whataya want from me?

If I could start from a decidedly non-culinary direction, I don't think I've made any secret of my love of two female vocalists.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

the incomparable P!nk

I realized something sometime in the last 48ish hours - I love them completely, equally, and for totally disparate reasons.  They each represent something I love or want to love about myself - a glorified, famous part of me.  I love Amy Lee for the ethereal beauty that she is - she looks a lot like me :) and we are both classically trained musicians.  She is rumored to be a domineering perfectionist... no comment.  P!nk, on the other hand, is the badass I want to be.  I love how raw she is and how passionately she makes each poignant point, yet with enough fire that she doesn't normally allow for the same otherworldly wallowing I find so comforting in Evanescence's music.

It all made a lot more sense in my head, so let me wrap all that up by saying that Amy Lee speaks to the part of me that is aloof, mysterious, and all too in touch with the heartbreak of this world while P!nk pulls me up by my bootstraps, kicks me in the butt and reminds me that we can take this on, as long as it's worth fighting for.

Believe it or not, this really is leading up to dinner (kind of).

Tonight I made Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  

This is definitely not the first time I've made this, but sometimes, I spread my repeats so far apart that Mister forgets we've had something before.  Also, I think he somewhat depends on me taking so darn long to remake a recipe so that he doesn't have to tell me when he doesn't like dinner.

Don't get me wrong - he went back for seconds.  It might have been the second bowl that reminded him this wasn't his "favorite dinner," which is his cute little euphemistic way of saying, "I'd rather you didn't make this again."  It's also possible that he ruined his own second bowl by thinking hot sauce would be a good addition.  Either way, he got halfway through his second bowl before giving up.

I can probably take a lesson from a Sweet-n-Sour dish I made a few months ago which he helped me choose and then forgot when I served it, making a comment that he would never eat something sweet-n-sour "on purpose."  I might have even caught on by his almost violent reaction to my suggestion that I might make pineapple cupcakes for his birthday and some derogatory comment about pineapple.  I didn't, though, or I ignored it because sometimes, dinner is about what I want to eat.

In case you didn't know, P!nk actually wrote Adam Lambert's hit single "Whataya Want From Me?" and this is an incredible mash-up of the two of them singing it.  It just seemed an appropriate song considering our dinner adventures...

magical monday (+jerk seitan)

Seriously, the only word I can use to describe today is magical.  Well, okay, maybe there are others, but they may or may not be blog-appropriate.  The overriding theme here is amusement, though, okay?

Let's go in reverse, since the magical, secret surprise is the best way to end this post, even though it's how my day began.

Mmmm....two of the happiest scents in the world came together in my kitchen tonight as I made Jerk Seitan and Coconut Rice with Toasted Coconut, both from VwaV.  I've made this a dozen times before, I'm sure, but it never stops amazing me just how darn good it tastes.  Both components are heart-achingly delicious, but when you combine them...

well, the result is just magical, isn't it?

I've figured out why there are never leftovers of this dish.  Sure, one reason is that there isn't a whole lot to bulk it up, so the seitan topping doesn't really stretch too far.  Still, it does make 4 respectable sized servings.  I think the reason there's never any left is because it tastes so good that Mister and I just stuff it in our mouths until there's no more room in our stomach.... something that does not actually become evident until after we've forced it all in.

I was prudent tonight - no matter how much I wanted to keep eating, I realized about 5 or so bites into my second helping that I was only eating a second helping because I was enjoying the taste, not because I was still hungry.  I forced myself to save that last little bit for lunch tomorrow.

Speaking of lunch...

There wasn't a whole lot of day left for me after I had lunch today.  I didn't realize it at the time and was kind of kicking myself for eating earlier than I usually do, but fortunately, getting out of work early is what afforded me the time to make a meal on a weeknight which requires an hour of marinating time.  It couldn't have been too much more than two hours after lunch when I was talking to my boss and all of a sudden, the emergency alarms went off in the building.  A quick look around at the panicking management (way to play it cool, guys...) told me that this was not a drill, so I grabbed everything I needed and headed out the door to the evacuation zone while my boss rounded up our brand new class of trainees.  What a first day at work they had!

Apparently, people in Montgomery County enjoy making bomb threats, because that was what kept us out of the building for two and a half hours (again).  Actually, that's not fair - it kept some employees outside the building for two and a half hours.  Me and anyone else who had their shift end within 3 hours of evac time got to go home, so that was a great way to end a Monday - three hours early!  I love today.

And of course, that little story leads to the Grand Finale - The Reveal (finally) of my Big Secret.  What were my boss and I discussing just before the alarms sounded and all hell broke loose?  Well, he had just finished reading through my resignation.  Yes, dear friends, today, I quit my job and then was promptly and non-coincidentally evacuated from the building before my poor boss could fully absorb what had just happened.  He wasn't happy about it, but he understands and supports my decision.

I'm not going to go into all my reasons for leaving here and now, but I will tell you that I am totally excited for the next chapter in my life, which will keep me firmly planted in the corporate landscape, but this landscape is full of concrete and noise and people and very, very tall buildings.  If I miss the trees of my current wilderness, I can take my lunch break just around the corner in the lovely and historic Rittenhouse Square.  I am so relieved to not have to make that hour and a half (each way) commute anymore and I am positively ecstatic to be working in the city where I live for the first time in ten years.  I will depart from diet trends and weight loss solutions for a new world of tech trends and innovative solutions, working for a major Philadelphia computer retailer.  My role is presently a bit undefined, but that's part of the magic and adventure - this is a huge step into the New and Unknown not only for me but also for my new bosses, as I will be transitioned into a role that will help me manage and develop the workforce once I've "learned the ropes," so to speak.

Wish me well, friends - I've been striving for this for a long time, behind closed doors and below-voice whispers and I'm thrilled that it's coming to fruition.

never going to unpack

Alternate Title:  I spend too much damn time "at work" and will never accomplish anything besides making dinner and staring at my computer for a few minutes during the week.

The thought of waiting until the weekend to do something about the pile of boxes in my bedroom and "living room" makes me more than just a little crazy, though, so I'll be brief (didn't I say that last night, before yammering on?) tonight.

I made Salsa Rice and Red Beans from Vegan on the Cheap for dinner tonight:

It looks a little different from the last time I made it because I used Basmati rice in hopes of speeding up the cooking process and having more free time tonight to be productive.   It's 11:25pm.  Clearly, that worked.

Anyway, I really like this recipe.  It's easy, it lends itself well to variation, which makes me happy when I want to be a little creative but still follow loose guidelines.  I like being familiar enough with a recipe that I can just kind of glance at it amid the chopping and sauteing and happy stinking up the kitchen.  No fire alarms tonight, though, thank heavens!

Sometimes I think about cooking for a living and I wonder if that would take the joy out of it.  The things I like about cooking are things that would make for a rewarding occupation: I love the gently guided creative process, I love that there is always a tangible result for your efforts, and I get great joy from nourishing the body of the person who eats my foods.  Even if it's just me, it makes me happy to know that I have created this nourishing thing (that also tastes good) that I am eating to sustain myself.  When I make oatmeal with fruit and nuts for breakfast, I sometimes wonder if that will be the most fulfilling moment of my day.

Maybe that's why I've stopped making it on weekdays.

No, it's actually a time concern.  I already spend too much time getting ready for work, traveling to work, etc. to get up even earlier just so I have enough time to make oatmeal.

Okay, time to move some stuff.  Nothing throws off your getting-ready-for-another-stimulating-day-at-work zen like trying not to trip over myriad boxes and bags.  If I accomplish nothing else tonight, I want to clear the mess in the bedroom.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get to the stuff that has consumed my couch and, well, the entire cozy living area.

curry fail, dinner win

If you could imagine a bizarre meeting of flavor and texture, what would it be?  Would it be sweet and gritty? Bland and crunchy?  Savory and vinegary?  What would your bizarre combination look like?  Would it be deep jewel-toned or a pale marigold?  A murky green or possibly a effervescent blue?  What about smell?  Would it smell like it tasted or would you be completely led astray?

Although my entire menu comes from Vegan on the Cheap, a book I've spent a lot of time in while feeling particularly stretched or impoverished, I still managed to eek out a few recipes I hadn't made yet that didn't contain ingredients to which Mister is "allergic."  Tonight, I made Coconut Curry Rice, which didn't have a single fresh ingredient, to my dismay.  Nevertheless, it was fabulous.

To look at it, you wouldn't think it different from any other coconut curry I've made (and considering Mister's love of curry, I've made plenty).  If you let yourself believe that, though, you would be horribly mistaken and I can't let you do that to yourself.

I started cooking and got as far as sauteing the garlic, and then the rice, then adding the veggie broth and creamy coconut milk...while it was simmering away at perhaps too lively a pace, I suddenly realized I had forgotten to add a crucial ingredient - the curry powder!  Otherwise, it would just be Coconut....Rice with veggies.  Mmmm... I can hear Mister hiding now.  I crouched down and started poking through my alphabetized spices, measuring spoon in hand, and there was no curry to be found.  Well, okay, the Muchi Curry of Doom was still there and probably will be for the rest of time, but my regular curry powder was gone!

Fortunately, thanks to my mother-in-law and Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, I had been concocting my own curry mixes long before I found that magical orange powder at Whole Foods.  I grabbed a juice glass and started emptying various spices into it.  When it appeared I had combined about 2-3 tsp of cumin, coriander, garam masala, muchi curry, celery seed, turmeric, chili powder, cardamom, and salt, I stirred everything together with a chopstick (I'm so multicultural) and dumped it into the bubbling coconut rice.

I must have had some clue what I was doing, because it turned an attractive shade of golden orange and tasted just like it should have.  There was an occasional "grassy" bite when you'd break open a celery seed, but I'd say it'll do in a pinch.  The scent of the "curry powder" combined with coconut milk was kind of other-worldly and the texture was akin to a savory rice pudding.  Mister doesn't like rice pudding, but I do, so I was pretty excited about the world of possibilities this opens.

After plowing through two bowls, I decided to practice enough restraint to guarantee leftovers sufficient for work-lunch.  I calmed the curry flavors still dancing on my coconut-sweetened tongue by trying out a new bar of dark chocolate.

Divine 70% Dark Chocolate absolutely lives up to its lofty name.  If the wrapper is not gorgeous enough, just look at that chocolate!  I might need just a nibble more.  Anyway, I can't stop myself from getting good, quality chocolate when I know it was also produced in a way that benefits more than just my tastebuds.  Divine Chocolate is 45% farmer-owned and fair trade certified, not to mention evidently free of animal products.  People think you have to make huge sacrifices all the time in order to live ethically.  This chocolate will prove them wrong.

On a lighter note, how about some fun pictures?

In October, my cousin got married in a small, private ceremony.  Yesterday, her in-laws hosted a reception to celebrate their marriage.  They had their "first dance" to "My Eyes Adored You," which my mother told me my father always thought was "My Sweet Georgia."  Listen - the next time you hear it, you'll know what I'm talking about.  During the dance, their little son became jealous that Daddy had Mommy all to himself and pretty much hung on my cousin's leg until she picked him up and let him join their dance.  After the dance, they cut their cake and fed each other.  The picture above shows my cousin getting "gotten" by her husband while her father takes a picture of the cake all over her pretty face.

This morning, while I was getting ready to go to work, I heard a rustling in Mister's room.  Mister was fast asleep in our bed, so I knew our little Monster was up to something.  I went in to find he had a new happy place.

He loves to crawl inside of Mister's various duffle and messenger bags.  In this picture he looks really small...don't let your eyes deceive you - that's just a really big bag.  I'm pretty sure I could hide in it if I wanted to.

Right before I walked out the door, I felt a pair of eyes on me and found that he had managed to get onto these shelves in the closet by my little work area.  I have no idea how he got up there and he appeared to have no idea how he was going to get down, but I think he's going to be very sad when we finally unpack everything and put stuff on all his fun places.

He does have his own little "bedroom" again, though...the space just below him has his blanket and pillow, as well as his litter box.  I guess he's just hanging out in the loft space, if you look at it like that!

Eau de Allium

If I ever got famous enough to have my own perfume, there is a very big part of me that would want to call it Eau de Allium, especially if the source of my fame was my culinary [mis]adventures.  In case you missed it, Allium is the "scientific" Latin name for garlic, and that is the scent I am most likely to ooze through my pores for the next few days (at the very least).  Once again, I offer my apologies and condolences to my colleagues and new hires...but not my regrets, nor my repentance: I'll do it again.

Apparently, in 2007 there was some huge stink (tee hee) about the prevalence of garlic in Italian cooking.  I totally missed that, and I'm glad, because I love love love garlic.  Mister's exact words upon his first bite of dinner tonight were, "That's a lot of garlic you have there, lady!"  Meh.  I guess, if you consider a whole head a lot...

I'll come back to that, though.  Last night, we finally had the Mediterranean Rice Salad from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals.  The vinaigrette I poured over the rice salad before refrigerating for 30 minutes to let the flavors meld and set contained only a conservative 2 cloves, but since it was raw, you could taste it even more intensely than the 10 cloves in tonight's dinner.

It was very simple, easy to put together and it tasted phenomenal.  This is absolutely the kind of recipe you just want to tack to your refrigerator so you can just pull it out at any random and necessary moment.  There were not many ingredients, which allowed the ones that were there to shine and play off of one another.  I used twice as many roasted peppers as I was "supposed" to, but it worked out perfectly.  Mister's only request was that the next time I make it, I make it earlier in the week so he doesn't have to resist the temptation of oil-cured black olives he isn't allowed to eat, and then he acted out a short vignette of the olives beckoning to him whenever he opened the refrigerator and his attempts to resist.

The vinaigrette was primarily olive oil and balsamic vinegar with some garlic, salt, basil, and lemon juice.  It was also supposed to have oregano, but I was not trying to choke on my salad.  It saturated the rice perfectly - not too much, just the right amount, with a delicious sheen of oil on top of each little grain.  I grated a half cup of fennel into the mix as well, but it really didn't stand out - it must have been one of those behind-the-scenes players that made the whole thing amazing.  It smelled fun!

Anyway, tonight we had Orecchiette con Broccoli from The Urban Vegan.  I didn't make this too long ago, but there was one substantial difference: this time I used fresh broccoli.  It wasn't perfect, but it was a vast improvement.  I also got to use a new-ish toy, my butterfly whisk by Kuhn Rikon to mix the white miso into the garlic-olive oil "sauce.

I don't think it worked nearly as well as this ubiquitous "flat whisk" Dynise apparently has, and uses for this recipe.  At the moment, my home is too small for one more whisk - I have four already.  Besides, I'm trying to save (find) room for the 4-quart All-Clad saute pan on sale for nearly 50% off.

Natalie, would you like to purchase this 5-star rated piece of cookware you already know you need and want for $110 off its original price?


Yes, yes, I would.  *doe eyes at Mister*


Anyway, with the fresh broccoli and allowing the garlic to saute for a long time, the result was actually a much more flavorful dish that met with both mine and Mister's approval.  It's fortunate we've hit a little cold front this week, because I would really feel bad if I was sweating out all this garlic...er...Eau de Allium near my colleagues.

home is where the happy is

I have a confession to make: I am not all that excited about going back to work tomorrow.

I had such a nice weekend; it was really, truly enjoyable. Why ruin it by starting a new week? Is Monday really that necessary?

Yesterday, I woke up to - you guessed it - more snow! What an excellent start to the weekend! Actually, sleeping until I decided to get up was the excellent start, but snow was a terrific way to keep the fun going. It didn't accumulate at all, but it was gorgeous floating around in the air. I enjoyed some coffee and breakfast, and after a satisfying lunch, it was time to go food shopping. I'll spare you the boring details, but after that chore was conquered, I went to my Saturday job and found myself wishing I could make it my only job. It really is fulfilling, but I am basing that on the way it feels to see two girls I've been teaching for 8 years or so and recognize how far they've come. I remember how completely frustrating the first year of lessons can be and how some people just can't/won't learn. I did teach "full-time" for a while and depending on it for my complete income really extinguished any flame of passion I might have had for it at that time, so I'll let it go at that.

Returning home to a fully stocked fridge and cupboards, I decided to kick off my new menu by cooking up some Spanish Veggie Stew with Spanish Rice, both from The Accidental Vegan.


It was something of an exercise in patience. I have nearly given up on brown rice. When I was at Whole Foods last week, I picked up some short-grain brown rice, stupidly thinking that it would cook slightly faster than long-grain brown rice. NOPE. After the first hour of boiling, I lost track of how long it took. I'm not convinced that it was actually done when I served it, but I was done boiling it. I started it well before I started simmering the stew, and it was still going for a while after the stew was very fully cooked.

I will probably make this again, but without brown rice of any length.

Tonight, I made Seitan Cacciatore, also from TAV. It is so easy and so tasty and works well with [much faster cooking] Basmati rice. I also threw together a couple of salads. I don't have a whole lot to say about this, other than how good this is and how you should eat it, too.


Earlier today, we had two fun visits: my parents came into the city and took us out for my birthday brunch (yes, a month and a half late - how awful a daughter am I?), and Mister had a playdate with an old friend. By playdate, I mean that the two of them hung out in the midst of Mister's mess, oohing and aahing over dusty bits of audio gear I still don't understand, while I poked through Hi-Fructose and Clean Eating magazines.

If I've never mentioned this before, my parents are awesome. Despite their inclination to think I'm a little off, they continually humor my whims and courageously take those opportunities to open their minds and try something new. Instead of going to our standard brunch spot, I tricked my loving parents into taking us to MiLah Vegetarian. Once there, I was amused, impressed, and proud. It was amusing watching everyone, including Mister, pore over the menu. I was impressed with my father for ordering Tofu Benedict and proud of him for actually eating it all! I got the Tofu Benedict as well, which came with braised kale, roasted tomatoes, and sweet potato home-fries. It was very good.

I am very much in love with the menu and would love to return multiple times for both brunch and dinner so I can try everything...convincing Mister to go with me could prove difficult, though. It seemed to me that everyone's food was very good and I was also very happy with the coffee and the fruit plate. Mister's grudge is with the staff, and although they were friendly, I am somewhat in agreement with him. It seemed like everyone on staff today was a teenager or college kid...resulting in Mister not getting his "bacon" and getting sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes, which makes for a sad Mister.

In any case, I got my birthday presents! They're all wonderful! I got some kitchen toys: a vegetable peeler that you wear on your finger - I can't wait to see how that works - and a vegetable "peeler" that juliennes the veggies. That will save me SO MUCH TIME. It only got better from there:


That's right, a whole box full of tasty treats for me! That's a nice little picture, isn't it? Funny story, though - my mother gave me the Larabars because she couldn't stand the one she tried. I tried to explain that you have to give it a few bites, but she wasn't having it. More for me!

She saved the best for last, though. I am thrilled to introduce you to....another cookbook!


I had this on my Christmas Wish List, because I can never collect enough recipes that can be prepared quickly. I mean, seriously - I don't start cooking dinner until 8:30 at the very earliest on work nights.

I''ll leave you with a little tangent from that: My sister was born on Christmas Eve. Don't feel bad for her. She has never gotten a Christmas-Birthday present to my knowledge, specifically because everyone expects that she always gets Christmas-Birthday presents and they feel badly about that. It never happens. She makes out like a bandit. On the other hand, I was born 3 weeks after Christmas...which apparently makes it completely acceptable to give me Christmas-Birthday presents because that probably never happens. Nope, sorry - it happens every year. My parents have never done this to me, but I have grown accustomed to missing those great after-Christmas sales and the reason is this: I give them (at their request) a "Christmas list" every year, and have been doing so since I was a child and still thought I was writing to Santa. From that list, my mother takes advantage of the after-Christmas sales and the wealth of ideas provided to get my birthday presents as well. So every year, I have to wait for three weeks until my birthday (this year a little longer, but it was my own fault) to find out if there is anything on that list that I really wanted but didn't get and now have to buy myself.

The point of all this? Nothing really - I just had a great weekend and I don't want it to end!

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!

work makes my brain hurt

Eventually, I'll settle in. Sure, once I settle in and get used to how everything is, everything will change, but let's ignore that inevitability for now. It amazes me how some [granted, significant] changes at work can effect the rest of my life so completely and turn my world topsy-turvy. There were those two crazy weeks where I was working the second shift again, depriving me of the opportunity to unwind by making dinner and then spending time with my husband while eating it. Once I knew I would be back to "normal" I got all kinds of adventurous with my menu and had some thrilling stories to tell.

These past two days have not fit that pattern. I'm making myself post tonight just so I stay in the habit, but it's going to be a struggle finding something interesting to say about dinner. I don't even have pictures!

Last night we had Seitan Chow Fun and I must say, it did come out really well. I didn't remember the sauce being that flavorful, but it still wasn't quite note-worthy (which may be why I didn't remember it from last time). Tonight I made BBQ Pomegranate Tofu with Coconut Rice which is always a winner...unless the rice sucks. I don't know what went wrong. Sometimes, I really think Someone Upstairs is trying to tell me I shouldn't make rice, because of all the things to be bad at, I don't know how I mess up something this simple so frequently. I would like to blame tonight's rice debacle on two things that I can label as Not My Fault.

1. My delightful new Calphalon Contemporary 2.5 qt saucepan. I love it, but I'm not used to it yet, so I haven't figured out how to keep the flame under it for optimal rice-heating.

2. I used a different Jasmine rice tonight. Usually, I either use the WF store brand or Lundberg Farms Jasmine, but neither were available, so my choices were Basmati or a different brand of Jasmine. It had a cool-looking bag, so I thought it would do, but when I opened the bag, there was an obvious difference between this rice and the grains I usually cook.

So, there you go - not my fault.

In other news, I got to use my new zester to add little shavings of lime zest to the rice and that was fun. As always, I have exactly enough sauce and rice left for the other meal later this week.

Well, three weeks of 6-day work-weeks have taken their toll on my creativity - I've hit a wall. I can't have an entire post without pictures, though, so check out me exploring my affinity for vegetables way back in the day...

Mister and I agree that I have this toddler-Liv-Tyler thing going on here.
It's the eyes.
cucumbers are always exciting

nom, nom, nom
Funny thing is, I don't actually like raw tomatoes.

kitchen by IKEA, dining room by Pier 1

I am so relieved that Pier 1 didn't actually go out of business when the whole financial world began to collapse this time last year. I don't know how they pulled through, because it's rare that I (or anyone I know) actually buy anything from them, but I'm glad they made it.

I just got the Pier 1 holiday mailer and I fell in love all over again. If you click the link you can poke through an electronic copy of the mailer and join me in saying, "who wouldn't want to eat off of these beautifully adorned tables? who wouldn't want to swoosh their pancakes around in the last bits of syrup on a happy sunflower plate? who wouldn't want to dig out the last scrumptious bites of an apple crumble to see a gleeful snowman waving?" I heart Pier 1.

When I was younger, I used to go through catalogs from stores I loved, like Pier 1, and add up how much I could spend if I just let myself go. I just totaled how much I would spend on just dinnerware and came to nearly $300. If I added furniture and decor, it would easily top $1,000. I have crafted entire Christmas Wish Lists from the Pier 1 mailers and website. My current obsession are these glasses:
Fortunately, at $8 a piece, they are an affordable indulgence.

Tonight, we had Seitanic Red & White Bean Jambalaya and again, the rice did not cook completely in the time it was supposed to, even though I followed the instructions to a T. Also, while contemplating the huge amount leftover after Mister had 3 bowls and I had 2, Mister asked a very insightful question:
"Does it say 6 servings or serves 6?"
"What?"
"Well, maybe it serves 6 with three bowls like I had."
I open the cookbook and find that indeed, it says that it "serves 6" not that there are 6 servings. I still think the 1 is missing and will magically appear in future reprintings.
Also, I feel terrible saying this, because I know my mother reads my blog and she gave me the cast iron dutch oven for Christmas last year, but tonight was the first time I used it. It was so awesome! I don't see it being something that I use regularly, in place of my stock pot, primarily because it is so damn heavy, which is why I haven't used it until now. Well, that and the fact that it didn't have a home until I "renovated" the kitchen. It was really neat, though, and because it is so sturdy, it added an element of fearlessness to my cooking. Since I made the jambalaya in the dutch oven and actually baked it like the recipe says, rather than stubbornly simmering it stovetop, I had hoped that the rice would magically be done when it was supposed to be done. However, once again, Mister and I were thwarted by impatience and crunched on some not-so-tender kernals after it really should have been done.

Anyway, how cool is it that my dutch oven is campfire-ready?

It almost makes me want to go camping.
Almost.

A final anecdote before I share the coming week's menu:
Angst is getting used to having his "safe place" in the middle of the living room. It's really quite amusing how he will actually run to his crumpled up blanket and beat-up pillow if he feels unsafe and then stand on it or put one paw on it as if to say "home base - I'm safe!" I think he's still trying to figure out what happened to his chair, but is getting a little more comfortable with the new set-up. He was adorably trying to get on his (little bitty) pillow today, and the sight of his 17 lb body trying to fit onto a 10-inch pillow cracked me up, so I thought I'd share:
Without further ado, then, here is the new menu:

1. Country Captain Stew from the Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook. This is a fun soup recipe, once again combining the terrific toothsome texture of baked cubes of tofu with a savory broth with hearty winter vegetables. The twist, of course, is that there is an equal number of potatoes and apples, and if you don't know by now that I love soup with fruit in it, you haven't been paying attention.

2. Mediterranean Chopped Salad, also from VTCC. This is a fabulous and very satisfying salad that I discovered, appropriately enough, over the summer. I was flipping through the pages of my cookbook and was about to skip the salad chapter, since autumn makes me yearn for hearty, savory, gut-heating food, but I remembered this salad and thought I would like to make it before it gets absurdly cold to have salad for dinner.

3. Five-Spice Vegetables and Tofu with Green Tea Rice. And this time, I will double check that my tofu makes it home. Once he's in the fridge, we'll have to find some way to prevent his escape...

4. Moroccan Mishmash

5. Seitan Cacciatore from The Accidental Vegan. This is another of the recipes that made me buy the book, so I figured I would try it out this week. It sounds fun and hearty, to balance out my silly salad, and I can remember my mom making Chicken Cacciatore when we were all still living at home (and eating meat).

6. Potato Corn Chowder, also from The Accidental Vegan. If this doesn't satisfy the heartiness I seek, then there is no hope for me.

One last thing before I go - Chocolate Covered Katie is hosting a giveaway as part of her effort to drive traffic to her blog. Just go to her blog to read more about it - you could win $35 towards the purchase of any item on cookware.com.

well...wasn't this post just linkalicious?

Colleen 1-?, Natalie 0-2

I would love to call Colleen Patrick-Goudreau a thief, but I'm pretty sure The Vegan Table came out ever so slightly before I dreamt up my Mediterranean Risotto (AKA complete failure after two honest attempts). Regardless of who thought of it first, she got it right - tonight I made Arborio Rice with Roasted Red Peppers, Pine Nuts, and Basil and it was everything I wanted my stupid risotto to be. It smelled a lot like mine when it finished cooking, causing momentary panic that it would be too strong, but it wasn't.


Differences between our two skillet risottos (her name's too damn long):

Hers: Roasted red peppers
Mine: Roasted yellow peppers

Hers: chopped kalamatas and green olives
Mine: too many chopped kalamatas

Hers: skillet-toasted pine nuts
Mine: sun-dried tomatoes

Just a few subtle differences that make one edible and the other an event to muddle through or else you won't have dinner. I shouldn't be so disparaging: Colleen's skillet risotto is way beyond edible - it's delicious. The toasted pine nuts add this amazing rich, buttery flavor and balance out the saltiness of the olives, which they equal in quantity. I used Arborio rice, as the title might suggest, and if it didn't have such a bizarre texture, I would use it all the time - it cooks even faster than Jasmine rice! The texture, though, is almost like very al dente pasta, which is fine for penne but I prefer rice to munch like rice.

rice reincarnated

Today was so much fun! In the end, the farmer's market was a bust, I gave up on the Italian Market (I wasn't de-stressed enough yet to deal with the crowds and chaos), and the ultimate in self-pampering became the only thing I accomplished today. Aside from my deep desire to spend some quiet time at Cafe Fulya, I really don't feel bad about the three hours I spent in Salon Sugar today, letting Candi KaBoom do amazing things to my hair.

The salon itself is painted in shades of pale and hot pink, and there are pink and black vinyl curlicues reaching out along the walls from behind the ornate gold mirrors. There aren't words to describe how awesome this place is or how happy I am with my hair!
Also, I have finally fixed the Red Rice and Beans recipe. Also, that's a crappy name for dinner, so I gave it a spiffier title. Without further ado, I give you...

Risotto Mexicano (pronounced meh-hee-KAHN-oh)
serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups V8 Hot & Spicy
2 Tbsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2-3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
15 oz black beans, rinsed and drained
5 oz baby spinach

Bring water to a boil in medium saucepan. Stir in rice, then cover and reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer 10-15 minutes. When almost all the water has been absorbed, stir in the V8 juice. Cover and simmer 10-15 more minutes.
Meanwhile, dice the pepper and tomatoes, but keep separate Heat oil on medium heat in a deep pot. Add garlic and pepper; cover and saute 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chili powder, tomatoes, and black beans. Simmer, uncovered, 1-2 more minutes. Pour in rice and V8 - it should not have been completely absorbed by the rice yet. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes, until rice is tender and most liquid is absorbed. Stir in spinach until wilted. Remove from heat and serve.

bring on baking season!

The perfect way to welcome September - with Apple Pie! Okay, it was just a larabar, but it was delightful!

This was a dense and very sweet bar. I was initially inclined to think it was too nutty, but after a few more bites I realized that the nuts helped to calm the flavor some. It reminded me a bit of the Apple Cinnamon Nectar bars (which also have gorgeous packaging), but easier to eat, due to the nuts - the Nectar bar is just too sweet.

The first thing I noticed when I unceremoniously ripped open the wrapper was the wonderful smell of apple and cinnamon...absolutely one of my favorite scent combinations. It was like tearing open the wrapping paper on Autumn (my favorite season).

Now, when I say "baking season," I am primarily thinking about tasty little treasures made up of warm syrupy fruit, smothered with an oaty, streusal topping, or maybe the melt-in-your-mouth crumbs of a coffee cake, or these fantastic little cookies baked with freshly cut apple chunks. However, I also love baked dinners. They provide warmth from the inside out in a way only slowly cooked foods can...the rich scent of lasagna or pastitsio, the tenderness of stuffed peppers baked in the oven, rather than on a skillet, and the inherent sweetness roasting brings out in vegetables. Also, baked dinners allow me a little bit more time to relax in the evening, as opposed to the whirlwind of perpetual motion that leaves me dancing around my small kitchen, tending to three pots at once and hoping I don't burn the garlic.

My inaugural baked meal (welcome, dear September!) was Isa's BBQ Pomegranate Tofu, served on a bed of coconut rice (with real toasted - and almost burnt - shredded coconut). I love this tofu - I keep saying "this is my favorite," but seriously - this is my favorite tofu. It's baked to perfection, then smothered in the best BBQ sauce ever and baked some more. We ate every last morsel!

wheat is out to get you

Shhh...don't make any noise or sudden movements - it will find you.

I made Mediterranean Risotto for dinner tonight, but I'm not posting any pictures because it didn't look any different than it did when I made it with barley. Here are the main changes:
1 cup of arborio rice (vs. 1 cup pearled barley), cooked in 2.5 cups broth added 1/2 cup at a time and allowed to absorb before adding more. 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed dry, no oil, vs. 3/4 cup) added with the third addition of broth. I also completely left out the white pepper and didn't add the chopped peppers and olives until the last addition of broth.

The thing about wheat is this: Despite my alterations, this risotto is still way too intensely flavored, so we ate it with bread as scoops. Wheat bread. But we might not have known that wheat bread contains wheat if it weren't for the very helpful label on the back, letting us know that there is wheat in the wheat bread.

It's blurry, but the little white tag at the bottom says:
"Allergan Information: This product contains wheat."

What I want to know is this: are there really people that stupid? What did you think would be in wheat bread?

In other news... today I gave in to myself and ate my beloved Clif Nectar bar, flavor: lemon, vanilla & cashew. Again, the packaging itself makes me happy - it's a very mellow shade of yellow...one I can imagine painting a future kitchen.

This bar is absolutely sublime. I could just sniff it (and normally do, just before nibbling tenderly at it) and be happy because it smells SO good. All 5 ingredients (dates, cashews, goji berries, lemon juice concentrate, and vanilla) are certified organic. That may or may not mean something, but it makes me feel more like I'm ingesting pure sunshine.

Nutritionally, the price is right for a snack - 160 calories, only 6g fat, yet providing an equal 6g of dietary fiber and 4g protein (which isn't much, but you look for stuff like this after too many people ask how on earth you can possibly get enough protein without eating animal corpses *gasp!*). Also, this little 1.6 oz bar claims to provide 2 fruit servings in its delectable little self. The thing that really gets me about this bar is how creamy it is in texture, which I think is primarily owed to the velvety cashews. The ratio of vanilla to lemon is also perfect. I can't recommend this bar enough - I love, love, love it!

But here is my puzzle:
A Nectar bar is 1.6 oz.
A Larabar is also 1.6 oz.
A Nectar bar lays claim to 2 servings of fruit,
but A Larabar only claims 1 serving of fruit.
Both bars are made up of fruits and nuts.
All I can come up with so far is that Nectar bars are more concentrated on the fruit aspect of the bar, where Larabars depend heavily on nuts to texture their bars, therefore leaving less room for fruit. If you have a better answer, though, I'd love to know it - leave me a comment!

salt and strong spice make everything nice

Maybe. They certainly make everything pungent and made my tongue numb by the end of dinner. The leftovers have become Mister's responsibility to finish.

First things first: today's bar was the Larabar Coconut Cream Pie. It smelled SO GOOD and fortunately enough, it tasted pretty good, too. In fact, if I ever truly went vegan, these bars would be a phenomenal replacement for Almond Joy bars (which I also love). The interesting thing about that is that there is no chocolate in this bar, but it really does taste like Almond Joy.

Again, my only grievance against this bar is the high calorie content and fat - 200 calories with 10g fat, of which a whopping 7g are saturated fat! In any case, I'm currently justifying future purchases of this bar with the knowledge that it still has a better nutritional profile than Almond Joy does, though just barely. The ingredients are much cleaner, of course, and as I thought more about the whole situation, I thought "Lara wouldn't put something that bad in her bars...there must be a reason for the saturated fat."

I knew already that the source of the saturated fat was the coconut and extra virgin coconut oil listed 2nd and 5th in the ingredients, and I have heard rumors that the saturated fat in coconut oil is not the unhealthy, cholesterol-raising, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen saturated fat in animal flesh. Never content with rumors, I did some research.

As it turns out, coconut oil, and the saturated fat it contains, may have a host of health benefits. A theme among many articles I read was that the reason Palm and Coconut oils have such a bad reputation is because American oil-producing farmers (ironically, soy farmers) were feeling threatened by these "tropical oils," so they got together and launched a massive PR mudslinging to dirty their names. It worked, coupled with the knowledge that the sat-fat in animal products has very negative health effects when eaten to excess (in America? NEVER!) There have even been some studies touting the medical possibilities of coconut oil to cure cancer and a host of immunodeficiency diseases, but I'm not willing to go there just yet.

Granted, the folks at www.coconutoil.com are probably more than a little biased in their research, but after reading through several articles by several authors and finding a lot of similar thought, I feel like it's at least worth a read if you'd like to get some info and form your own opinion about coconut oil. I just think it's cool that it's solid when stored under 76 degrees.

Actually, I have a second grievance against my bar today: it did not keep me feeling full as long as the other bars did. I don't know if it was because I was much more active at work today than I sometimes am, running from one end of the building and back again several times, but I was definitely feeling hungry again within about 2 hours of eating it. Fortunately, I also had an apple. Maybe today is just a hungry day, though.

Back to our title, though - dinner narrowly averted complete disaster tonight, saved only by my nose and my (at times) very strange husband. I've been struggling to make the Five-Spice Vegetables and Tofu on Coffee Rice for a little more than a week now. Every time I start to make it, I get distracted by something on my list I'd rather make. Well, I knew from my last look in the crisper that if I didn't use the broccoli tonight, it might sprout legs and run away tomorrow, so I made up my mind that tonight was the night.

I put on my new apron (yay!) and set about chopping the vegetables, changed my mind about the Coffee Rice, opting instead to cook the rice in green tea (resulting in an amazing aroma!), and actually almost managed to accidentally make black-bottomed tofu. Everything was going well and when I started stirfrying the vegetables, I realized I had left out the Five Spice powder for which the recipe is named. Still stirfrying (is that a word?), I opened the cabinet above my head, grabbed a bag of spice and a measuring spoon and upon opening the bag decided the one tablespoon I had written into the recipe would be WAY too much. So I did a teaspoon instead, sprinkled it on and added the salt, stirred it up really good and smelled the weirdest thing ever... So I looked at the bag of Five Spice again and realized that in my hurry I had accidentally added a teaspoon of ground cloves to my vegetables. I turned off the heat and stood there pondering my wok, trying to discern if I had actually ruined dinner.

I figured Mister would let me know.

So I put everything out on the table like we were really going to eat it and then waited for my dear husband's reaction. In a nutshell: he liked it a lot (he likes weird food anyway) and because of the clove scent he kept expecting the tofus to be ham and kept being surprised that they weren't. When he went back for seconds (braver than I), he tried to add some spices to enhance the ham taste. I never cared much for ham myself, or any piglet product for that matter (except bacon, now and then), so though I managed to eat everything in my bowl, the idea of eating the leftovers is positively revolting.

Mister suggested renaming the recipe Chai Spice Veggies. Adorable. I think I'd rather leave the Chai spices to teas and baked goods (the Chai Luna Bar is one of my favorites and out of this world!) and try this again in a week or so with the Five Spice Powder already meted out in a prep bowl. I like the idea of Five Spice - it contains all 5 tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory (umami). I love the Chinese for their (apparent) serenity and sense of balance in life.

So, no recipe tonight - I have never been a fan of works-in-progress. I'll share the recipe when it's right, hopefully sometime next week, if I haven't tofu-ed Mister out by the end of this week...I kind of overdid the tofrequency of our tofu dinners this week. Pictures, though!

cloven veggies and tofus in the (massive) wok
mine
Mister's

Oh, there is a happy ending (if you ignore the nutritional information - sometimes I wish I was illiterate)! When we finished dinner, my tongue was numb from all the cloves (thus their medicinal uses), so Mister got me a dessert present! I knew if I read the package before I ate it that I simply wouldn't eat it so I ate it first, then looked at the ingredients and calories and fat content so I would understand why I was never going to eat it again. Like they say, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission...

It was a Mint Brownie sandwich by Nestle Tollhouse. It was so good, even though I knew that shade of green doesn't exist in nature. So I ate it all up and I will worry about the 380 calories, 18g fat with 9g saturated fat (probably not the "good" kind in coconut oil) some other time...actually, I'll probably forget all about it when I go to sleep tonight. Sweet dreams are made of this!

bitter, like me

I cannot remember which holiday it was, though I'm thinking Christmas, that my father-in-law sent us home with some terrific leftovers, including rapini/broccoli raab/whatever you call it. I had never had it before, but it looked fun and tasty with a verdant green coloring. Besides, I love broccoli, so how different could it be? Pretty different, actually, but I was right about it being tasty.

Quite by accident, I incorporated it into dinner tonight and had forgotten that it is infamous for being bitter and an "acquired taste." Forgotten, that is, until we started eating and Mister asked what the greens were, specifically, what was so bitter. Admittedly, it is a bitter vegetable, but in kind of a latent way. You don't taste the bitterness until the second time you bite down to chew it, and by the time you've chewed 3-4 times, you realize it's actually a delightful bitterness that brings out all of the flavors around it.

If you haven't guessed yet, tonight's dinner was Curried Tofu with Mixed Baby Greens. First some action shots, then the recipe:

(precooking)
I was so impressed by my thorny pile of rapini I had to take a picture
(post-cooking)
Here is a much-wilted bowl full of rapini, bok choy, and spinach.
After cooking, all 3 greens took up less room than the rapini did before cooking!
currying the tofus!
Dinner (recipe now...)

Curried Tofu with Mixed Baby Greens
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz extra firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
2 Tbsp oil
3 large cloves of garlic, pressed/minced
1" of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce mixed with 2 Tbsp water
1 bunch of rapini, chopped (also known as broccoli raab)
2 heads of baby bok choy, chopped
5 oz baby spinach
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1 cup jasmine rice
scant 2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/8-1/4 tsp white pepper

Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Stir in rice, cover and simmer on lowest heat 20-25 minutes, until all water is absorbed.
Combine curry spices and salt in a small bowl. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a saute pan or large skillet. Sprinkle in the spice mixture and stir until smooth and fragrant. Add tofu and stir gently to coat, then cook over medium-low heat 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a deep pot, heat 2 Tbsp oil on medium. Add garlic and ginger and saute on low heat 2-3 minutes, until tender. Add rapini and cover - cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bok choy and cook until wilter. Sprinkle in water and soy sauce, then pile spinach on top and cover to steam 2-3 minutes; stir in to greens to wilt. Remove from heat and cover.
Stir salt and white pepper into rice just before serving.
To serve, lay a bed of rice, then a layer of greens (using tongs) and top with curried tofu.
serves about 4 generously.