If my husband can eat it, it's not spicy

Apologies for the recent lapse in posting. To be honest, I have cooked this week, but I didn't feel like the dishes were quite blog-worthy yet - they need a little something still. Another reason for the lapse is that I haven't been feeling too great the past couple days. Not sure what it is, but I think it's starting to get better this afternoon. Oh yeah, and my monitor went nuts for a couple days, but I think (fingers crossed) after an hour Brian spent on the phone with Dell people to no avail, that little ol' me may just have figured it out.

So instead of posting my nothing-to-write-home-about quesadillas from the other night, I'd like to take this time to get something else off my chest concerning eating out: if you say it's spicy on the menu, then - and I know this is asking a lot - it should actually be spicy. My husband should not be able to eat it without experiencing some pain and discomfort. Please don't lead me on with your little chili peppers unless you really mean it. 

Sometimes I really don't think they take me seriously. (Is it the pasty white skin perhaps?) Maybe we can design a new rating system. There could be the "pansy spicy" and the "no, seriously - I want sweat to run down my temples and my sinuses to clear - spicy".   
  
 
They really must stop playing with my emotions. It's just so very disappointing. 

Think Beyond the Mushroom

God help you if you are a restaurant-going vegetarian and don't like mushrooms.

I get that there are many of you out there - meat-eaters and vegetarians alike - that are big fans of the mushroom. I happen to not be one of you. That's alright though. This is not a post debating the merits of the ill-textured little fungus. It's about how, as a vegetarian, I'm constantly subjected to them as my "meat alternative" by so many restaurants - particularly the nicer ones.

My fellow vegetarians and vegans will probably all be familiar with what I'm saying. However, they may not find it to be a problem, for they may adore mushrooms. That said, who couldn't use a little variety? How about some options? How many times have I gone to a nice restaurant only to discover that they only offer one vegetarian dish - Portabella Ravioli. This is especially disappointing to me, as I find the portabella to be the most offensive of the shrooms. 

Last night's dinner was a perfect illustration of the great overuse of mushrooms. Wanting to choose a nice place to have a dinner date and also try something new, Brian and I chose to go to Touche here in Springfield. We chose this partly for the atmosphere and also because we were told they had a separate menu featuring their vegetarian options. The place was beautiful and the atmosphere was right-on - off to a good start. The menus come and as I begin to peruse my options, I start to notice a disturbing trend. Out of maybe ten or twelve vegetarian options in the menu, about 5 were mushroom based and mentioned mushrooms in the name of the dish. I will give it to them, at least they had that many different dishes to choose from - mushrooms or not. The food came, and it was pretty good. But I couldn't help but notice the small pile of mushrooms that appeared on my husband's plate from a vegetarian dish that was NOT one of the aforementioned mushroom-based dishes. Apparently, you're getting them one way or another. 

I find that I encounter this problem mainly at finer dining restaurants. In general, eating out has become much easier for us vegetarians than it was 10 or 15 years ago. I would like to think that trained chefs of nicer restaurants could be a little more creative than relying on one ingredient on which to base their meals.

Dear chefs, 
We beg you, can we please move beyond the portabella burgers, the mushroom risottos, and the portabella raviolis? It would be so nice to enjoy a nice evening out at your fabulous restaurant and actually find something to eat as well. Just don't make it vegetable lasagne; we are tired of that too. 

Sincerely, 
Mushroom-hating Vegetarians of the World

 

Minestrone with Home-made Pesto

It's indescribable how fantastic it is to have fresh basil around again. It's one of the many benefits of summer. I so love summer. I need to move to a place where it's summer forever and ever...

Anyway, so this soup is very easy and also very flexible as far as the veggies you add go. I put down what I used this time, but things could be substituted, left-out, or added pretty successfully. For example, I happened to have some fresh green beans in the fridge, so I added those which is something I haven't done before. The real joy of the soup is the addition of home-made pesto at the end. You could use store-bought, but you'd really be cheating yourself. If you don't grow it, head out to that farmers market and get some! If you buy it fresh at the grocery store, you'll pay a small fortune to get as much as you need.

Ingredients for pesto:

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed down
• about 2/3 cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, roasted (I buy the pre-roasted kind)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper 
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese 

In a food processor (or blender if you must - I so hate blenders) combine the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, salt, and pepper. Pulse a few times until finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the oil until everything combines. You may not need the whole 2/3 cup. Now add the cheese and pulse a few more times to mix it. 

Smell that goodness. It's great in this soup of course, but has so many other uses.

 Ingredients for soup:

• 1 32 oz vegetable broth
• 2 14oz cans diced tomatoes flavored with basil, garlic, and oregano
• 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, any variety, diced
• 2 squash, zucchini, or a combo
• 4-5 cloves garlic, diced
• handful of fresh green beans, stems trimmed and cut in 3rds 
• 3/4 cup small shell noodles or elbow noodles 
• salt and pepper
• some fresh chopped Italian herbs if you got 'em 

Heat some olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, pepper, and garlic and season with some salt and pepper. Let this cook for a few minutes and then add everything else and season with some more salt and pepper. Bring this to a boil and let boil for about 10 minutes or so, until the pasta is cooked and the veggies are tender. I usually turn the heat down and let it simmer on low for another 5-10 minutes. Taste the soup to check the flavor, keeping in mind that you are going to add the pesto which will add quite a bit more. Actually, the soup tastes even better the second day, so if you want, make it before-hand.

When you serve the soup, add a spoonful of pesto to each bowl and mix in.

Fabulous.

Veggie-Burgers

 Update: Over the past year or two I have been learning a lot about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply that is concerning to me. Therefore, I can no longer support companies such as Morningstar (aslo owns Worthington and Loma Linda) that openly admit to using GMO ingredients in their products. I am currently looking for suitable substitutes to use in recipes like the one below. For more information on GMOs and alternatives to purchase, please check out Non-GMO Project.  

I've been eating these veggie-burgers for as long as I can remember and they have always been a favorite of mine. They are easy to make and super delicious. The only problem for some of you might be access to the kind of vegetarian burger I use. Perhaps they could be made just fine with say, Griller Crumbles, or some other frozen variety; I just haven't ever tried it. I use the Worthington Brand Burger that comes in a can. I realize that some of you out there think it looks like dog food. Hopefully, you can get past this long enough to try the recipe. You won't feel this way when you eat the burger! 

Ingredients:

• 1 can Worthington (or Loma Linda) brand burger (if trying this with crumbles, thaw first and probably use 2 packages)
• about 1/2 cup Quick Oats
• about 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 tsp Worschester sauce
• 1/2 tbsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• couple splashes hot sauce
• black pepper
• Optional: finely chopped onion

Add all above ingredients ito a medium bowl and mix together well. If mixture does not form patties pretty easily you may want to add more flour or maybe more oats.

Coat a large skillet with vegetable oil and heat over medium high heat. When nice and hot, form the burger mixture into bun-size patties and place in the skillet. Cook for several minutes on each side until darkish brown on each side. If you feel so inclined, melt some cheese on one side right before taking them out - yum. I usually place them on some paper towels to soak up some excess oil before serving. Continue until mixture is gone. This usually makes about 8 patties, depending on how big you make them.

Top with all your favorite burger toppings. Last night I used the basics plus avocado and smoked-gouda cheese. That was awesome! They also make great left-overs.

Eggplant Bruschetta

I have made these now for quite awhile, but have never known what to call them. So far they've been known in our house as "eggplant thingys". Now I suppose I could have titled this post "eggplant thingys" but I was really hoping for something a wee bit more descriptive. Bruschetta seems to work the best as that is essentially what it is - yummy stuff on toasted bread. But if you prefer to still call them "eggplant thingys", go right ahead. I probably still will.

Ingredients:

• 10 thin slices of french bread (do yourself a favor and get the pre-sliced or have them slice it for you) 
• 1 eggplant, cut in thinish rounds 
• 2 tomatoes, sliced very thin
• a few tbsp pesto (either classic basil or sun-dried tomato) 
• fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thin (you won't need the whole ball, maybe only a fourth)  
• Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 egg 
• veg oil and olive oil 

Begin by preparing the eggplant. Dip each slice in the egg and then coat it in the bread crumbs. Heat a skillet with the vegetable oil over med-high heat and when hot, fry the eggplants on each side until nicely brown and crisp. 

Line a baking sheet with the bread slices and drizzle each slice with olive oil. Put under the broiler just until lightly brown and then turn and repeat for the other side. Remove from oven and spread each slice with a thin coating of pesto. Next top with eggplant slices (you may need to cut some in half to make it all fit). Then, top the eggplant with the tomato slices and then the mozzarella cheese. You could really use any melting cheese that you really like - except for cheddar perhaps... 

Now put the tray back into the oven under the broiler until the cheese starts to bubble and brown. Ten slices will serve about four, depending on what else you serve and how hungry you are : ) 

Since it's garden season, I love finding ways to utilize the fresh, in-season produce. I recommend making your own pesto out of fresh basil as well. Store-bought will work fine, but nothing beats fresh pesto! I'll have a recipe for that up soon if you need one. 

 

Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Garlic

Try not be blown away by the stellar photography. I did not take very many shots so this will have to do.

I love mashed potatoes. Love, love , love. 


I had some Yukon Gold potatoes left from the potato salad so on the day I decide I should start watching what I eat again, I make mashed potatoes. That makes sense right? 

Good, I thought so. 

*Sigh*


Ingredients:

• about 10-14 yukon gold potatoes, cut in uniform chunks, skins on
• 2 onions, sliced thin
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• about 1 cup or so vegetable broth or milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• salt 
• black pepper

Makes about 7-8 servings

Start with the onions since they take awhile. Caramelizing is an exercise in patience. Heat a large skillet and add some olive oil or butter or a mixture and when hot add the onions. Make sure to separate the onion slices before adding to the oil. Sprinkle some salt over the onions and cook over lowish heat for about 30 minutes (this may vary) stirring often. 


Once the onions are started, cover the potatoes with water, add some salt, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let them cook for about 15 minutes. Drain the water and return to pot. Add some vegetable broth, lots of black pepper, the butter (optional) and more salt. Beat together with an electric mixer until smooth adding more broth is necessary. Taste because you'll probably need more salt. It always takes a lot for potatoes. 


Hopefully the onions will be browning nicely about now. Go ahead and add the garlic and let cook for a few more minutes. Then toss the onions and garlic in with the mashed potatoes. Taste and add more salt or pepper if you desire. 


The onions and the garlic are not overpowering, but they add a little something interesting to regular mashed potatoes.

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

If you know me, then you know I'd be happy to make almost anything hot and spicy. I have to pull back the reigns a little these days so my husband doesn't leave me for some bland food-loving chick. 

OK, not really, but there would be a lot of protesting. I've learned my lesson. 

I suppose the idea for these green beans came from P.F. Changs. I believe it's there that they have an addictive little side dish like this. I'm not sure exactly what all they put in theirs, but I thought mine turned out pretty tasty. 

Ingredients:

• fresh green beans, ends trimmed
• 5-6 garlic cloves, chopped (more if serving a lot of beans)
• a couple tbsp soy sauce
• sriracha or some other asian chili sauce (amount depends on how spicy you like things)

 First, put the beans in a sauce pan and cover with water. Salt the water and bring to a boil and let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. You want them to still be a little crisp, so check them at 10 minutes.

Drain the beans and heat some olive oil in the pan. Add the beans and garlic together to the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes. Garlic is essential - don't skimp!

Next add the soy sauce and a little sriracha. Mix it in and taste. If you want more spice, go for it. If you don't want any spice (what's wrong with you?) then you can leave the sriracha out and it will still taste good. That's what I did for Brian. He still liked it. 

Spicy, salty, garlic-y and still good for you. What more could you want? 

Fried Corn

My aunt Dawna made this while I was visiting her in Dallas recently. It's something my grandmother makes as well. It's very easy and you just need a couple of ingredients. I was amazed at how cooking the corn this way brought out it's sweetness. It's a perfect way to use fresh, summer corn from your garden or farmer's market. 


Ingredients:

• 4 ears of corn
• 1 small, sweet onion or a few shallots, chopped fine
• olive oil and about a tbsp butter
• salt and pepper 

(serves about 2-3)

Begin by removing the kernels from the cob. I just put the cob on its end and run my knife down the sides. 

Heat some oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and corn and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or so. 

And that's it! Much less messy than eating it off the cob, but that's always good too.

Deeper Thoughts

After a nice, long break next week I'll be jumping back into a very full schedule of teaching and TOEFL shifts. I am determined not to let the posting fall too far behind however. It's really important to me to keep cooking and experimenting and keep the recipes coming. My garden is coming along nicely and it won't be long until I get to try and come up with different ways to use all those vegetables. Hope you're ready for lots of recipes that include squash and zucchini! 

My plan this evening is to try the fried corn recipe my aunt made when visiting her recently in Dallas. But until then, I thought it might be time again to leave you with some more Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy.

Children need encouragement. So if a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way, he develops a good, lucky feeling. 

If you  ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because, man, they're gone. 

Instead of trying to build newer and bigger weapons of mass destruction, mankind should be thinking about getting more use out of the weapons we already have. 

Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess was why several of us died of tuberculosis. 

When you're going up the stairs and you take a step, kick the other leg up high behind you to keep people from following to close.

As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.
 

Potato Salad

I can safely say I will never win an award for blog photography. This one was so bad I consider not even including a picture this time. Ah well, can't do everything well. Just wouldn't be fair. 


Apologies for not posting in a bit. I don't like having such a hiatus but it couldn't really be helped between being out of town and beginning on-line work with TOEFL last week. But now I'm back and for some reason potato salad was calling my name. I guess that's normal for summertime. I'm sure everyone has a recipe for potato salad that they love as there are a zillion different ways to make it. I like mine to be very pickle-y. I'll do my best to convey how I make it, but bear with me as I NEVER measure when making potato salad. Luckily, it's pretty forgiving. The key is to taste it often and remember you can also add but you can't take away!



Ingredients: (for a large amount - it takes awhile to make so I like to make it worth the time!)

• about 10 gold potato, cut into small chunks (with the golden potatoes I don't bother with peeling them - the skin is pretty thin and you won't notice it) 
• about 5 eggs, hard-boiled 
• 2 celery stalks, chopped very small 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• a few spoonfuls dill relish or chopped dill pickles 
  
• about 1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
• about 1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo
• 1-2 tbsp mustard 
• seasoning: paprika, lots of black pepper, cajun seasoning, a bit of season salt (you shouldn't need to add regular salt after all that - the relish will be salty too of course) 
• chopped fresh parsley, about a tbsp or so, if you have it handy 

Begin by covering the diced potatoes in water, add some salt, and bringing to a boil. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. You'll want to check them as they cook. You don't want them to be mush, just tender so they'll hold their shape a bit. Drain well and set aside to cool down.


Meanwhile, boil the eggs. I cover the eggs with water in a pot and bring them to a boil. When they come to a boil, remove from heat and cover. Let them sit for about 13 minutes. Cool them down in cold water before peeling. 

When potatoes are cool enough to handle (they don't necessarily need to be cold), add them to a large bowl. Chopped the egg into small bits and add them to the potatoes. Add them celery, garlic, relish, spices, mustard, and parsley. Add some of the sour cream and mayo and mix together. If it needs be to creamier, add more until it's your preferred consistency. Taste to check the seasonings and add more if you like. Goes great with all your summer favorites. We had ours with veggie dogs and vegetarian baked beans. Well, Brian ate the baked beans. I'm not a fan. 


Can I just say how happy I am that it is finally hot-ish here! Happy summer!