Blow, Ill Wind, Blow Away

My schedule this term is slightly crazy. I pretty much felt like this all week:

It's really not so bad, but I'm still not used to teaching as much as I have to this term. I'll admit, I'm having a tough time finding a balance between teaching and working on my dissertation. But it's good practice, since I'm signing up to do this full time, you know, for my career. I love my students (mostly) and I love my dissertation (mostly), but I'm ready for reading week. 

But I'm also not ready for reading week, because I have to submit a draft of my dissertation proposal by then, and it's far from done. 

After a full day of teaching, office hours, a staff meeting, more teaching, and planning for class on Friday, I came home and did this:  

That's no cupcake. That's bubble bath waiting to go in the tub. After a long week of writing and teaching the kiddos, it was a perfect way to end the week. Also, bonus, I planned all of next week's classes, so I should be able to have more quality time with Rameau (aka, the star of my dissertation) next week. Here's to a more balanced week.

John and our friend Ian took over the kitchen two nights in a row to make Alton Brown's recipe for Coq au Vin, and they were not disappointed. 

                                        

They paired it with a really buttery, delicious Chardonnay that I hope to find again sometime. 

John has said on occasion that he wants to learn how to cook certain meat dishes, and I've encouraged him to find a meat-eating friend and go to it. Knowing I had to come up with something easy for myself that wouldn't take up a lot of kitchen resources, I made this: 

I call it the Lazy Girl's Pizza for One. It's a pita with melted herbed havarti, sauteed mushrooms, and arugula on top. I got to eat the whole thing while they waited for their coqs (heh) to finish cooking, and they were definitely jealous. Even with coq au vin on the way, melted cheese is still tempting. 

We also made some recipes from Appetite for Reduction.
Living in the age of Twitter means that anyone can randomly get in contact with famous people, or at least bug them more directly on the internet. So I decided to tweet to Isa Chandra that we are using her book. And she replied! Here's the email notification:

**Blush**. You guys, we're friends for life now.

This week we made: 

Red Thai Tofu and Pad Thai Salad.


                                       








Y'all, this salad dressing is delightful. It's mostly ground peanuts, a little soy sauce, water, garlic, cilantro, and sriracha. Super easy, lightly spicy, and it really takes the salad up a notch. The rest of it is simple to throw together: grated carrot, red onion, bean sprouts, and cilantro. She suggests bulking it up with the tofu recipe, which was also very straight forward and probably took 30 minutes, start to finish. Ian and John took a break from the first night of coq au vin work to eat this, and they were pretty impressed. That salad will probably become a staple recipe for us.



Mom's Marinara and Tempeh-Bean Balls

Isa Chandra suggests about 10 different variations on the marinara sauce, which is just a simple tomato sauce. We tried the mushroom version, which adds about a pound of sauteed mushrooms to the sauce, once it's mostly done. John and I also added about 1.5 tbs of balsamic vinegar to the sauce and that gave it an amazing flavor. I'm sort of mixed about the bean balls. On the one hand, they are way easier and faster than homemade seitan. But we left them in the oven to stay warm while the rest of the recipe was coming together, and they dried out slightly. Fortunately, that was easy to fix by smothering them in the sauce. This one will make for good leftovers.

Last but hardly least, I made Oh She Glows, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabars. 

If you have a food processor, then the active part of this recipe takes about 10 minutes. Then you freeze the mixture for about 15 minutes, and voila! Larabars. With chocolate in them. Just like the real deal, they have about five ingredients: cashews, dates, chocolate chips, vanilla, and salt. They'll be great little snacks to bring to school. 

And now, I'm off to eat dinner and cheer on the Hoosiers as they play Michigan. Let's go Big Red! 

Transition Foods

This week, John and I had some meals that I think qualify as transition foods - bridging the gap between summer and fall. For some reason, I took very up-close shots of all of them.

The Eggplant and Mozzerella Orzo Bake from Smitten Kitchen probably does the best job.

It was pretty easy to put together, and extremely flavorful. I would definitely make this again soon. This is the first time John and I have ever made something with orzo in it - what took us so long? It seems like it works especially well in a baked dish like this one. I think I would add mushrooms to this next time around.



Then we made the Lentil Pitas from Kira's blog, Cook Pray Love.

The original recipe calls for you to shape the lentils into balls and fry them, not unlike a falafel. But we kind of ran out of patience and decided to just eat it like a Greek-flavored taco. John also upped the cumin and black pepper, since I think we ended up with a little more than the lentils it calls for. The second night, we cut the pita into strips and baked it, then brushed it with oil, and ate the whole thing more like nachos. Just like the recipe for ancho lentil tacos, this lentil preparation is a tasty way to fill a pita, and super easy. It'd be a great weeknight meal. 


Last and most summery, I made a caprese salad for myself one night when John wasn't home for dinner. I sliced up about four heirloom tomatoes (fairly small ones), along with half a ball of mozzerella, and a bunch of lemon basil and thyme from our plants. I also drizzled it with a little olive oil and balsamic. It was pretty flavorful! And a good way to say good bye to caprese for the summer.

 

Though our tomato plant still has about 7 tomatoes on it that are not quite ready to eat. I hope they ripen up before we get a real frost, since the nights have started to get pretty chilly. I think they may actually become ripe at the same time, in which case, I think a good tomato sauce is what's going to happen. 

And that's all the exciting news from our house this week! Next weekend, our dear friend Jess is getting married, so we're headed to Toronto to celebrate with her. Our second Canadian wedding! Can't wait! 

Avocado Zucchini Pasta and Blueberry Muffins

Ah, the end of the summer.

I know in the last post I went on about how summer was over, but this time I really mean it.

(Note: this is not our dog. This is a random beach dog.)

Summer is really ending. John and I went to Lake Huron for Labor Day, and everything. We decided to go to Ipperwash Beach, the site of a WWII army base that now features a dog friendly beach with free parking! Everywhere on Lake Huron takes about the same amount of time to get to, and the beach itself was lovely, so we will definitely return.

John and I completely forgot to bring our beach chairs or umbrella, so we sat in the shade beneath some beach vegetation until the sun moved too far to the west. It was still a relaxing and beautiful afternoon. I love Lake Huron. 

Tonight, John and I had what I'd like to call the Last Summer Dinner of the Year. We made two summery recipes that came up on my feed reader this week.
First: Julienned Zucchini Pasta with Avocado Sauce, from Oh She Glows.

(Also featured: random counter items, including the Centennial IPA from Founders that John and I shared while preparing dinner, in a new-to-us Apricot Brandy glass from Talize, part of a mixed group of glasses I bought for a grand total of $2.) 

Angela, who writes Oh She Glows, posted that she bought a julienne peeler. It's like a regular peeler, but with teeth. It easily juliennes things like squash, cucumbers, and carrots. You could use it for salad toppings, but, like Angela, I saw it and thought of veggie "pasta." A spiralizer would do the same thing, but the peeler is much cheaper ($7 for the peeler, vs. $25 for the spiralizer). I took her suggestion and made the easy avocado pasta sauce (avocado + basil + oil + garlic in the food processor) for this raw zucchini pasta, and it was a total success. We each ate an entire zucchini for dinner, along with half an avocado each. Lots of raw vegetables in this meal! 

 I think you could easily heat this very briefly in a pan and top it with basically any pasta sauce. It's perfect for the end of the summer when zucchini is still plentiful.

Since our pasta was really squash, we decided to have "pasta" with a side of carbs, in the form of these Blueberry Corn Muffins from Daily Garnish. These muffins only have a 1/4 cup of sugar and not much oil. Instead, they get moisture and sweetness from the blueberries and corn. I ate three and could have kept going, if it weren't for all that common sense I have.


Now that it's September and there are only a few hours of Labor left, I really am excited for fall! One more post about summer running, once I get around to writing it. After that, I'll start blogging about pumpkin scones, or the 100 sweet potatoes I plan on eating this month, or how cheap acorn squash is. You know, whatever's par for September.

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.

November Foods 2011

Instead of a bunch of separate food posts, here's a round up of recipes we tried and enjoyed this fall.

First up: Vegan Broccoli Cheese Pasta Bake from Daily Garnish.

















It's amazing how blended tofu turns into a creamy sauce for this dish. You can use pretty much any shaped pasta and whatever green veggies you had on hand, though broccoli works extremely well. Our only complaint was that this didn't reheat very well the next day. The tofu on the pasta gets kind of hard, even though it was totally creamy the first time. But if you're feeding a large group, I would recommend it.

Next: Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup from Giada (Food Network).

















My friend Katie sent me the recipe for this and I knew we'd both love it. It's basically a lot of sweet potato and broth, but then you mix in marscapone and it turns into magic. I think subbing almond milk and some Earth Balance would be a good way to make this vegan, and I almost tried it (but then I wanted to buy the cheese, so...you know what happened). We will definitely make it again.


ON TO DESSERT!

Numero 3: Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows from the PPK.

















These. are. amazing. I made them for a get together at Bryn and Djillian's house, and they were gone well before I left. I think next time I would make them a little smaller, since some of them were quite large. They are only slightly more involved than a regular cookie, in that you have to roll the peanut butter part into balls and then cover it with the chocolate to make one giant ball, but really, it's pretty fool proof. I'm looking for another excuse to make them because, seriously, these are the best cookies I've made all year.


Four: Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
























This recipe isn't on the PPK site, though they do have three other cupcakes up there. I suspect that if you google it, you could find the real thing. They have corn flour and almond meal in them and it gives them a little bit of a gritty texture. The cayenne pepper also gives them a little kick - nothing strong, just a bit - because apparently that's what Mexican hot chocolate tastes like. I've made a couple other recipes from this book, but these are by far my favorite.


Cinque: (Vegan) Pumpkin Pie Brownies, also from the PPK.

















I baked these a little longer than the directions called for, and I'm not sure if it made a difference. The final direction is to chill them for an hour and a half before serving, and at that point the pumpkin layer on top was fully set and DELICIOUS. I love these brownies! One of the taste testers said that they have the consistency of a cheese cake. I kind of went on dessert overkill last week, so I froze individual servings of these brownies. I'm optimistic that they will still be good after being frozen.

Six: Mashed Potatoes with Sage and Rosemary and White Gravy from Daily Garnish.
















Not a dessert, but I did serve these and the brownies along with a few other items on American Thanksgiving. We had a couple friends over for a casual meal and these potatoes were a hit. They have mashed apples in them that add the perfect amount of sweetness. We will probably make them again at Christmas!


And finally, chocolate dipped shortbread cookies.

























This recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and I first made it the day after we got El Mixo 3000 from Costco (we've been through so much since then, El Mixolito!). Unfortunately I baked them a few minutes too long and they were a little brown. Normally this wouldn't stop me from eating them or giving them away, but they were for a church fundraiser, and they're supposed to look nice so people will buy them. So I did what anyone would do - combine a little melted chocolate with a little milk, dip 'em, and cover them with Christmas cheer. Done and done. I think they sold well!

That's that for fall foods. I'm so proud that this list even includes two non-dessert recipes. It's that time of year again. I have lots more Christmas stuff to write about. In the mean time, it's after December 1st, so crank up the volume on the Christmas music!

Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

John and I aren't big pasta eaters, but it's nice to have on hand for a low key dinner once in a while. When I saw this red pepper pesto recipe, I knew we'd both really like it.
Pesto is sort of too greasy for me to want on a regular basis, but this made enough for a few nights of easy pasta, peppery dinner, and it really hit the spot.

First the pesto:



















We broiled these peppers until they were black (though not quite evenly so, and I know now that they need to be all the way black before they're done). Then the skin just peels right off.
Both the pasta and the pesto came from Closet Cooking.
Click here for the pesto recipe.

After the peppers were done roasting, the pesto ingredients just go into the food processor. I really liked the flavor that the balsamic vinegar added.
Then the pasta:




















We used the same blog's recipe for the rest of the meal, which was simple and included feta and kalamata olives. If we make this again (and I hope we do!) then I'd add either zucchini or spinach to up the nutritional benefits. If you're a meat eater, I'd recommend adding some Italian sausage to the mix. But it's plenty flavorful just like this. A few red pepper flakes really added some kick. I'll probably add them directly to the pesto next time. It's was an all-around great weeknight dinner.
Click here for the pasta recipe!

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

This food processor, Li'l Choppy, is freaking changing our lives.




























Sure, we can make hummus, crunchy peanut butter, and regular pesto. But now that we've been payed to go to school again, we can afford the big jar of sun-dried tomatoes from Costco! The skies the limit!

We made the pesto according to this recipe, and put it on pasta, along with a quartered and sliced zucchini, and some sauteed mushrooms.




























I'm really into this shape of pasta right now. Sort of like a spiral macaroni, but it's thicker when cooked. It's perfect for rich sauces.





















It made for an outstanding dinner. I also put about 1.5 tbs of the pesto on some quinoa for a good school lunch the next day. Quinoa is making its way toward becoming a very regular part of my diet. Since I'm basically giving up meat, a little at a time, and I'm adding a lot of mileage to my runs, I started to wonder if I'm getting enough protein. But then I learned that quinoa is a complete protein - not unlike a meat. So I'm making an effort to eat some kind of quinoa dish for lunch a couple of days a week. It definitely helps that the girls in the office next to mine have a microwave, since some of those recipes are much better warmed up.


















This pasta dish was delicious, and would be perfect as a simple recipe to serve to guests. With Li'l Choppy's help, it comes together easily and makes a large amount of food.


Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
from Imafoodblog

• 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
• 1/2 cup toasted whole almonds*
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1 generous packed cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup olive oil

1. Drain your sun dried tomatoes, lightly rinse them, and then pat them dry with a paper towel.
2. Toast your almonds in a dry shallow pan. They will take about 10 minutes, and you will smell when they are done.
3. In a large food processor, combine the basil, toasted almonds, garlic, lemon zest, and salt. Process until coarsely chopped.
4. Add the sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese and process until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped.
5. Now stream in the olive oil slowly and process until the pesto comes together.
6. Serve immediately or store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

*Toasting the almonds seems like a pretty important step for this recipe. We were skeptical for a minute, but once the smell wafted from the oven, we knew it was key to the overall flavor.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

John and I eat a lot of healthy food. We rarely eat meat (something that has motivated us to be creative with food) and we almost never buy cheese because both are so expensive in Canada. I'm not justifying the mac n' cheese, but I am explaining it. Sometimes I get a craving for something really cheesey, or salty, or what have you.

The this recipe came up on my google reader last week. At first I ignored it, since I figured we didn't have any of the right ingredients on hand.

But then...
















we did! I remembered that we had everything I need to halve the recipe (a good idea anyways). I had an odd amount of pasta (a 7 oz package) and just the right amount of cheese. I also like that this recipe doesn't call for half and half. The bread crumbs are a mix of old bread pieces from our freezer, not the Panko like in the original recipe.
The problem now is that I know how easy it is to make really good, church-potluck quality mac n' cheese.*


Mac n' Cheese
adapted from Tasty Kitchen, i.e., Pioneer Woman
*Note - I'm posting the measurements I used, which are halved versions of the original ones.

• 8 oz small shape Pasta (slightly Undercooked)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/8 cup Flour
• 1 1/4 cups Milk
• 1 teaspoon Mustard Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (more To Taste!) Salt
• Black Pepper
• 8 ounces Cheddar Cheese, Grated (or any other cheese you prefer...lots of cheese would work)
  
• 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs (I estimated this, but 1/2 cup seems about right)
  
• Salt And Pepper For Sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta until al dente.

Melt butter in a large skillet (or pot). Sprinkle in flour, whisk to combine, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until it deepens in color. Pour in milk, whisking constantly. Add mustard, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking until it thickens, 4 minutes or so. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour in cooked pasta and stir to coat. Check seasonings and add more salt if needed.

Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Top with 3/4 of the crumbs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.

*Is it really a problem? After eating some of this for 2 days in a row I feel like my body isn't used to this kind of food anymore. It doesn't give me heartburn exactly, but I can feel it trying. It'd be better if I could take it somewhere and leave the leftovers.

Night at the Improv - Squid Ink Pasta

After John and I got back from Bloomington, we had hardly anything to eat in our house. My mom sent us home with a big box of groceries (thanks, Mom!) and so we tried to make dinner out of what we had on hand. We also had about 5 strips of turkey bacon, and a resealable bag of frozen peas that needed to be used up. And so we made this:




















Among the box of groceries was a package of squid ink pasta.




























The colors in this turned out to be really striking! To me, the flavor wasn't very distinctive (which was fine - I wasn't sure if squid ink would taste all that great). We made a light cream sauce out of 2% milk and romano cheese and this turned into a pretty decent just-got-back-in-town meal.




















Improvised Squid Ink Pasta

12 oz pasta
1-2 tbs olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
5-6 strips of turkey bacon
1 cup 1% or 2% milk
2-3 tbs romano or parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Boil pasta water, and cook pasta according to directions. When finished, reserve a cup of the pasta water.
Heat a medium sauce pan and fry bacon until brown. Crumble or slice and set aside.
Add oil to the pan, then add garlic and heat until fragrant. Add peas, milk, and cheese(s). Stir to combine. The sauce will thicken as it heats, but you may also add the pasta water, a tbs at a time, to thicken it. Return the bacon to the pan. Continue to stir as sauce thickens. It will be fairly thin, since it is made with lowfat milk, instead of cream.
Add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss to combine. Stir in red pepper flakes, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Asian-style Peanut Pasta

Sometimes when John goes away I feel the need to make all kinds of stuff in the kitchen (hence, brunch). Last summer I made this recipe, and knew that I would want to make it again when he was gone. It's not that John doesn't like peanut sauce, it's that it doesn't exactly flow through his veins, like it does mine.




















This recipe is like the ultimate comfort food for me - warm noodles, slathered in peanut butter and sesame oil. John took the car with him out of town, and I forgot to buy pasta before he left. I can walk to a grocery store, if I really wanted to, but since I was slightly pressed for time and it was about to storm, I made a bold move and decided to make the pasta myself. This was the kind of stubborn decision that often backfires in a big way, but the pasta goddess smiled on me and they turned out really well!


Since my hands were covered in flour during the most exciting moments, I don't have a photo for you. I was a little nervous about making it, but I had two other experiences (see here, and here) under my belt, and I used my other source of Mark Bittman's knowledge to make an egg-less pasta. Just eaten plain with oil and herbs, this might not be the most interesting pasta (though as I type, that sounds really good). Covered in a really flavorful sauce, they were perfect.






















I also fried some tofu to add to this, since he suggests whatever leftover source of protein you happen to have around. I just threw it in and stirred everything together at the end. Also, I wouldn't put the flavors of sesame, peanut, cucumber, and green onion together, but somehow they really taste great in this recipe. I should add, too, that he calls for this recipe to be eaten cold. I inevitably heat it up and I think it's better that way. But it's also good cold, and it's nice to have the option.


"Cold" (or hot) Asian-style Peanut Pasta
adapted from Marc Bittman

• Salt
• 1 to 2 cups shredded cooked chicken or about 8 ounces boneless chicken breast (I used tofu)
  
• 1 pound cucumber
• 12 ounces long pasta like linguine, or fresh Chinese egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1/2 cup sesame paste (tahini) or peanut butter*
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger, optional
• 1 tablespoon rice or wine vinegar
• Hot sesame oil or Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more
• At least 1/2 cup minced scallions for garnish

1. Set a large pot of water to boil and salt it. If your chicken is uncooked, poach it in water as it comes to a boil; it will cook in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel cucumbers, cut them in half, and, using a spoon, scoop out seeds. Cut cucumber into shreds and set aside.

2. When water comes to a boil, cook pasta until tender but not mushy. (If chicken is not done, you can still add pasta; remove chicken when it is done.) While pasta is cooking, whisk together sesame oil and paste, sugar, soy, ginger, vinegar, hot oil and pepper in a large bowl. Thin sauce with hot water, so that it is about the consistency of heavy cream; you will need 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Stir in cucumber. When pasta is done, drain it and run pasta (and chicken, if necessary) under cold water. Drain. Shred chicken (the easiest way to do this is with your fingers).

3. Toss noodles and chicken with sauce and cucumbers. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary (the dish may need salt), then garnish and serve.



*For these to really be "sesame" noodles, then yes, use tahini. I opted to use chunky peanut butter because peanuts are good in pasta anyways, and because I'm obsessed with it. Creamy peanut butter would also be good.

Simple Greek Pasta Salad

We planned another Beach Day for last Sunday, and this time we had a small potluck with our friends, Gillian and Marshall. I thought a big, Greek pasta salad would really hit the spot, and it was easy to transport to the beach.





















This recipe is extremely easy to make. If you can boil pasta and cut things, you can make this. I started by cooking an entire box of gemelli pasta (my new favorite shape). After it was done, I just added things to it, made a simple vinaigrette, and tossed everything together.





















Since olives are one of the main, most flavorful ingredients, I decided to spring for the nice olive-bar olives. I think it was worth it.



















Using an entire box of pasta meant that this recipe made a TON of pasta salad. We ate a fair amount of it at the beach, but John and I will probably be eating it for the rest of the week.

















I used this recipe as a guide, and kind of did my own thing. The recipe called for cucumber, and I just used a small amount of our leftover, seedless cucumber. It was proportionally not enough to be a strong flavor over all, but I feel like it's one of those ingredients you can just add "to taste."

















One reason I wanted to make this salad was that last week John and I finally bought the kilo of feta at Costco. We cut it into smaller chunks and froze some of it (he read about it on the internets first). We've been looking for stuff to do with it ever since.



















My plan was to use red wine vinegar, but mine was pretty old, so I used balsamic like I normally do with regular salad. It darkened the color of the pasta a little bit, but it tasted pretty good.


Simple Greek Pasta Salad

1 lb small shape pasta, cooked
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 lb of mixed olives, pitted, and roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of crumbled feta (or more...)*
1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup cucumber, peeled and chopped (seedless works well)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste (for a whole lb. of pasta, I needed more salt and pepper than I expected).


Combine pasta and chopped/minced ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Stir together olive oil and vinegar in a separate bowl, whisk together until combined. Pour over the pasta mixture and toss to coat evenly. Add dried basil, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss to combine. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.


*Or leave it out and this becomes a vegan recipe.