Category Archives: Food

by

Quinoa Tacos (aka my newest obsession)

I have a new obsession. Yes, I get obsessed a lot with food, good food, but these are taking over my brain. Quinoa tacos. I found this recipe at a new favorite cooking blog – Minimalist Baker. Dana is pretty much a genius as everything I’ve made from her blog has been amazing. General Tso’s tofu – check. Pina Colada popsicles – check. This quinoa taco stuff … holy cow!

This started out as just another experiment and now I’m trying to figure out all the ways I can make quinoa replace meat. Possibly sloppy joes or a version of BBQ pork sandwiches? (Don’t worry, Dad, I’m still making regular pulled pork this weekend.) Bob was on board with trying it, although he did sound a tiny bit skeptical when I first mentioned it. But … I’ll say this for the man, he is willing to let me try crazy stuff so long as I am willing to admit when it doesn’t work. Fair deal I think.

So here is what I did. You could just follow the recipe from Minimalist Baker, but here you go –

I took two cups of quinoa (leftover from another meal) and added a half cup of the double roasted salsa. I love Rick Bayless and think he’s amazing, so when I do buy jarred salsa, I go to him. The double roasted tomato is smoky and spicy so I think it adds a lot to the quinoa here. I also used about 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (because I accidentally dumped it), 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 2 teaspoons cumin and chili powder, little bit of salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil. I mixed well and spread it on a parchment lined baking sheet and baked it for 25 minutes.

While this baked, I grated some leftover cheese from my favorite cheese shop. I will fully admit, that when it comes to cheese, I think high quality cheese without fillers is really important. Yes, its more expensive, but trust me on this – this is not the processed cheese product of childhood. (Although I do have a soft spot for processed cheese product.) I went with an alpine style cheese because it’s what I had on hand. Any hard cheese will do, but think stronger cheeses like cheddar or Gruyère or an alpine. For the salsa, I went with my favorite combination – tomato, red onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt. That’s it. Chop the tomato and onion to desired sizes, pick and chop a few cilantro leaves. Squeeze half a lime over the whole thing, sprinkle a little salt on it and let it sit while the quinoa bakes.

For the shells, I went with conventional white corn taco shells. Yes, I could have made my own or used soft shells, but I was going for childhood memory tacos, so hard corn shells.

img_1505-1

These were so good, I think I like them better than the real meat stuff. Yes, I’m weird, but trust me – these are so good I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t like them. Spice and heat can be altered with the type of salsa you use and the amount of chili added. But really, this is totally great. I even made a taco salad the next day – lettuce, tomato, onion, the quinoa, a few crumbled corn chips and a cilantro lime dressing. How was that …. there were two clean plates by the end of lunch and I’m probably making this again in a week. And possibly more often than that.

img_1506

by

Comfort

I should mention that it has rained here this past week. A lot. We had the tropical storm come through that made mushrooms grow in my backyard. Big mushrooms. Larger than my foot mushrooms. Even the cats didn’t want anything to do with these mushrooms.

But, with all of the rain, my basil was happy. Happy and getting very big, so I decided to make one of my all time favorite (summer) comfort food dishes – pesto. I took the basil from my herb box – the one Leia doesn’t sleep in so I have some herbs – and made a garlicky pesto with hazelnuts. I had some beautiful parmigiana from our last cheese box, so I used that to make a bright and fresh pesto.

I also made one of my favorite breakfast comfort foods this week – waffles. Real, buttermilk waffles. Bob loves these and Sunday morning, we decided that waffles were in order. I *may* have overfilled the waffle iron once, but it didn’t matter – it was what came out of the waffle iron that was important. Crispy outside, tangy, buttermilk waffles.

None of this was very fancy, and none of it was particularly exciting, but it worked this week. We are still getting use to not having Jessie around. I’m still watching where I step and looking for her when I come home. The cats have been a big help, although I do get a little teary-eyed when it comes to feeding them dinner. Mom compared it to the kids going to kindergarten or off to college – it just feels different and it takes time to adjust.

But in the meantime, I still have the cats, Bob, school, work, the house and a possible trip to keep me occupied. And, hopefully, some new and interesting foods to experiment with this summer.

 

by

General Tso’s Tofu

One of the few things I REALLY miss about living in Jersey is the Chinese take out. Everywhere I lived in that state, even in the middle of no where growing up, there was decent to good Chinese take out. Florida? Not so much. We’ve tried a few places over the years, but for whatever reason, either the food isn’t good, the restaurant closes, or both, we just don’t have good Chinese take out here.  So whenever I want vegetarian comfort food, I go for Indian, but it’s not the same. There is nothing like a good General Tso’s.

I found a recipe on-line that looked interesting. Tofu instead of chicken? Check. Ingredients that I can actually get? Check. Reasonable cooking time and method? Check and check. So .. why not try it. And the best part – when making this at home, I can actually get rid of the broccoli and substitute snow peas! /squee!

IMG_1404

OK – how did this do? I bought the tofu already cubed, thinking this is one less step for me. I used about half the contained (16 oz. container, so 8 oz. tofu) but didn’t change the sauce portion. I like the sauce – its the best part!

IMG_1405

I marinated the tofu, which isn’t something I normally do. Tofu gets its flavor from the sauces, not from any marinade – or so I thought. This one may have proven me wrong. The tofu was just a touch spicy; not hot or burning, but enough that you knew there was some flavor there. The marinade also helped when I added the cornstarch to make the paste like coating. Full disclosure – at this stage, I honestly thought we would be ordering pizza for dinner. It looked gloopy and sticky and just awful, but it did match the description in the recipe, so I kept going. I am so glad I did.

That horrible sludge on the tofu in the marinade bag makes a perfectly crispy coating when fried. I mean beautiful. It crisps, turns golden in color and the tofu inside stays moist and silky. I was surprised. Really surprised.

IMG_1406

I stirred together the Thai Chili’s (thank you to the Asian market on the way home!!)  and the snow peas and scallions also thinking this isn’t going to work, but it did. I had fresh chili’s, and we didn’t eat them, but they did impart a nice heat (not too much) to the dish. Bob did get one bite on a snow pea, so I know they transferred the flavor and heat as expected. I added back in the tofu and tossed in the sauce. The sauce gelled really fast. It was still kind of a sauce, but it clung (which it should do) to everything. The problem for me was that there wasn’t any sauce not clinging to vegetables and tofu to pour on the rice.

But the flavors were pretty perfect. Both Bob and I were actually impressed with this dish. It tasted like *good* Chinese takeout and had a perfect consistency for the tofu. Best part – it was super simple to make and I now have everything on hand. (I still have leftover Thai chili’s, so I’m planning to dry them for future use.) Start to finish this was about 25 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight dinner or even a lazy day lunch. The only thing I’m changing is the cornstarch in the sauce – I’m definitely cutting that in half. While I think it was meant to cling to everything, I really wanted sauce on my rice.

Recipe:

I used the recipe from Minimalist Baker pretty much straight through. I reduced the tofu to about 8 ounces, and changed out broccoli for snow peas. For soy sauce, I used the regular soy sauce I have in the fridge – it might be tamari, but I’m not sure. When the recipe calls for something or maple syrup, I went with the maple since I have that on hand and don’t have the other sugars. I used toasted sesame oil and regular canola oil. I was out of ginger, so I used a tiny bit of dried ginger and it worked fine – maybe an eighth of a teaspoon. The next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am cutting the cornstarch in the sauce to one teaspoon, but otherwise, doing it the same way.

 

by

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

Sometimes you just want a cookie.

Ok, maybe not everyone gets that craving, but I do. It’s not often – usually I want cake or vegetables – but sometimes I want cookies. I got that craving this weekend, and I was too lazy to go to the grocery store, so I made peanut butter chocolate cookies.

IMG_1394

Yes, I realize there is some irony that I was too lazy to go to the grocery store, but not too lazy to actually make cookies. To me, the store just seems like more effort.

IMG_1394

I had to work with what I had (see above about the grocery) so I went with a basic peanut butter cookie. To that I added chopped German chocolate (again, had on hand) and made peanut butter cookies. These  actually came out really well – they are like the perfect cookie. Sweet and salty and just a touch goo-y.

IMG_1395

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 ounces German Chocolate – chopped

Cream together the butter and peanut butter. Add the sugars and mix well. Add egg, flour, soda, salt and baking powder and mix. Add in the flour and mix until no streaks remain. Mix in the chocolate.

Form half inch balls with dough and place on cookie sheet. Refrigerate while oven heats to 375. Once oven is heated, bake for 10-12 minutes. Let set on cookie sheet before removing to wire rack for cooling.

Makes 2.5 dozen cookies

IMG_1399

Kitty picture – just because 🙂

 

by

Heath Bar Cake

Over Spring Break I frantically wrote three papers and drafted a presentation for school. I wanted to get as much done as possible since I figured this month would be full of long hours at work and ACT testing. (I wasn’t wrong – I started this post two weeks ago) My schedule for April was suspiciously full. But as my boss commented the other day, I find my balance in the kitchen. So while I was trying to figure out how to phrase things, or which statistics I wanted to use, I managed to make a cake – Heath Bar!

I love Heath bars. The chocolate over the sweet toffee is just an almost perfect treat for me. Strawberry shortcake is better, but heath bars require no work on my end except finding them at the store. Much easier.

IMG_1351

Chocolate cake isn’t my favorite, but I thought this cake had to be chocolate. It just wouldn’t work with a vanilla cake, so I found an old German Chocolate cake recipe and used the cake portion, leaving out the filling and frosting. I cut the recipe in half too – the original recipe calls for making three 9 inch round cakes to layer and I didn’t want that many. Cutting the recipe in half and using two  pans worked just fine – I just kept an eye on the cooking time and they came out perfect.

For the icing, I went with buttercream. I thought about going half cream cheese, half butter, but decided to go for straight butter as I wasn’t sure the tang of the cream cheese would work here. I added some caramel that I had to the butter while whipping it up and ended up with a nice base. It was still a little too rich for me, and a little too sweet, but overall it was fine.

IMG_1361

To really get a Heath Bar cake I needed more than a chocolate cake and some caramel buttercream. I mean, those would be fine, but they wouldn’t be Heath Bar cake. So I crushed several mini Heath Bars and sprinkled the pieces both between the layers and on top of the cake. There you have it – Health Bar Cake. This wasn’t my best cake ever, and it certainly wasn’t the chocolate pie, but it worked and gave me a chance to play in the kitchen.

 

by

Eggplant Bolognese

I will never be a no carb person. I love pasta, in almost all forms, and pasta with a good tomato based sauce can be pure heaven. I had a craving for eggplant this week and decided to combine the two for a nice little meal.

I found a recipe that looked good, was doable with what I had on hand, and would not take up too much time. I didn’t make the recipe exactly as they said – I didn’t have dried basil, and I used one 28 ounce can of tomatoes instead of three 15 ounce cans (yes, I know those are two different amounts – I didn’t care). But otherwise, I did follow the recipe fairly closely.

For the noodles I used lo mien noodles or Chinese egg noodles. I like these more than basic pasta as I think they absorb more sauce than traditional pasta. When I make this again, I’m going to use the same noodles, but I’m going to change the tomatoes to crushed tomatoes as I think it will make the bolognese more saucy. The original recipe has the tomato sauce as more of a topping – it’s good, but I really like sauce.

And, of course, a gratuitous kitty picture.

IMG_1355

 

by

A Day Off

I had a plan. I had a schedule and then … I decided to take a day off of everything. No school work. No work-work. Just one day to relax and do things that I wanted and just made me happy. It came about in part because every time I went to do reading for school, Gracie or Tigger was laying on what I needed to read.IMG_1356

I hadn’t gotten down to Mom and Dad’s as much as I wanted over the last few months, so it was a nice way to start my day there.  I had spent some time Friday with my cook books, so I had a list of veggies and such that I wanted from the farmer’s market. On that list was also some fresh herbs. I really miss having an herb garden, but I am letting the garden go fallow this year. So … pots. I had pots in the garage and picked up some herbs at the farmer’s market to plant in them. Bob and I went to Home Depot and I got some soil, and a few more plants.

Gracie really liked my idea. She especially liked the catnip I picked up in an attempt to keep Leia from eating my chives and parsley. Leia has been known to eat entire plants of herbs, so this was my hope. Leia has not tried to eat my herbs, but she also isn’t going for the catnip much, but Gracie … Gracie just really got into it.

So after planting my herbs, I actually made an experiment. I saw this recipe for squash and roasted garlic galette. Oh it looked pretty perfect, so I wanted to give it a try. I made a pastry crust, roasted butternut squash and garlic, and put together a pie.

The base has a ricotta and roasted garlic spread with some roasted butternut squash on top. I grated some sheep’s cheese on top and baked it. My only complaint was the crust – it needed to be just a little sweeter, so next time cut the semolina flour and add a teaspoon of sugar. I think that would work well. Because I thought it needed a little green, I served it with the cabbage and apple salad from the night before. It made for a really nice little dinner. IMG_1362

So one day of no school work, no work work and just hanging out at home and having a little fun. It was worth it – even if I am now off to get back on track with my school work.

 

by

Chickpea Salad with Apple and Quinoa

The last few months have been a whirl-wind of work and school. When I do get a little down time, the last thing I want to do is log onto the computer. So far I’m doing well managing both work and school, and Bob hasn’t run screaming, so I think I’m balancing everything fairly well. We did get up to Tallahassee for a few days to see Bob’s parents, and I managed to sneak out for an afternoon to see the panhandle side of the family. Little Miss Violet is growing up fast, but is still an absolute delight.

With Spring break here, I’m furiously working on completing a project for school so I have it done when ACT madness ensues in April. It’s slow going (Curriculum is not my favorite topic in education, at least not curriculum development, but I can do it … I just don’t like it). Like anyone doing something they would rather not do, I plan small rewards – bike down to Main Street and have a soda while Bob has a beer, have dessert or watch an episode of Friends (which holds up surprisingly well). I would love to be a little more creative in the kitchen, but reading cookbooks and menu planning and grocery shopping for odd items is just not in the cards right now.

IMG_1320

But, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t cooked and I may have found a new favorite lunch dish. My typical cheese and carrots isn’t going anywhere, but this one has a place in the rotation. This is taken from a Plated box we got a few months ago and I just love it, so I made it workable with regular items around the house. (Full disclosure, that only works if you are like me and keep chickpeas and quinoa in the pantry.)

Chickpea Salad with Apple and Quinoa

  • 1/2 cup quinoa (I like the mixed quinoa, but any will do)
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 1 lemon, divided
  • 1 apple, chopped
  • spinach (an ounce to more depending on how much you like)
  • 1 cup cooked chickpeas
  • 1/4 teaspoon (or less depending on taste) chipotle chili powder (go for the chipotle version for the smokiness)
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 container greek yogurt (non fat, low fat, full fat – whatever your taste)
  • 1/3 cup walnuts (or whatever you have on hand)
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta
  • olive oil
  • water, salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the chickpeas in about 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. When the oven is hot, roast for about 20 minutes.

Combine quinoa, 1 cup water and some salt into a pot. Bring to a boil and the reduce heat. Allow to cook for ten minutes or so then turn off heat, keep covered and let sit 5-10 minutes more until all the water is absorbed.

In a large bowl, combine the honey, chipotle chili powder, juice of 1/2 lemon and about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix well, season with salt and pepper. Add apple, nuts, cranberries and shallot and mix to coat.

Mix the remaining lemon juice (of 1/2 lemon) with the yogurt. Season with salt and pepper.

When the quinoa and chickpeas are cooked, add them to the bowl with the apple salad. Add feta and toss together. If serving immediately, toss the spinach in also. If not serving immediately, leave the spinach out so it does not get soggy. Serve with a dollop of lemon yogurt dressing and enjoy.

IMG_1321

One of my favorite parts of this salad is how nutty and crunchy it is. The apples and the nuts offer some texture and the yogurt dressing doesn’t take away from the chipotle honey that the apples and quinoa are tossed in. It all works together. For easier transport, leave the spinach out, but I like the greens in the salad. If you don’t like yogurt (and I don’t but I do love the dressing) leave it off – there is enough flavor in the rest of the salad to be just fine.

I am hoping to be a little creative this weekend – I gave up cake for Lent, so I’m planning to try a Heath Bar Cake (or my version of such) for Easter Sunday. Not sure what I’m going to make for an actual meal, but I have dessert all planned.

 

 

by

Where does the time go?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and with good reason. School, both the back in school and the work kind, are going well, but they are keeping me busy. I’m almost done the first class and am about to start the second. One good thing about the compressed format is that I don’t have time to obsess over every word I write. I don’t have time to restart a paper multiple times, so I draft and then edit the heck out of it. This is sometimes more difficult than it would seem.

Try writing with a cat half on your lap, half on the keyboard until you move the keyboard far enough that you have trouble typing. Gracie has a nack for being in the most inconvenient spot at the most inconvenient time.

I have managed to play in the kitchen, just a little. I haven’t made anything amazingly exciting, but I did do a homemade lo mein and a spinach lasagna. Both were pretty darn good.

Bob and I are off to a dinner at the cheese shop tonight. I love these and can’t wait. We are even taking Mom and Dad as Mom’s birthday present. It is close, good food and I have to eat anyway, so all the better.

Until next time.

by

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake

We had Mom and Dad over for dinner last weekend so I asked Bob what he wanted for dessert. He debated between pecan pie and cheesecake, so I decided to combine them and make a caramel pecan cheesecake. 

  
I started with a basic cheesecake recipe. Because I can’t ever follow a recipe exactly, I tweaked it and crossed my fingers. The most difficult part of this was beating the cream cheese. I don’t have a paddle attachment for my mixer (nor do I have a stand mixer because I know I have no place to put it) so I used regular beaters; this made mixing the cream cheese very difficult, but once I started adding the eggs, it got much better. I also just used 4 eggs and added some vanilla extract to the mix before baking. 

  
The caramel is more straight forward. Caramel is caramel and most recipes don’t change very much. I did add some salt to this, because I thought it needed it, but for the most part, it’s a basic caramel sauce. 

  
Once both have completely cooled, I poured the sauce over the cheesecake. I was careful to not over top the cheesecake then added the pecans. 

  
Bob liked this cheesecake better than the other recipe I have. It does have a creamier consistency, but I still think it is a little heavy. I also prefer the camel sauce that has bourbon in it, but that is just me.