wintertime, and the livin' is easy

Having "wasted" my day off enjoying myself yesterday, I made the only thing for dinner that I had the ingredients left to make: Kedgeree from The Accidental Vegan. I have made kedgeree (kitcheree) before - it's fairly common in vegetarian cookbooks with any kind of international flair. From what I can tell, it is the result of Great Britain's colonization of India. Ordinarily, it is a kind of pilaf, a mixture of lentils and rice (complete protein!) with some herbs and spices mixed in so it's not completely bland. Not exactly main course material...until this kedgeree.

Look at it, all chock full of vegetables! I would dare say that the kale and carrots outnumber the rice and lentils! Having recently noticed how awful brown rice smells, I must admit, I wasn't all that excited about its prominent presence in this dish, but the subtle spices and hearty sauteed kale, balanced by the sweetness of the carrots really gave this kedgeree a pleasant mild flavor. I substituted kalamata olives for the mushrooms in the recipe because Mister hates mushrooms (I'm not a fan myself) and we both love olives. It took some time to prep, but I'll definitely do it again.

After dinner, we needed more cookies, so I whipped up a batch of Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies from Susan V at FatFree Vegan Kitchen. They were delightful and very easy to make...even easier to eat! Mister and I ate over half of them last night - it's amazing how much easier it is to overindulge when something is labeled as low-fat.


Oh! It's time for a flashback - watch the screen:

The year is *mumbleahem* and my dear friend, Courtney, and I are around 21-22 years old. In a moment of what can only be described as a complete lack of good taste, we decide to rent "Spice World" and have a girls' night in. Our snacks of choice? Mini York Peppermint Patties. Why? Because they're low in fat. Go ahead and completely ignore that they're made of sugar and therefore contain a decent number of calories, times however many we each ate. We sure did.
You can also ignore our beverage of choice - Snugglers - instant hot cocoa (surely low-cal) with a generous "shot" of peppermint schnapps.

~*~ end flashback movie ~*~

Since I didn't feel like chasing myself around the streets of Philadelphia, had the wind picked me up and carried me away, I shirked my Domestic Goddess duties yesterday and did not go food shopping. We needed to finish up our big box of spring mix baby greens before they get all wilty and gross anyway, so tonight's dinner was a simple soup and salad:

I'm taking taking a page from Mama Pea's book and photographing every salad I eat - I understand why she does it - they're all beautiful!

I reheated the Potato Corn Chowder from the other night and made a pretty little salad of spring mix, sprouts, carrots, cranberries, broccoli, and olives. Quick-cooking dinners are perfect for Friday nights, even if I didn't actually spend my usual half hour looking for parking when I got home from The Week From Hell at work. It feels good to arrive at the weekend, especially since I took Sunday off.

If you are in need of celebratory libations on this fine weekend, let me add that Smirnoff's Grand Cosmopolitan is very easy to drink. Cheers!