New Recipes: April

Perhaps I was making up for lost time and only two new recipes in March--I tried six new recipes in April!  The recipes are split evenly with three in the sweets/baking category and three in the dinner category.

Sweets:

1) Chocolate Almond Bread from an old Family Circle.

This was a fun weekend project that turned out beautifully.  The next time I make it I will knead it for less time (the recipe said 10 minutes!) consider replacing the almond paste/chocolate middle with Nutella to save a step, and skip dusting the loaves with sugar before baking.  After sharing some with my housemate and co-worker, I ate the rest of the slices for my breakfasts with a smear of peanut butter and strawberries on top.


2) Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Poppy Seed Buttercream from Joy the Baker

I am usually pretty adamant that dessert isn't really dessert without chocolate, but when I was doing my meal planning this past week, this cake was the only recipe that caught my eye and I wanted to make.  The gorgeous spring weather may have had something to do with it and had me dreaming of tank tops, shorts and lemonades on the porch.

While my first slice didn't quite live up to my expectations, my second, third, fourth (and so on) pieces have been quite delicious.  I frequently find that with recipes that I am excited to make, the first bites somehow fall short, but the next day I am pleasantly surprised by my creation.  Does this ever happen to anyone else?


3) Peanut Butter Banana Cookies from All New Low Carb Recipes Cookbook

No photos, no rave review.  I should probably know better than to expect delicious cookies from a low-carb cookbook.  Perhaps most frustratingly, the portions were such that I could eat four no problem and while there was no sugar, each cookie clocked in at 100 calories.  Not quite as "healthy" as they tasted.

Dinners:

1) Shrimp & Grits

The impetus for this meal came from a package of grits that has been sitting in my pantry since one of my housemates moved out almost a year ago (Hi Christina!)  While technically past the expiration date, I still wanted to try and make something with them--and even when I halved the amount of butter and cheese called for in the recipe--I was a huge fan!  I added some extra veggies in the form of zucchini and tomatoes to make it a more complete meal, and was really excited for the leftovers at lunch the next day.  An easy recipe with a simple ingredient list, yet different enough from what I usually make.

2) Chicken & Sausage Gumbo from All New Low Carb Recipes Cookbook

 I wrote about this recipe earlier in the month.  And yes, those are more grits in the background.


3) Chicken & Tofu Scramble with Peas & Carrots from Homestyle Japanese Cooking

I picked up two slim paperback Japanese food cookbooks when I was teaching in Japan, and in the six or so years that I've had them have made only about two recipes from them.  With this recipe, the total climbs to around three!

As tofu is often considered a meat substitute, it may seem a bit odd to see it paired with chicken.  In Japan I found several instances where tofu was used as "meat-extender" if you will, adding some bulk but retaining the meaty flavor of the dish.  This scramble also featured the classic Japanese cooking combo of soy sauce, sugar, and sake.  I didn't have any sake, but some white wine worked in a pinch.

***

Without a doubt, some good eats this month!  I would make everything again, with the exception of the peanut butter cookies.  If I had to pick just one winner from each category I would choose the Chocolate Almond Bread and the Shrimp & Grits.

Flavor of the week

I wasn't aware of it until sitting down to write this post, but I was on bit of a pineapple kick this week.  In addition to the meals pictured here, I also enjoyed the "The Pina Loco Margarita: Sauza Conmemorativo Tequila, Grilled Pineapple. Grilled Jalapenos & Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice"  at Mono Loco on Thursday night.  

My first pineapple dish was Asian Style Fried Rice with Beans for dinner on Wednesday.  After a few days of leftovers, I was pretty proud of myself for cooking--on a weeknight no less!  I had made this recipe once before, and was a bit disappointed in the the results.  This time, I started by browning the pineapple, removed it, and then thought better of it, and threw it back in the pan with the vegetables in the hopes of imparting more flavor.  I also used only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the soy sauce called for in the recipe, which made it taste much better (as in, taste like something other than soy sauce.)

With the chickpeas, this recipe could be a one-pot meal, but since I went for a run after work and it was nearing 8 o'clock by the time I ate, I added a fried egg and a 1/4 of an avocado on top.  Something was still missing, so I added a few dashes of Tapatio hot sauce.  I am glad I tried this recipe again; it's quick and easy and much more appealing with less soy sauce.

Pineapple meal number two was one of my breakfast smoothies.  This not only fit this week's unofficial theme, but was the first smoothie I have ever made that is worth sharing the "recipe" for!  It was tropical and delicious.

Put the following ingredients in the blender, add the lid and blend away!

• 1 banana
• 1/4 c frozen pineapple chunks (Trader Joe's)
• 1/4 c frozen mango chunks (Trader Joe's)
• 1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c oatmeal
• 8 oz orange juice
• 1-2 dashes of cinnamon

This week was also the first time I tried adding raw oats to my smoothies.  They blended well, and weren't too noticeable aside from making the smoothie a bit thicker.  I am looking forward to replicating this again next week!

Perhaps inspired by that yummy smoothie, I picked up a mango today at the store.  I think my taste buds are telling me it's time for a beach vacation somewhere...

Stubborn

As I write this, I am wearing a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and have a mug of hot cocoa next to me. By mid-late April I would much rather be outside in a sundress, but clearly Mother Nature has other plans this year.  After reaching over 80*F last Sunday, this week it was near freezing for two of my morning commutes!  Finally, yesterday morning I dared to leave the house without gloves, feeling strongly that they shouldn't be a necessity in April.  Unfortunately, this conviction was not enough to keep my hands warm as the high was a paltry 57*F.

One way that I keep warm is by getting active in the kitchen.  I cooked twice this week, and both dishes had a little kick to them that made the house smell good and generated some heat in my tummy.

Meal 1--Chicken & Sausage Gumbo from All New Low Carb Recipes.  I found this book at my aunt's house, and was intrigued by the numerous dessert options in the back.  I surprised myself by choosing to make my first recipe from the front of the book instead.

The recipe came together easily, and I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor, since most of the ingredients were pretty basic.  I also sabotaged the "low-carb" nature of the recipe by serving it with a scoop of grits.

Meal 2--Spicy Chickpea Samosas with Raita from Cooking Light.  I first made this recipe in November 2013, but it doesn't appear to have made it onto the blog.  I know when I first made it because just like my mother, I am now putting the date and a letter grade on all of the recipes I make in my binder full of magazine cutouts.  Another way I recently discovered I am exactly like my mom?  Spending an inordinate amount of time comparing the color combinations of multi-pack tissue boxes to best "match" my decor.

Anyway...samosas!  I think the recipe is intended to make appetizers for a small group of people, but both times mine have turned into generously sized triangular pockets, two of which make a decent meal.  One benefit to going the appetizer route is the samosas will all be consumed while the outsides are still crispy.  This is not one of those meals that makes even better leftovers.

The ingredient list is a bit lengthy, but a good portion of the list are spices or other pantry staples.  The process is also pretty straight forward--chop, saute, season and fold.

My fillo dough had been chillin' in the freezer (pun intended) since the first round of this recipe last fall, so it was drier than usual and a little tricky to work with.  But coating them with melted butter and popping them in the oven at 400* for 10 minutes certainly helped cover up any flaws.

While the samosas baked, I prepared the raita.  Last time I remembered having a lot leftover, so this time I only used a 1/2 cup of yogurt, rather than the 3/4 called for in the recipe.

Served with a side of roasted brussel sprouts.

A nice veggie-rich dinner meant more room for Cadburry Mini-Eggs afterwards.  Even if the weather isn't cooperating as nicely as I want it to, it's still spring!

Then & Now

After typing up my last post, I got a bit lost looking back through the archives.  I was really struck by the differences between the first months' entries and the ones I write now.

These differences reflect the changes in my life during the same time period--living in Japan and being unemployed, living at my parents house and working less than full time, moving across the country to start graduate school, completing graduate school, and now working full time with a teeny paycheck.  That my writing style and approach to cooking/eating has varied with the amount of free time and level of stress I had is only logical.  But to me, it feels as though most my of posts from the last year or so have been lacking a lot of the passion and interest I exhibited earlier on.

Since it is always easier to blame someone else, particularly a large faceless entity, I am going to blame the internet.  (Oh the irony of a blog post ranting at the internet, the medium that makes the whole thing possible!)  In the early days, there were only a few other blogs that I read regularly.  I didn't know that someone could make a living as a professional blogger.  I was oblivious to sponsored posts and affiliate links (still am sometimes, but they are a lot harder to ignore).  Now I am much more aware of these things, suffer from information overload nearly every time I look at my list of unread blog posts in bloglovin', and inevitably see a bajillion things on a daily basis that make me question the value of even venturing into the fray.  I say this in the loosest sense--I am a horrible lurker, reading other blogs and never commenting; and for the most part I am completely unconcerned by the idea of promoting my own blog--yet this malaise has wormed its way in, and been a beast to overcome.

I don't want to stop blogging; I don't like giving up.  As cliche as it sounds, I do like having my own little corner of the internet to share my thoughts and experiences.  And I do want to try and recapture the more enthusiastic and candid nature of my earlier posts.  I am not quite sure how exactly to do that, but I think being honest and kind to myself are two good places to start.

Thank you to anyone who read this far.  You are welcome to my corner of the internet anytime.

New Recipes: March

Due to my unusual schedule last month, I didn't meet my full "recipe each week" goal, but March did start out strong with two new recipes right out of the gate.

1.  Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Beef and Spinach

I chose this recipe after looking back at my posts from December and January and decided I really needed to try something outside of my comfort zone.  And beef is pretty far outside of my comfort zone; I spent several minutes confused by the various cuts on display at the grocery store, and was quite relieved to find one labeled "beef for stir fry."

Once I had my ingredients, the rest of it came together pretty easily.  I added some extra cooking time, as nothing seemed to happen quite as rapidly as the recipe described.  The final dish was tasty and filling, and I would recommend trying it to anyone who likes beef.  If beef isn't really your thing, you are not missing anything by not trying this recipe.  It's not going to become a regular in my rotation, but I will keep it in mind if happen to be cooking for a "beef-itarian."


2.  Cheesy Stuffed Eggplants

This recipe was taken from Redbook magazine several years ago, and has laid dormant in my recipe binder ever since.  I think I was a little intimidated by the step requiring the "eggplant shells" be blanched in boiling water, but I am happy to report it was pretty painless.

The ingredients in this recipe were certainly more down my alley (vegetables, grains and cheese...what else could you possibly need?) and the finished product was quite beautiful.  I was a little underwhelmed by the filling at first, but the flavors improved the second day.  I only used one eggplant, which resulted in a bunch of extra filling that I enjoyed cold on top of salad greens with a bit of oil and vinegar for lunch later in the week.

So far in April I am 1-for-1 in the new recipe category.  Stay tuned for the full recap at the end of the month!