Pasta and Cookies

Two of my favorite foods!

Last night we had some friends over for dinner.  They are also a somewhat newly-married couple, and they are getting ready to teach English in China for a few years.  I’ve gotta say, I get a tad jealous whenever I hear about friends going to live abroad, and especially those going to Asia.  However, no awesome job opportunity, no matter how amazing the locale, could ever make me want to give my dogs away to someone else while I live in another country.  It’s sad but it’s true: I will probably never live abroad.  At least not for the time being.

I broke out our trusty Cuisinart to make some homemade pesto.  This is usually how I make it (this is enough to go with 2 lbs of dry pasta, i.e. it’s a LOT):

• Big bunch of basil (remove the leaves from the stems)
• Handful of spinach
• About a cup of extra virgin olive oil (kinda gross, I know)
• 1 cup pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup Parmesan

I blend the pine nuts, garlic, salt and olive oil together, then add the green stuff and cheese.  You can pretty much blend it to any consistency you like.  When the pasta is cooked, add the pesto and about a cup of sliced grape or cherry tomatoes.  Mix well.  Serve with grated Parmesan.

I turned to the master of delicious food for some side dish and dessert inspiration: Deb at Smitten Kitchen.  I found this awesome stuffed mushroom recipe, along with these ridiculously delicious oatmeal chocolate pecan chip cookies (with orange zest).

I also made my current favorite salad: spinach with sliced strawberries, goat cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette.

I tend to make too much of everything for dinner parties, and then have a ton of very rich leftovers that I feel obligated to eat (I’m cheap and wasting food pains me on a lot of levels).  This morning the 12 or so leftover cookies sat on a plate on the counter, beckoning me.  I can’t bring myself to throw them away, and I don’t have an office I can take them to get rid of them.

So yeah, I had oily, cheesy leftover pasta with cookies for my incredibly healthy lunch today.  It was delicious. Maybe this will have to be a double workout day.

Tuna Time

Having spent a bunch of years being vegan, vegetarian, and the like, and having a mother who stopped cooking when I was in high school in favor of Thai take out (and my own lentil loafs, “macaroni and no-cheese,” etc.) I had managed to live 27 years without ever eating tuna casserole.  Yesterday, out of curiosity and a fascination with easy dinners that last for days, I decided to make it.  

I don’t love that it involves so many ingredients that come out of cans, but then again, that’s part of its charm.  We had plenty of cans of stuff lying around, because, you know, just in case.  We’ve been reading a lot of apocalyptic fiction and non-fiction around here, so let’s just say we’re prepared for any eventuality.  As long as that eventuality calls on us to subsist on canned food for a few weeks.

I don’t know why I don’t ever make casseroles (I make enchiladas, but that doesn’t really count).  This one is easy, fairly cheap, and definitely resembles comfort food, though I’m sure my version, with its crimini mushrooms, pine nuts and whole wheat pasta fails the authenticity test.  Without further ado:

• 1 lb Whole Wheat pasta (I used rotini, I think)
• 10 oz tuna fish, in water 
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 10-15 crimini mushrooms
• A couple of shallots, or a small yellow onion
• cheese to sprinkle on top (I used Colby but some kind of dry Parmesan-type cheese would be awesome)
• a sprinle of oregano, sage, and whatever you like (fresh herbs if you’re feeling fancy)
• olive oil
• pine nuts (totally optional, as they kinda ruin the ‘budget’ aspect of this recipe – I had them lying around)
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy)

Cook the pasta according to the instructions.  Saute the shallots and mushrooms with the herbs in few tablespoons olive oil for about ten minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the soups, tuna and milk to the saute pan and mix them together.  Drain the pasta and place in a casserole dish.  Add the mixture from the saute pan and stir it around a bit.  Sprinkle with cheese and pine nuts.  Eat for the next few days, or until you get sick of it.  If you have dogs, make it without the onion/shallot and you can feed it to your pups if you get tired of eating it.  There’s also always the freezer!

Cooking for One

Sometimes, when my husband is in Montana and I’m in Oakland, I cook myself up a delightful tilapia dish, complete with spinach salad, brown rice, and a nice glass of wine:

Other times, I take advantage of the fact that no one’s watching me and I make strawberry-blueberry-banana pancakes for dinner:

Also of note during this week of solitude: I tried a 24-hour fast to see if I could do it, and because I wondered how it would make me feel (I could indeed do it, and it made me feel a little bit sick/sleepy but great the next day), AND I saw a giant wild turkey when I came out of my apartment this morning to walk my dogs. It was just strutting around like it lived here. We’re a long way from the Oakland hills, so I don’t know how it got down here, unless people are now keeping turkeys as pets.

CinnaBunz

Cinnamon rolls I made for a brunch with my parents:

Recipe here.

Potato-Kale-Zucchini-Carrot Soup

This soup turned out pretty good.  I won’t say I invented it, because there are probably a billion similar soups out there, but I kind of made it by feel and not using a recipe.  One tip: don’t over-cheese it: too much cheese in hot soup gets stuck all over the inside of your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 Small zucchinis, cut into 1-inch coins
• 4 Carrots, cut into 1/2-inch coins
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 2 Cups of chopped kale
• 1/4 Cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 White or yellow onion, diced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 2-3 Cups vegetable broth
• 1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Olive oil (used at your discretion)
• Spices (sage, thyme, and/or any kind of Italian seasoning)
• Salt and Peppper

Sautee the shallot, onion and spices in some olive oil.  When translucent, add the carrots and zucchini. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large pot and add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the sauteed mixture and bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the kale and tomatoes and simmer until the soup reaches the desired texture.

Makes enough for about 8 bowls. Serve with the shredded cheese and chopped parsley.

Ciabatta French Toast: OMG YUM

Another camera phone photo, sorry. I’m working on replacing my stolen camera, or getting a working one up and running from the camera dude in my house, aka my husband.

There’s something about the airiness of ciabatta that lends itself to french toast very well. It soaks everything up just right, and renders the tough chewiness of the bread a nice soft, spongy consistency. I used one egg, some cinnamon, soy milk, and a dash of sugar. I like to top it with Trader Joe’s blueberry syrup, because it’s runnier than jam but about an eighth the cost of pure maple. I refuse to put high fructose corn syrup (e.g. Aunt Jemima) on my breakfast foods.

Cheap Eats: Sweet Potato Coconut Squash Soup

I went to Trader Joe’s this week craving sweet potatoes. I’d planned to make a sweet potato side dish, and I may still do that, but last night, because of the chill, I ended up throwing a soup together. As always, my cooking is experimental and my measurements are far from exact, so please keep that in mind if you attempt to try this.

Sweet potato coconut squash soup

Ingredients:

• About 2 and a half cups of cubed butternut squash.  I’m lazy as hell and hate cutting up unwieldy squash, so I use 2 packages of the pre-cut squash from Trader Joe’s.
• 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of green curry paste (or any kind of curry), plus a teaspoon of garam masala and whatever other Indian spices that you have laying around
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can of light coconut milk, or half a can of regular coconut milk

Put the cubed squash and sweet potato in a stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cubes are tender.  Drain off excess water until it covers about half of the squash and sweet potatoes.  In a sautée pan, add a generous dash of olive oil, the onion, curry paste and spices, and sautée until onion is transparent.  Add this onion/spice mixture and the can of coconut milk to the stock pot, and bring to a simmer.  Purée with a wand blender if you like, or leave it as it is if you like it chunky (and you know I do).

I served it with brussel sprouts sauteed in butter and olive pugliese from Trader Joe’s.  OMG so good!! Total cost: about $11 for 2-4 meals, depending on what kind of eater you are.

Totally Frivolous Post

It’s a slow day at work, and compounded with the agonizing slowness of a major election day, I’m about ready to stab my eyes out.  Therefore it’s time to think about something completely different.

So my mom has always been a petite person, but recently she’s dropped weight to the point where her doctor told her she needs to gain at least 15 pounds. Physically, my mom and I are almost nothing alike. I inherited her pointy nose and exaggerated sense of caution about the world, but since my teens I’ve been taller and had broader shoulders, and have never been underweight in my life (though I did drop down to a size 6 during my senior year in college – ha!). A friend who’s been through episodes with an eating disorder informs me that it’s actually quite an endeavor to gain weight back after you’ve gotten really skinny, even if you’re 100% committed to the cause. When she got too thin and was looking to put the weight back on, she actually drank a weight-gain drink from GNC in addition to eating all manner of cheeseburger, carb, and so on and so forth.

This got me thinking about all the lovely fattening foods there are out there that I could recommend to my mom. I’m a big fan of pasta and staunchly refuse to believe it’s unhealthy, though I feel like my gorgonzola mac and cheese could put some meat on your bones. In fact, it seems that many of the things I eat involve ingredients that dieters usually dare not even dream of, namely huge quantities of cheese and carbs. If I needed to gain weight quickly, say to become a wrestler in a higher weight class, (as just accidentally becoming too thin probably won’t ever happen to me), here is what I would happily indulge in to maximize the poundage:

• Cheese enchiladas. I like to make them, but they are pretty much great in whatever form you can find them.
• Pasta pasta and more pasta. Pasta with smoked salmon and capers. The aforementioned gorgonzola pasta. Butternut squash ravioli with browned butter.  I would take up residence in a nice Italian restaurant hopefully in exchange for writing glowing reviews of their food.
• Juice, soda, beer and wine!!! Oh how I love high-calorie beverages, but normally limit myself to tea instead .  My quest for flesh (heh) would basically involve a lot of beer and margaritas, which would be all right because I’d balance it out with lots and lots of food.
• Chocolate chip cookies.  Homebaked is best, but as long as I’m throwing the idea of healthy to the wind, I would go with my childhood favorite, Soft Batch.

Mmm... I can taste my childhood...

• Arby’s beef cheddar sandwiches.  Even though I’m 80% vegetarian and loathe fast food, I have a special place in my heart for Arby’s beef cheddar.  This is another choice where nostalgia factors in:  I don’t think I’ve eaten one of these since I was ten but I can still remember exactly how it tastes.  I can just imagine the smells as I unwrap the foil.
• One word: potatoes.  Home fries, garlic fries, cheese fries (do they exist?  I want), fries with aioli.  My husband would heartily agree with me on this.

Clearly I'm gastronomically retarded. Cheese fries do indeed exist.

Ok, so my list looks a lot more wholesome than devious, and actually represents a lot of what I eat on a weekly basis (aside from cheese fries — I’ve never had these, and frankly I’m a bit scared).  What would you devour if putting on pounds was your goal?

Poor Man’s Power Bar

 

I feel diabetic just looking at it

 My husband woke me up early this morning because he was helping shuttle students to the cross country meet and they needed another driver.  I threw some clothes on, took a sip of coffee, and headed over to the school.  I am a stickler when it comes to my morning routine: get up, drink black tea with soy milk, eat a piece of toast, walk the dogs, eat a bowl of oatmeal or something similar.  As anyone who knows me well could tell you, I don’t do well without breakfast.

I didn’t have time to eat anything on my way out the door, and Castro Valley is a good twenty minute drive away.  After the kids piled out of my car and I stumbled after them, groggy and disoriented, a bag of pastries manifested.  They were all maple bars.  I’d never even heard of such an atrocity, let alone tried eating it for breakfast.  I took a bite of one anyway because I was hungry, and everyone else was eating them.  I immediately felt the sugar work its way between my teeth, the cavities already forming, and shuddered as the glucose rushed into my bloodstream.

“Wow, what a way to start the day,” I remarked.  ”We used to call these the poor man’s power bar,” the cross country coach informed me.  I put this new knowledge to a test about an hour later when I went for a three-mile jaunt across the local University campus.  I felt a leaden weight in my stomach, and no noticeable increase in energy.  Not only that but I was HUNGRY.  I came home, ate a giant bowl of pasta, and passed out. 

I have nothing against carbs, but I prefer the kind that actually give you energy, not take it away.  Further, I am in complete awe that this is considered a *breakfast food* in our fair country.  All I can say is: WOW. No wonder we’re such a fat and diseased nation.  Also: I think I’m gonna be sick.

Cheaper than Lasagna and Twice as Good…

It’s…

Enchiladas!!

OMG so good!

It’s hard to believe I was ever a vegan (and for seven years, at that) because I now subsist mainly on cheese. I’ll have goat cheese on my pizza and on my salad in the same meal. Pizza, by the way, has become a staple in our house. That and risotto (with lots of cheese), cheese and crackers, and cheese sandwiches.  If only there was a way to combine cheese and pancakes in a pleasing manner… no — impossible — too much goodness.

I made enchiladas for the first time earlier this year when I had a dinner party at my apartment. It really is the perfect dish to feed a group of friends — aside from the frying of the tortillas (which isn’t crucial, and may not even be advisable for those who watch their fat intake) it’s very speedy and delicious.  I mean, it’s over a pound of cheese — how could it not taste good?  Here’s how I make it:

• 12-15 corn tortillas
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds cheese (I use a combination of mozzarella and a Mexican cheese mix), shredded
• 1 onion, chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 can of black beans
• Cilantro, pickled jalapeños, and avocado for garnish. Sour cream is also permissible (though I usually feel like I’ve got enough animal fats going on with all the cheese)

Sautee the tortillas in a small amount of oil over medium heat.  Cook on each side for about a minute. This helps to bring out the flavor of the tortilla.  Next, sautee the onion in some oil.  Combine the onion, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce in a bowl. Roll the enchiladas: cover about a third of the tortilla with cheese and beans (I like to go sparingly on the beans – they are more of an afterthought, whereas the cheese is the main idea). Roll it up and place it in a 9×13 inch pan. Continue until you’ve filled the pan. Cram them in – you can make skinny ones if there is only a little bit of space left. Now cover it with your tomato mixture. Sprinkle the top with cheese until it’s fully covered. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Top with cilantro, avocado, and jalapeños. 

YUM!