Summer Foods, 2012

Since this used to pass for a poor man's excuse for a food blog, I thought I'd post a few recipes that we've enjoyed this summer.

First up: Caprese Salad. 

We didn't use a recipe for these, so I'll talk you through what happened.
I thinly sliced two large tomatoes, and a big ball of mozzarella. We actually had 4 tomatoes total, and I wanted to make the mozz go a little further. So I mixed up a couple big hunks of goat cheese with the juice of half a lemon, and the leaves from about 3 sprigs of our lemon basil plant. Lemon basil is amazing! It has a sweet, lemony taste and aroma, and it went perfectly with these. After that was mixed up, I spread it on every-other tomato, so the stack alternates: tomato, basil, mozzarella, tomato with goat cheese spread, larger regular basil leaf, and then I started the process again. The mozzarella ball was definitely enough for each of these stacks, and the goat cheese added a little flavor. We each ate two, and we also made some herbed dropped biscuits.


Next: Chocolate Chia Pudding with Peanut Butter Crunch Balls.

I've been using a recipe from Hell Yeah It's Vegan for the basic chocolate pudding recipe. It's just chia seeds, cocoa powder, almond milk, sweetener, and vanilla. It's ready in 30 minutes, though it's also good if you let it set a bit longer. We had this for dessert after sushi night, and I love to serve it in these Japanese rice bowls my mom gave me. When I was a kid, she always used the bowls to serve pudding or jello, and it's really a great size bowl for each portion.
After I had the hang of this version, I did a google search for a peanut butter-chocolate version, and I found one here. Then I had the idea to add the peanut butter crunch balls that recently appeared on Oh She Glows, and they are a perfect topping. They're super easy to make, and I just stored the extra ones in the freezer (though they didn't last long!). Chia pudding is my new favorite way to combine omega 3s and 6s with dessert (see a description of chia seeds' nutritional info here).



Next: Gnocchi with Zucchini, Sweet Corn, and Goat Cheese.

The Kitchn's Facebook page shared this last week, and we immediately decided to make it. Everything in it is summery, starchy goodness. Since the goat cheese doesn't come in until the end, it melts and coats everything a light, flavorful sauce. Here's a fun fact: I don't like parsley. Ever. This is only a real (white girl) problem when a recipe calls for it, but we usually sub some other herb. After those caprese salads, we had a lot of basil on hand, so I just julienned it and added it to this, for some more herby flavor. This meal was really easy and will probably show up again on our weekly menu.





This week we decided to make the BBQ Chickpea Burgers, also from Oh She Glows. 

They are only slightly complicated to make, and they are SO GOOD. The carrots and spices give every burger a ton of flavor, and the pumpkin and sunflower seeds add a good texture. We used cilantro instead of parsley, and I used the same bbq sauce from the recipe as a condiment. The recipe for fries in that same post is also a pretty good one, though we had to stop ourselves from finishing what would have been a 1/2 lb. of potatoes...each. The burger recipe made 8 burgers, so we had a lot of leftovers - something John and I both love.



We also recently made: Summer Sweet Corn Tacos, from Vegan Pandamonium.

These are super easy and tasty tacos. We cooked the sweet corn, but it actually calls for raw corn, which would take even less time. Throw the corn in a bowl with a can of beans, some spices, and a chopped tomato, and you're basically done. We made a slightly larger batch of the corn/bean mixture, and had this for a couple nights in a row. It's a great weeknight, summery meal. 

And finally, I improved a simple dessert when I had an INTENSE OMG CRAVING FOR CHOCOLATE RIGHT FREAKING NOW! the other night.
As a joke, someone at our engagement party gave John a box of graham crackers (I should say, a neighborhood inside joke from way before my time), but he doesn't like them anymore. So I've been slowly eating the whole box, spreading each one with peanut butter. Then it occurred to me that I could make a very simple chocolate sauce and pour that on top - because how could that be bad, right? I make this very simple chocolate sauce from time to time and put it on frozen strawberries: about 2 tbs chocolate chips and a couple splashes of almond milk. You melt it with the heat on very low, stirring constantly. If it's too thin, add more chocolate, or turn the heat off and let it sit for a minute or two, and it will thicken up. I spooned that chocolate onto these little graham-pb sandwiches, and then put the whole plate in the freezer for about 30 minutes while John and I watched more of Avatar - the Last Airbender (no spoilers, please! I love that show!). That hardened them up and made the whole thing taste more like an ice cream sandwich - I'd highly recommend them!

Early May Foods, Running, and Beer Friday

Last week, John and I finished watching the last season of Buffy. I had to start reading the Hunger Games to fill the strong-heroine-shaped void it left in my heart. I have to say, I made a lot of fun of Buffy at first, and the sixth season really was a downer, but it's a great show and I'm glad we came back to it. Watching Buffy and reading the Hunger Games makes me want to exercise.

Running has just included a lot of maintenance runs. I'm not going to start training for the half quite yet, so I'm just focusing on building some good mileage, and doing more strength training. We have a fairly busy June and July planned, so it'll be tough to get in a fun summer run in the mean time. Between the theory conferences, friends potentially visiting (please visit! yay!), the engagement party (more on that to come), and helping my parents move, we kind of have a lot planned.

So instead of running, let's talk about the best foods best foods we've had recently.


 First up, the tahini-miso pasta sauce from Daily Garnish.

















I loved this. Just looking at the picture is making me drool. It's so much creamier and more flavorful than any vegan mac n' cheeze I've had, though it's not really trying to be mac n' cheese. Given the opportunity, I would eat three or four shovel-fulls of it right now.


Next up, Jerk (Vegan) Sloppy Joes from PPK. 

With some roasted taters and a Duvel on the side, and with coconut-creamed spinach on top. The anise in the spinach and the thyme and other spices in the "meat" made these taste so beefy! We couldn't find the fake meat it called for, so we used Gardein Beefless Ground (oddly missing from their website), and it worked perfectly. The only thing about Gardein and similar wheat-based meat products is that you have to be careful not to over cook them, or they turn into something like a rubber eraser. So I lessened the cooking time all around, and they turned out fantastic. We will definitely have these again.


 Also, Eggplant and Provolone Pizza with Green Olives from Smitten Kitchen.

John picked this recipe as a surprise when he was making our meal plan/grocery list, and I was thrilled that he did. I would say that I think our eggplant slices were larger than the ones on Smitten Kitchen, and I would have preferred smaller pieces of eggplant in general. Also, the provolone was a bit like a salt bomb to my stomach. But it's a tasty, indulgent recipe. It would be great cut into small portions for a finger-food appetizer.



 Then we made this Roasted Beet and Farro Salad from Daily Garnish.

The dressing has OJ in it, so we had some on the side each time we ate it. The recipe calls for golden beets, which we couldn't find. The red beets turned the whole thing a florescent shade of pink. We used couscous instead of farro, which our grocery store didn't seem to have. I really liked this recipe hot, instead of cold, and with the root vegetables and soft couscous, it was kind of like comfort food.



And finally, we had Beer Friday yesterday with these Veggie Masala Burgers in the style of the same ones from Trader Joe's, via Daily Garnish.

We've made this recipe a couple of other times, and every time, I like it more. Delicious with a little mayo, some salsa, and especially good with an avocado. They also went really well with Harpoon Leviathan we drank.


Beer Friday has been John's...thing for the past few months. He's in a Beer Renaissance (there have been other Renaissance periods for both of us. For me: running, then cooking. For John: running, peanut butter, coffee, and now beer). Sometimes Beery Friday is just one beer with dinner, but yesterday the weather was nice, so we had a couple on the porch, too. For John it's just a nice way to end the work week. The new official slogan is "Beer Friday: Come as you are."

On the left is the Harpoon Leviathan that I mentioned. Next, the Harpoon UFO, which is basically like a wheat beer brewed with some orange rind - perfect for warm weather. Third you can see the Arrogant Bastard Ale, which completely lived up to it's name. Neither of us liked it enough to ever buy it again, but I'm glad we tried it. The taste is just way too bitter for my liking. And last, the Yazoo Heffeweizen, from a fun brewery in Nashville that we visited with Kira two summers ago. Also perfect for summer.

February in Food

Our kitchen didn't produce a high number of outstanding meals in February. Being busy meant turning to old stand-bys and only making a few adventurous dinners. But here are some recipes that stand out.

Black Bean Cakes with Corn Relish and Avocado Cream Sauce from Annie's Eats.


















My only complaints here were that this recipe took kind of forever and it has eggs in it, so it's not properly vegan. But they were SO flavorful! And I'm glad to have made the avocado cream, which is just lime juice, mashed avocado, and greek yogurt together. Dream come true.


Endurance Crackers from OhSheGlows.





















When I made these, I felt like I'd performed a magic trick! Chia seeds + water + time = glue. These are gluten free, soy free, nut free, and vegan. Just a bunch of seeds hugging each other in a delicious cracker. I think I'd add a little more salt and pepper, just because I expect a cracker to be salty. They were delicious and we'll definitely make them again. I loved taking them with some hummus for my lunch.



Quarter Pounder-Style Beet Burgers from Post Punk Kitchen.


















These may look and sound a little strange, but I cannot wait to make them again. We both drooled over these burgers. The texture is great, and they look disturbingly similar to ground beef! Cast iron worked perfectly to give them a little browning, and they held together better than any veggie burger I've made. This is my new favorite veggie burger by far.



Beet Bourguignon from Green Kitchen Stories.




















John has a thing for the real version of this dish with the beef, and when I saw a beet version, he was ready to try it. Neither of us is big on beets, but after the burgers went so well, we figured this preparation might also be good. It's basically just a stew made with wine - what could be bad about that?
I think we both wanted to tweak this recipe slightly. It calls for 8 beets, and we felt that was too much labor and too much beet. Four would be plenty, and we would up the mushrooms. Big slices of portobello give this a meaty flavor and texture, especially when combined with the lentils. We served it over mashed potatoes. I think I would also up the herbs (more thyme, especially as a garnish) and wine (maybe 1.5 cups instead of 1, and definitely an additional splash with every re-heat). Still, we were both pleased with it and it was a delicious way to end a cold, damp day in February.



I'll leave you with two images from our trip to Bloomington a couple weeks ago. First, this onesy I saw in the window at Greetings. Excellent.

















And last, John and Mark in the on-going arm wrestling battle. Even though John has built up a lot more upper body strength, he has yet to beat Mark. Ultimately, Mark has a fierce desire to win that John cannot seem to match. This month's battle took place at Nick's where we watched the IU basketball game with my mom and some other IU people. It was a great trip to Bloomington and I'm glad that we'll have more and more reasons to return there soon!