Matt proposed!!!! AHHH!! So, it’s been almost 2 weeks since then, but it happened on 2/13 and I am still sort of reeling.  We aren’t in any hurry to start planning, but are really enjoying the love….lots of love to go around.  Plus, Santana is so happy! Look at her excitement:

Of course, we put the ring on the pup…she was not very happy about this, but it made for a funny picture: 

Here’s the ring on me 🙂

 

I LOVE it! The diamond was a gift from my grandmother for my undergrad graduation and it means a lot to me that we could take that diamond and get it set in the perfect ring.  Especially with someone I’m so crazy about. LOVELOVELOVE 🙂

Vegetable Chickpea Curry

In attempts to eat sans meat for weeknight dinners, we’ve really come to appreciate non-American cuisines.  Almost any other country/region’s cuisine can easily be made deliciously vegetarian.  This meal was one we made on a non-vegetarian night, but the leftovers from the veggie curry made a vegetarian-friendly dinner a couple nights later.  

Vegetable Chickpea Curry

This recipe comes mostly courtesy of Cooking Light (I halved the recipe to fit in our smaller crock pot and mistakenly forgot to halve the liquid portion…solved this with some creative straining and re-seasoning).

1/2  tablespoon  olive oil

Small chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2  tablespoon  curry powder

1/2  teaspoon  brown sugar

1/2  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger

1  minced garlic clove

1  serrano chile, seeded and minced

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 potato, peeled and chopped 

Small green bell pepper, diced

1/2  cup  (1-inch) cut green beans

1/4  teaspoon  salt

1/8  teaspoon  black pepper

1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper (or more for spice)

1/2 can diced tomatoes, undrained

7oz. vegetable broth

1 1/2  cups  fresh baby spinach

1/2  cup  light coconut milk

1. Sauté onion and carrot in olive oil for a few minutes until tender. Add seasonings (curry powder through serrano) and cook for another minute.
2. Toss all of this into the crock pot, add everything else, through the broth.
3. Cook on low for 10-11 hours (Cooking Light says High for 6 hours, but I had more time to work with).
4. Add spinach and coconut milk and heat until spinach wilts.  This can sit and stew on Warm for a while until you’re ready to eat.

We used some chicken breast and a jar of Tikka Masala sauce from Whole Foods to go with this.  Plus some basmati rice and whole wheat naan. 

This was really satisfying as a whole meal, and the curry was much more enjoyable as leftovers.  The flavors build up and the vegetables really absorb the curry to make a delicious dinner all on its own.

Meat-Free Mal & Matt?

Matt and I are experimenting.  Our lunches are pretty much the same thing throughout the week—he takes a sandwich or a wrap with deli meat along with a snack of some sort, I take leftovers from the weekend.  On the weekends we like to indulge in lots of meat…for example, this past weekend we managed to eat two meats that come from a pig, one that comes from a cow, and one that comes from a bird.  It was delicious, but also very overwhelming.  It will make for wonderful leftover lunches throughout the week, and I had a wonderful time cooking up some new recipes and some old favorites.  However, meat can be expensive…especially if you are trying to purchase meat of any decent quality…and I find that the more meat we put in a dish, the less veggies we end up consuming during the meal. 

With our CSA box coming every other week and random cravings for vegetables lately, we came to the conclusion that we’d try to take our Monday-Friday dinners meat-free.  We made it through week one and are just starting week two.  The first week was pretty easy, since we had a crockpot full of sweet potato soup leftover to start us off on Monday, and we went out for Thai on Tuesday (Thai is one of the easiest cuisines to go meat free with).  Thursday, our planned risotto was a bust when I was off my feet with a lingering back pain and really just wanted a big plate of stir fried veggies…Buddhist Tofu from the Chinese place across the street it was (so delicious and simple!). 

However, I imagine it will get a little more challenging in the coming weeks.  To prepare for this, we started a list of things that we love that can easily be meat free. We have a long list already…and most of the things so far didn’t even come off of that list! One stipulation: we aren’t going to make meaty things with meat-like products….the point of this experiment is for us to eat more veggies, not to eat more fake meat.

This is a dish we actually made a couple weeks ago, but I just realized that it’s not one that’s on our list…adding it now!  I first made this before Christmas for a couple friends and it might be the new favorite Italian dish in my repertoire.   Special thanks to our Kentucky friends Bob & Shannon, who sent us two jars of homemade marinara sauce.  AMAZING.  We still have one left because I want to save it as long as possible.  We shot through the first one with this dish and then a mini-meatball sub and salad dinner a couple nights later. 

Zucchini Parm for Two

• 1 large zucchini sliced lengthwise into four strips
• 2 Tb flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• marinara sauce
• a handful of your favorite italian cheese

1. Heat 1/4 inch vegetable oil in a deep pot over medium heat
2. Bread each slice of zucchini by dusting in flour, dipping in egg white and then dredging in breadcrumbs (you could also use cornmeal and it would probably be amazing)
3. Fry in hot oil, about 2-4 minutes per side, depending on heat of oil and thickness of zucchini.  Flip when crust in deep brown in color.
4. Drain on paper towels.
5. Place zucchini slices in a small baking dish in one layer.
6. Top with marinara and cheese.
7. Broil or bake until sauce and cheese are hot and bubbly.

I served with roasted broccoli and shallots and some orzo tossed in some additional marinara (which I was eating right out of the pan while waiting for the zucchini to fry…very classy).

This is ridiculously easy and made a fun and easy dish to serve to company.

Love it.