A Week of Eats--March 24

Only one real recipe this week.  I ate two dinners out and have been working my way through some leftovers.

a) Chicken and Olive Tamale Pie

Better Homes + Gardens, March 2013; pg. 152

b) Grilled Cheese + Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Nice break from my regular smoothies

c) Lunchbox salad

with a generous amount of queso fresco on the top

d) Tamale pie and salad for dinner

e) Roasted Green Bean "Fries"

Best when topped with lots of ketchup

f) Chocolate Bark with pistashios and dried cranberries

To celebrate the last session of my professional practice class

A Week of Eats--March 17

A few late evenings make for very little cooking this week.  

Last Sunday I went out to dinner with my brother and had corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day! 

(a + d) Monday marked the true end of Spring Break.  After my take home mid-term I made shrimp curry and quinoa.

On Tuesday I had an appointment at 5:30 to get my taxes done, expected to by home around 6:30, go for a run and make dinner.  Instead the appointment took two hours, and I didn't eat dinner until 8 :-(  The refund from my paltry earnings will be worth it in the end.

Every Wednesday I have class from 7-10, so dinner was a bagel and soup from Bodo's.  Didn't get home until almost 11.

(b) Finally on Thursday I was home at a regular hour, went for a long-ish run in the freezing cold and made "Brazilian Black Beans and Rice" for dinner.  The recipe is one of my mom's staples and starts out like this: "I might sautee the onions and garlic in a little oil first, or maybe I just throw everything in together."  I decided to go the sautee route, and it tasted just as I expected it to.

Friday was a long day at school.  I gave my first-ever "tour" for an admitted grad student, and thankfully she was way more prepared than I, and had a lot of good questions.  I went to a lunchtime discussion about recycling, and spent the afternoon making a lot of maps.  Made quick pesto pasta when I got home.

(c + f) Today, I slept in and made a batch of banana crumb muffins before heading into school for a bit.  When I arrived at school, I learned that the drive I was saving all of my work to yesterday crashed, which made for a frustrating and repetitive morning.  I ate two muffins for lunch and engaged in some retail therapy at Goodwill.  When I got home, I went for run around the neighborhood and while the weather was nice, the run was not--two banana muffins are not adequate fuel for the hills around here.  

(e) I replenished at dinner with a hearty "taco salad" with leftover black beans, corn, greens, tomatoes, cheese, Greek yogurt and some tortilla chip shards from the bottom of the bag on the side.

The cupboard is pretty bare, but I don't have any inspiring ideas for next week yet.  Maybe something in the crock-pot?

A Week of Eats--March 3

I've noticed that I have been much more interested in "lifestyle" blogs lately, rather than ones that revolve strictly around food.  Many of these blogs have regular weekly features which help give them structure, and while this blog is unlikely to ever stray too far from its foodie beginnings, I wanted to try a feature of my own.

Introducing the first "Week of Eats" post, an easy way for me to share what I've been up to in the kitchen in one convenient post.  Enjoy!

a) Chocolate Mocha Cookies 

Similar recipe here.

b) Pizza Night!

Store bought crust with lots of veggies.

c) Fried Rice

w/ fried tofu, broccoli and pineapple chunks

d) Sweet Potato Wedges

Baked @ 400* for 30-40 mins

e) Salad for Dinner

w/ hard boiled egg, TJ's falafel and banana peppers

f) Tortellini Soup

w/ chicken broth, canned tomatoes, kidney beans and vegetables

"Wrapping" up Feburary

This is the last post I have planned about Keizo's visit back in February.  Seeing as life has totally moved on, I would like to as well--but the following was one of the best things "we" made.

I arrived home from class one Monday evening to the aromas of garlic and ginger and found Keizo in the kitchen with a big bowl of minced pork, cabbage, and green onions a.k.a. the filling for gyoza (potstickers).

We had bought won-ton wrappers at the grocery store, and worked together to get them filled and ready to pan fry.  I cheated and used a little handheld crimper, but Keizo relived his childhood and folded them expertly by hand.

He then put the gyoza in the oiled frying pan, about 8-10 at a time, added some water and covered them to cook.  The filling made a ton of gyoza!  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think we had about 60 won-ton wrappers, which we divided over two meals, making about 30 gyoza at a time.  

The first time we used vegetable oil in the pan; the second time we tried coconut oil and I thought the difference was incredible.  The coconut oil tasted slightly sweet and much lighter than the regular vegetable oil.

I probably could have made a meal out of the gyoza alone, but even when he isn't exercising twice a day, Keizo's appetite is much larger than mine, so we made some pad thai on the side for our first meal, and whipped up some tasty okonomiyaki for the second.

These meals reminded me I don't cook nearly enough Japanese food on my own!  Perhaps I should get a copy of this book for inspiration...

Valentine's Day 2013

While I like to blame the absence of a creative Valentine's gift/outing on the fact that I only found out about a week ahead of time that Keizo and I would actually be spending February 14th on the same continent, the reality is I had over a week to come up with something or try and make a reservation somewhere but didn't.

We have had some fantastic Valentine's in the past (see here, and here) and I didn't feel like any of this year's ideas could compare.  Rather than trying to compete, we took a decidedly low-key approach that is summed up by the following:

Source

This blog and its title originated around our love of food, after all!  My regular Thursday class was cancelled last week, giving us the whole day and three square meals together.

Breakfast: Banana pancakes topped with peanut butter and syrup + coffee.  Stick to the ribs fuel for a morning jaunt up the Monticello-Saunders Trail.

Lunch: Quick fish tacos with "fiesta slaw."  Leisurely strolling four miles up and down a mountain with a bunch of retirees works up an appetite.

Dinner: Heart-shaped pasta with "customized" brandy sauce, green salads and wine.  It was V-day, and the romantic pasta shapes I probably bought on sale last February weren't getting any fresher.

Pasta sauce from a jar with sausage, onions, and tomatoes added.

The best wine $3.29 can buy!

After the wine was poured and photos captured, we turned off the overhead lights for some atmosphere.  I only had the one candle lit on the table and initially it felt more like a power outage than a romantic dinner.  Eventually my eyes adjusted, and I no trouble locating my food with my fork and carrying it to my mouth.

Dessert: Red velvet cupcakes from a boxed mix.  I had high hopes, but these did not meet my expectations. 

                           

The frosting in particular was way too buttery; but gee, they do look pretty cute all dressed up!

We shared some with the upstairs neighbors, and somehow managed to finish off the rest of them later in the week.

****

Cooking alone certainly has its perks---only one palette to satisfy, significantly lower grocery bills and fewer dishes when I decide to eat leftovers straight from the container--but cooking with another person, especially one who not only loves you and your food but also offers to do the dishes, is impossible to beat.

I hope everyone got to eat something they love with someone they love on the 14th and has a chance to do it again soon <3