Two plates

Vegetarian "beef" and bean enchiladas

2010-08-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian faux beef and bean enchiladas
In a pan over medium heat, mix up half a can of low fat black beans with half a package of Quorn soy crumbles. Add a small amount of low sodium tomato sauce, taco seasoning, and homemade salsa.

Warm corn shells in the oven, fill with bean mixture, roll up and place in glass dish. Cover with enchiladas sauce and a sprinkling of shredded cheese. Cover and bake at 350 until bubbly. Remove foil and broil for the last couple minutes.

Homemade bread

2010-08-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Dh and I have been making fresh bread all week with the book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day So far we've made baguettes for bruschetta and roasted vegetable sandwiches. Olive bread which we had with salmon, garlic green beans, and salad ( I had Quorns breaded faux chicken instead of the fish, it's pretty darn yummy for soy). We made pizza dough with the olive oil bread recipe yesterday and tonight we're making calzones with the leftovers.

Turns out making bread is pretty easy! At least with the no starter method used in the book. It doesn't exactly take 5 minutes, more like 15 minutes for the initial dough and then another 15 minutes on baking day. After you mix up the flour, water, and yeast, you just leave your dough in a plastic tub in the fridge until you need it. They say you can leave it for up to 10 days... or more? But we usually go through it in about 3. The longer you leave it in the fridge the more sour dough it will become.

The breads we've made have been tasty but they lack the depth of a fine bakery. The quick method is a great starting point though and I think we will begin moving into more complicated traditional methods once we're done with this book.

The only problem we've had, is that our bread stone broke in half, already!

Have you ever made bread?

French bistro

2010-08-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight brings me back to our cafe dinners in Paris

Roasted eggplant, roasted red pepper, goat cheese, and arugula on a home baked baguette. Veggie side salad with berries and a balsamic vinegar dressing.

Creme brulee, surprisingly easy using Alton recipe. I subbed vanilla extract for the bean and just used regular sugar

Recipe: Bruschetta

2010-08-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

This one is Dh's recipe and it is tdf

This recipe uses 3 or 4 olives per slice of bread. For 10 slices...

Ingredients:
40 Kalamata olives
Sweet roasted red peppers
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Garlic
1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flake
3 Basil leaves. 2 for pepper mixture and 1 for garnish, more if your using small leaves
Goat cheese
Olive Oil
Thinnish loaf of bread, like a baguette

Note on ingredients: Buy your olives from an olive bar if you can. They are much better than those in a jar. If you do need to buy jarred, look for Kalamata with a K, not with a C. The Calamata seem to be even more vinegary. For any jarred olive: pit, rinse, and let the olives sit in a strainer to try and remove some of the excess vinegar
We do use jarred roasted red peppers and jarred minced garlic in this recipe.

Dice olives and set aside. Dice an equal amount of roasted peppers. Add garlic, red pepper flake, and basil to peppers.

Heat up your broiler. Cut your bread into 1/2 slices. Butter one side and broil until brown around the edges. Flip, butter, and broil the other side.

Spread goat cheese on each slice of bread. Top with olives, then pepper mixture. Drizzle with a little olive oil and garnish with remaining basil.

For dinner we serve the bruschetta with cheese ravioli and marinara.

Recipe: Hummus & Greek feast night

2010-07-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hummus:
Add all the following to your blender or small food processor
1 15oz can Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice from half a lemon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
ground black pepper

Blend and add 1 1/2 to 3 Tablespoons of water as needed to achieve a thick dip consistency.
Chill. Garnish with parsley and paprika
Serve with pita bread, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, red onion, cucumbers, and whatever else you can think of.

Dd and I have this for lunch all the time. When we have hummus for dinner, we make it a feast. Dh has Chicken with feta and spinach, recipe HERE

I have a Quorn breaded faux chicken and we all have couscous with zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, and red bell pepper.

For the Kitchen: Plates

2010-07-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

My kitchen is in a sad state. If I'm going to be serious about eating well, I need something pretty to put that lovely food on. First up, plates! I don't want a large matching set, seems old fashion. I am going to start collecting singles or small sets that catch my eye.

Anthropologie Zinnia plates

Justnoey S is for sushi plate

Vesselsandwares' Azure dessert plates

Anthropologie Francophile plate

Justnoey Post-a-plate Wish you were here

Recipe: Vegetarian chili with corn bread

2010-07-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

This recipe uses the Quorn faux hamburger crumbles again. You could of course substitute ground beef, sausage, ground turkey, or whatever else you fancy. But again, if your going the veggie route, stay away from the Morning Star hamburger, yuck.

I highly recommend the no salt added tomato sauce. I used regular once and it was way too salty.

Chili Ingredients:
1 onion
1 bell pepper
2 jalapenos

1 anaheim pepper

1 package, 12oz Quorn frozen crumbles aka soy hamburger
1 15oz can of kidney beans
1 15oz can black beans
1 15oz can pinto beans
2 15oz cans no salt added tomato sauce
1 15oz can corn
1 1/2 cup low sodium veggie broth
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
cheddar cheese
sour cream

Spices:
1 teaspoon garlic, fresh or jarred
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (add near the end to taste)
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
fresh ground pepper

Recommended: Disposable latex gloves for chili handling.

Put one jalapeno and the anaheim pepper in the oven under the broiler. Roast until skins are black, then cover with foil or in a bowl.

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large pot. Add diced onion, diced bell pepper, and "hamburger". Cook hamburger through. Add all beans, 2/3 can of corn, and both cans of tomato sauce. Add veggie broth, all spices, and tomato paste. Turn heat down to medium low and cover.

Put gloves on. Peel and seed your broiled peppers under cold water. Dice and add to the chili. Dice the fresh jalapeno and add to pot. Leave chili covered or partially covered on medium low heat while you make the corn bread.

Corn Bread Muffins
This one is straight from the back of the corn meal box ;) Makes 5-6 large muffins
Pre-heat oven to 350

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn meal
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons melted butter

Add it all to a bowl and mix it up. Pour into greased large muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes

When muffins are done, taste test your chili. You may want more salt, I keep it low for dh. Sometimes I add extra cumin or chili powder.
Serve chili with grated cheese and sour cream.

Recipe: Three cheese vegetarian lasagna

2010-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

This recipe is my attempt at recreating the most amazing lasagna with mornay sauce that we had in Paris.

A note about ingredients: Although my version is vegetarian, you can of course easily convert it into a traditional meat-eater's lasagna. I use Quorn soy crumbles, mock hamburger. I don't like a lot of pretend meat but this one has a pretty good texture and it adds some thickness to the sauce. If you're going to try the veggie meat, do not get the Morning Star grounds. It's chewy and terrible imo. Look for the Quorn brand, yellow package.

The Gruyere cheese you use is going to make or break the lasagna. Well, it will be good no matter what but it will be amazing with the right cheese. I look for a softer gruyere. The hard gruyere is sharper, more swiss-y and grainy. We want a milder and smooth cheese. Some of the softer gruyeres are too mild though. Here is a pic of my favorite brand, available at my local Fred meyer.

Another note: You'll have some left over marinara and cheese sauce with this recipe. I haven't bothered to tinker with it but if you are a stickler for waste and enjoy math, you can probably cut 1/4 to even 1/3 of the ingredients out of the sauces and have just enough.

I won't lie to you, this recipe takes awhile. You can cut down on the time by using a jarred sauce but you might find it a little watery. The good news is, once I make this I don't make dinner again the next 2 nights. Plenty of leftovers.

Three cheese vegetarian lasagna

Ingredients:

12 dried lasagna noodles

10 oz mozzarella, grated

1/4 cup or so of parmesan, grated

Marinara:

2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes (the large cans)

1 cup diced onion

3/4 cup diced green pepper

garlic

1 cup frozen peas

Quorn frozen meatless grounds, about 3/4 of the package

All spices dried or fresh and to taste

basil

oregano

rosemary

thyme

onion powder

garlic power

salt

pepper

sugar

Cheese sauce

8 oz gruyere, grated

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

Boil 12 lasagna noodles in a large pot. When al denta, empty into a colander and rinse with cold water. Leave to sit in the sink. Put your big pot back on the heat, add olive oil. Saute onions, green peppers, and "hamburger". When hamburger is cooked through, add both cans of crushed tomatoes, all seasonings, and peas (or whatever veggie you like, olive, sauted mushroom, etc). Cover half way and simmer on low on the back burner while you prepare the cheese sauce.

Pre-heat your oven to 350

Note about cheese sauce: Whisk it continually to prevent lumps and scalding. It is very useful to have a helper here. My dd is in charge of whisking. You'll keep the heat down and no boiling, so the sauce should never splatter your helper.

Melt butter in a sauce pot over medium low heat, add flour and whisk continually for 2-3 minutes. Add milk, slowly at first, still whisking. Turn heat up to medium, whisk until completely smooth, you don't want any flour lumps.

You want to warm the milk up until it will melt the cheese but do not let it boil. When you see a bit of steam rising from the pot, start adding your gruyere a small handful at a time. Whisk! If your cheese is melting very quickly and you see bubbles forming along the edge of your pot, turn the heat down.

After all gruyere is added, season with pepper. If your cheese is a bit bland, add a little salt. Continue cooking over medium until sauce thickens to coat a spoon. You do not want it watery but it will continue to thicken once you take if off the heat. Taste the sauce and make sure there is no floury taste left in it. If there is, keep cooking and whisking.

Take your cheese sauce off the heat and get all your ingredients with in reach.

In a large, 13x9", glass baking dish add about 2/3 cup of marinara to cover the bottom of the dish

Then layer:

3 noodles

2/3 cup cheese sauce

2/3 cup marinara

sprinkling of mozzarella

layer again, and a third layer

On top of the 3rd layer skip the cheese sauce. Add the marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and switch to broil for 3-4 minutes to brown the cheese

Let the lasagna cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting

Dinner: Scrambled eggs with dill

2010-07-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner, daughter's choice, breakfast. Scrambled eggs mixed up with dill and topped with smoked salmon for him. For me, a little goat cheese. Served with Belgian waffles and hash browns. Dh is the waffle expert in our house. Since he works until 6pm, we all had to settle for my sad half waffles lol. I never use enough batter! I did however, use plenty of butter ;)

Out: Lola Seattle

2010-07-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Where: Lola, Seattle
Food: Yummy greek dishes with a NW twist. Family style. Order several plates and share
Atmosphere: Elegant food in a relaxed friendly setting
Service: Perfectly timed. Staff is relaxed and welcoming. Knowledgable and passionate about the food, they make your mouth water.
Price: Surprisingly affordable. Our table was over flowing with plates, yet the bill came to under $100

The Spread: Pita with kalamata olive, garlic skordalia, red pepper harissa, blue cheese pistachio, tzatziki, and cauliflower anchovy spreads

Grilled octopus

Greek spaghetti

Lamb ravioli

Desert was a beautiful Pistachio baklava which we devoured before I could get a pic lol.