Small Kitchen, Big Taste

Not So Guilty Pleasures

2009-08-16T19:47:00.005-05:00

Oh, so good. I got hooked on Mad Men several weeks ago after catching a repeat on AMC and promptly queued all the DVDs in Netflix. Needless to say I've been waiting for tonight and nerdily marked it on my calendar so I wouldn't forget!

Dinner was simple to use up some mushrooms and asparagus that were in a use-it-or-lose-it state with some whole wheat rotini. I made sure to have dinner ready early enough to allow my stomach to make room for dessert along all the fashion eye candy on Mad Men as well as time to clean up. This is a great easy weeknight meal that could just as well accommodate some chicken or shrimp if you felt inclined.

I just cooked up some sliced shitake 'shrooms in a bit of butter and lemon juice until they were slightly browned and added the asparagus for the last couple of minutes, along with a bit of vegetable broth and a dash of the pasta water to create slightly saucier dish. Normally I'd top it with some Parmesan but for the first time ever (what WAS I thinking?) I am out! No worries - the cheese drawer is always stocked and I added a couple chunks of feta for creaminess.

After cleaning up and painting my nails I sat down to indulge in my non-guilty pleasures. I'd seen a recipe in the latest SELF magazine for a blueberry-basil granita and knew I had to have it. Between this and the banana "soft-serve" that's been all the bloggy rage this summer who needs ice cream? This involved about two more steps than the soft-serve, which is to say that it took 3 minutes instead of 1. Really. Just add blueberries, a bit of basil, a couple tablespoons of honey, a little bit of water, and a pinch of salt to a food processor and blend. Once smooth, pour into an airtight container and freeze for a couple of hours.

Nevermind the lovely container - this was sooooooooo tasty. The clean flavors of basil and the sweetness of the blueberries made it feel considerably more decadent than it truly is. Plenty of other flavor combinations are a-brewing in my mind already.

Merry Old Land of Oz

2009-08-16T18:04:00.005-05:00

Ugh. Waking up this morning was not fun. I'd had just enough last night to have a mini-hangover this morning but nothing that couldn't be worked through. The Beanpole had to head out mid-morning to catch a flight to the other side of the Earth. It sounds so strange when worded that way. Anyway. I needed something bland to eat, but needed it quickly, so once he was packed and ready to go we ducked into our favorite little neighborhood bakery, Red Hen, for a pastry. I just had a plain croissant and an apple juice to hold me over.

Grocery shopping was a nightmare today due the sudden downpour on the heads of the Air show crowd who proceeded to clog every major artery heading north or south. It took nearly an hour to get home when it typically takes 10-15 minutes. I was happy to be on the bus and not out on the beach far from cover! Finally hungry and ready to eat by this point I stuck an Amy's Spinach Pizza wrap into the microwave and broke out the watermelon I'd picked up. I'm not a huge fan of watermelon but this is the third time in a week that I've had a perfect taste of it. Not soggy or sour, just perfectly crisp and juicy.

My go-to hangover fix used to be a nice big Coke but now that I've cut down on the caffeine it's hard to take more than a couple of sips at a time so I stayed with a carbonated water. Bubbles make everything better! See how pretty?

Since then I've enjoyed a leisurely Sunday Spa day. I'm exfoliated, buffed, polished, washed, straightened, moisturized, and RELAXED. I think I did everything but dye my eyes to match my dress! Ooooooh, and I have what promises to be an extremely delicious dessert in the making right now. My goal is to have everything ready to start my day tomorrow early tonight so I can curl up on the couch with my pretty pink toes, tasty (and healthy!) dessert, and relish every second of the new season of Mad Men. Can't wait to find out what changes have taken place at Sterling Cooper!

I Went to the Danger Zone

2009-08-16T17:48:00.005-05:00

Seems like a fitting title for a weekend filled with sonic booms and unexpected showers. First, a correction. Yesterday's yogurt was not in fact Oikos, but Chobani. Either way I'm still a Fage kind of gal.

Not long after the yogurt yesterday The Beanpole and I headed out to run some errands and see some friends who were kind enough to invite us over to enjoy their front-row seats to the Air and Water show. We snacked on Romano cheese, rice crackers, spicy olives, and zesty pickles. The pickles stole the show in my opinion! I'm not sure what the zestiness contained but they were delicious! How 'bout this view?!?!?!

Not terribly long after we arrived the Thunderbirds came zooming in and several of us piled onto the 24th floor balcony to watch the routine to the Top Gun soundtrack blaring on the speakers inside. As fun as they are to watch I've got to say that they don't hold a candle to the Blue Angels. Once a Navy girl always a Navy girl, I guess. I tried to grab a couple shots of them in action, but they were hard to catch! We all squealed with excitement (heightened perhaps by the beer and daquiris that were flowing) when they came flying right over the building:

Later we caught a bus up the street to the bar to meet some more friends and have a couple of beers. Can't beat a $4 Carlsberg! I hadn't really eaten a formal lunch and was pretty hungry by that point so I ordered the veggie skewers. YUM. Two skewers of peppers, zucchini, squash, and tomato over couscous with a curry dipping sauce and pitas. I shared some of the pitas and sauce but tore into the veggies like a wild woman. It's funny how the body truly comes to crave healthy options after a little while!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2009-08-15T12:01:00.006-05:00

Now that I've adjusted to the new job and working out of the house again I'm making a sincere effort to get back into this blogging thing. It all sort of comes down to my birthday resolution. I don't actually make New Year's resolutions with the rest of the world but prefer to do them on my birthday. It's a fresh start for me and a chance to try to make some positive moves forward. While the rest of the world rejoices the coming of spring and new growth I instead use the dark, cold days of winter to reflect on the changes that I've already put in place through the fall and use the thoughts of all the new shoots to energize existing plans for a motivational boost. It's been a season of change around here and I've enjoyed the last month of reflecting on the past year and getting ready to start all over.

So, without further ado, I'm posting my Birthday Resolutions and the steps already in place for the world (or the 4 readers I currently have) to see

1. Start writing again. It's tough to get started, and tougher to keep going, but it's what I love. So I signed up for a class this fall on freelancing for magazines. By the end of the five sessions we're to have a finished article ready for submission and/or publication. I'm looking forward to getting some ideas and guidance and finally pursuing this after thinking about it for so many years.
2. Begin a regular yoga home practice. For years it seemed that a daily home practice was out of reach, something to be relished by those with endless hours and not bound by the time-space continuum. Recently though the lightbulb went on and I realized that a twenty minute practice could be just as valid as an hour and a half or more. This realization leads me to my third (and more nebulous) resolution:
3. Remember that it's all just practice. Like many others I have a tendency to forget that it (whatever IT is) doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It's ok to have a cooking disaster because plenty of opportunities for simple successes exist. It's ok for my heels to fly up stubbornly during adho mukha svanasana as long as I keep practicing. Maybe they'll get there. Maybe they won't. But either way, I will, and that's the bigger point of it all anyway.

Enough of the serious stuff, right? The past couple of weekends have been some of the best on record in the past year because the workaholic Beanpole was able to escape the doom of consultancy to GASP - spend time with his wife and reclaim a bit of a normal lifestyle. We celebrated last weekend with none other than a Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Pequod's (for him) and a movie date (for me) to see Julie and Julia. Many critics have expressed disappointment with the Julie segments but having read the book (a couple weeks after 30, being laid off from a job I didn't really like anyway, and loving food but not really knowing how to cook, and living in 600sf while being a frustrated wanna-be writer) I have to say that it was spot-on. I can't even count the number of times that the Beanpole turned to me and said "Yup. That's you."

That just about catches us up to this week! This is probably one of the better birthday weekends on record. Yesterday started out with an adorable puppy card and a box of Oreos on my desk from my cube-mate. How sweet was that of her? We'd talked the day before about "trigger foods" and of course, Oreos were mentioned. While I try not to place extremely strict guidelines on what I can or can't eat Oreos will send me over the edge every time so they are a once a year treat. And after breaking open the package I can say that they have yet to disappoint! The day got even better when my second paycheck hit. The thrill of seeing money in our bank account again is a fantastic high. What could make the day better still? The Beanpole getting home from Philly! And better than that? A lovely French dinner (in honor Julia, of course!) on Bistro Campagne's charming patio with a bottle of rich red wine. He enjoyed the special tenderloin while I feasted on halibut. We had a slight mixup and the runner served me a plate of rabbit instead and not paying attention I bit right in. Ohhhhhhh, it was amazing to have meat again. I sneaked in two bites before they snatched it away from me to replace it with my order but feared becoming sick. When I was still kicking half an hour later I knew I'd found a meat option! Will I eat rabbit on a regular basis? Not likely, as I'm loathe to prepare it and the Bistro is just a little pricey to visit regularly, but it's comforting to know that I'm not destined to remain solely pescatarian. It was a little too dark to get any photos, but I did snap the wine so we can pick up a couple bottles.

We slept in this morning after going to bed so late last night and are getting ready to run some errands and drop by some friends' house to enjoy their balcony for the annual Air and Water show. The Thunderbirds' maneuvers never cease to thrill me and a dream of mine is to ride through a show some day. I'd settle for the Blue Angels though if I had to and had a Blue bowl of breakfast in their honor.

Blueberry Oikos topped with blueberries and a bit of peach maple granola. I'm not crazy about Oikos but it was on sale for considerably cheaper than my favorite Fage so Oikos it was! And a big cup of water which was not, as the cup indicates, a killer margarita. Saving that for tonight perhaps!

We'll probably grab lunch out since the fridge is pretty bare. I'm hoping to find a tasty and filling salad somewhere since we'll be having cocktails tonight with some more friends to celebrate my birthday some more. After spending my 30th in the GI doctor's office doubled over in pain and misery I'm milking this one!

What a Day!

2009-06-25T18:31:00.005-05:00

Wow, I'm just amazed at all the sad celebrity news this week! I've been glued to the TV most of the afternoon trying to keep up with the is-he-or-isn't-he coverage around Michael Jackson. It's just been in the past couple of years that I've started to really enjoy his music. Hopefully he'll enjoy some peace now that he seemed to struggle to find here on Earth.

Annnnyhoooo. I knew I wanted to keep lunch on the lighter side tonight since I'm planning on a pasta dinner but didn't feel like a salad. After staring at all the yummy goodness in the fridge I had a flashback to some lettuce cups that a friend made one summer day a couple years ago. That version involved ground turkey but conveniently I had some Boca Crumbles in the freezer just waiting on a day like this. They're not much to look at but were very tasty!

I sauteed some chopped onion and garlic until translucent, added a bit of red bell pepper, some cumin and chili powder, the Crumbles, and a little bit of water and covered for a couple of minutes. This was the first go-round with the Crumbles. I don't love them and if I were a meat-eater would likely have been a bit disappointed but used in a sauce or a flavorful taco recipe like this they held up pretty well. The texture was decidedly different...a little on the mushy side. Nice to have on hand for a quick lunch or dinner though.

The lettuce cups were on the small side once wrapped so I added an apple and a couple of cherries for some balance. Boy, did I ever underestimate how filling the wraps would be! Half an apple is just hanging out in the fridge waiting on me.

In other exciting news, I had a job offer! Wooooooo-hooo! It's a temp-to-hire position at a local university and I'll be starting in the next couple of weeks. We're in the process of ironing out some of the details, but oddly enough it's a position that I interviewed for a couple months ago that's come open again. Funny how the world works, isn't it? How's that for a reminder to put out lots of positive energy in the world? It really does come back around. I think I'll have a glass or two of wine tonight to celebrate!

2009-06-25T11:50:00.004-05:00

Good morning! I woke up nice and early to the warm sunshine this morning and took my time getting out of bed. It's so relaxing to just lie there enjoying the morning and not feeling rushed. The Beanpole often jokes that I'm becoming more and more like our cat and perhaps it's true!

Yesterday's oatmeal was delicious but today called for something a little lighter so I started with a pina colada Green Monster. It ended up being a little too much and turned warm too quickly, even with a couple ice cubes added, so I didn't quite finish it. There's about 1/4 left. I need to remember to make mini-smoothies so I don't end up wasting as much. Oh well. One of these days! To supplement the smoothie and fill the belly for a little longer I added a multi-grain waffle with almond butter and fresh berries.

My landlord is refinancing the place so she and the appraiser came over to take a look (hence the late posting) and in talking with her I found out that she has a friend who has some experience in the event planning field and got her name and number. I'm really excited about all the possibilities that are opening up now that I'm reaching out and pursuing something that I've always had in the back of my mind. Being laid off wasn't easy in a number of ways but I've really reached that point of making the most of it and becoming more and more engaged in the local community and building a new network of really great people. This might be one of the best things that's happened to me in the past year! Today looks to be pretty good. I'm camping out at home watching the Cubs game and getting some more resumes out there. GO CUBS!

A Hot Mess

2009-06-24T22:21:00.004-05:00

Sorry for all the weather chatter lately! Yikes. But, as anyone in Chicago will happily tell you we KNOW how to talk about the weather. There are so many jokes about it - all based in reality. Don't like it? Give it thirty minutes and it'll be different. : )

After eating out for five straight days while on vacation (and not wanting to buy groceries right before the trip) my goal for this week was to eat as many meals - if not all - at home as possible. Tonight was an exception though because I had a chance to meet another blogger! We met at Red Ivy in the Wrigleyville neighborhood (yes, that Wrigley) for their Wednesday $5 personal pizza special. I live several blocks away and with the sun beating down and a heat index of 105 degrees I was a sweaty, panting mess by the time I arrived. Sorry Lisa! I guzzled a huge glass of water and started to cool off in time for the pizza, which was delicious! The sauce was a little sweet and the crust nice and doughy. Ooops - a slice was already gone when I remembered to take this photo.

Objects in photos may appear considerably larger than reality. It truly was not as big as it seems but even so, I debated bringing half of it home for later. Surprisingly it was not overly filling even in the heat so I left only one tiny slice and the walk home was much more pleasant since the sun had set behind some buildings. As we ate we talked about life lessons, the progression of careers, and living frugally in the big city during tough times. We're really fortunate to have so many fun free events and great parks here and it's going to be a fun summer to take advantage of them.

**I took a look at the blog earlier and it looks like my links aren't working. I'm planning on doing some updates in the next couple of days so this should be fixed soon, but in the meantime please be sure to visit http://www.laidoffladies.com/ (cut and paste) for more info on Lisa and her blog**

Keepin' Cool

2009-06-24T14:45:00.003-05:00

Yummmmm, all that hot oatmeal kept me full even longer than usual today, likely due to the heat. It's starting to cloud over and storms are expected but hopefully they'll blow through quickly and we can get back to some sunshine! I figured the best way to keep cool and eat light today was to whip up a salad. I LOVE salads when dining out but they never seem to taste quite as good at home. This doesn't seem to be the case for most meals but salads just have a little something extra when prepared in a restaurant. Anyone else feel that way about salads or any other particular meals?

Today's mix was some loose leaf lettuce, tomato, red bell pepper, carrot, kernels from one of the fresh ears of corn I bought yesterday, a couple sliced strawberries, about 1/3 of the remaining half of avocado, a tablespoon or so of Annie's sesame dressing, and an ounce of goat cheese. It was delicious - a wonderful combination of crunchy, creamy, salty, and sweet. I think the fresh corn made it special! A couple thin slices of pretzel bread rounded out the meal, but an hour later I'm feeling a bit hungry and will probably have a tiny snack before heading off to dinner.

I also got some fantastic news from a friend this afternoon! Nothing is set in stone right now but it could be a really great opportunity so keep the fingers crossed!

Berry Berry Good

2009-06-24T14:29:00.002-05:00

Whew! I used our tiny little window unit A/C last night for a couple hours to cool the place down - which works pretty well when you're talking 600sf - but turned it back off to sleep. Man was it hot when I woke up! We were already at 87 degrees at 8am. Impressive in June. Nevertheless I kept thinking how tasty a nice big bowl of oatmeal with tons of berries would be. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I definitely made the bowl and camped out in front of the window unit to eat it! I try to run the A/C as little as possible for energy savings as well as maintaining predictability on our electric bill but a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do for the oatmeal! It may not appear as such but under the strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, coconut, banana, and chocolate chips there are actually oats in the bowl!

Today's to-do list isn't quite as hectic as yesterdays but I do have a bunch of emails I need to catch up on and some people to connect with that I've been trying to find an extra couple of minutes to do. Tonight I'm having dinner with Lisa Marie from another Chicago blog! She and a friend started Laid Off Ladies several months ago and I love their blog! It's full of great ideas on how to keep the spirits up when going through this type of transition and I can't wait to meet one half of this duo. She's even spent some time in my beloved South Carolina!

Time Flies

2009-06-24T14:24:00.004-05:00

Yikes! I'm sad to say that I missed the networking event last night. I was ready to go, save for getting dressed since it's steamy, and got distracted with some other work and next thing I realized the event was halfway over. Oh well - there are plenty more to come. After debating for a little while I finally settled on having breakfast for dinner. Eggs were sounding particularly appealing so I whipped up a veggie scramble. Nothing fancy, just some eggs, a bit of cheese, red pepper, tomato, and 1/2 a small avocado. YUM!

Washed it all down with an (unpictured) glass of pomegranate juice with a couple splashes of seltzer. I've discovered that caffeine and I just can't work it out and will have to make the most of this separation, but I'd been craving Coke all day. Upon reflection, though, I realized that it was really just the carbonation I wanted and decided to stick with this healthier concoction. I'm definitely one for giving in to the cravings (within reason, of course) but sometimes a simple switch is all it takes to satisfy the craving.

The scramble was filling thanks to the cheese and avocado but even after the "cocktail" I wanted something sweet, so I polished off a small bowl of fresh berries. So cool and refreshing on a hot summer night!

Bang for the Buck

2009-06-23T15:59:00.005-05:00

It's been a productive day! I got a ton of work done, unpacked, grocery shopped, and managed to squeeze in a much-needed vacuuming and dusting. Life is so much calmer with a clean house! Contrary to expectations summer has finally arrived in Chicago and it's in the mid-90s today. We have a window unit in place but since it's only in the 80s in the apartment I'm leaving it off to keep the fresh air a-coming and enjoying lounging around in shorts and a tank top. When I left last week only the thought of the South Carolina heat got me out from under the best sleeping bag known to man.

Have I told you about my favorite produce shop here? It's most commonly known as Stanley's but I've been known to refer to it as my mecca. Seriously, this place is fantastic. It's almost nothing but produce with a few local bakeries represented and a month-old deli. One half of the store is dedicated to organic produce and the other is conventional. My favorite part of shopping there is that I don't have to break the bank to get fresh, organic produce. I absolutely adore Whole Foods but like so many others find that my bank account is not quite as fond of them. Stanley's isn't perfect. They don't always carry everything (no cucumbers today, really?) and sometimes I have to pick up an item from the conventional side, but I don't mind since I'm also supporting a locally-owned and operated business. Six on one, half a dozen on the other. Here's a glimpse at today's loot:

Organic Items:
-kale
-zucchini
-squash
-raspberries
-blackberries
-strawberries
-blueberries
-2 Pink Lady apples
-2 d'Anjou pears
-1 mango (sneaky little bugger isn't in the photos because he tried to hide in the bag when I got home!)
-1lb baby spinach (anyone familiar with the Green Monster understands why so much)

Conventional Items:
-looseleaf lettuce
-1 red bell pepper
-5 ears corn
-asparagus
-2 portabella mushrooms
-cilantro
-2 tomatoes
-8 bananas
-green onions
-avocado
-plantain
-limes
-cherries

The best part? ALL of that came to $35.02. Really. It should last me about a week and a half. You might notice a couple other items here as well - my precious Trader Joe's Raw Almond Butter, and a couple of bars to try while I'm on the go this week. The amount of produce I picked up could probably feed an army when combined with the grains and fish already here at the house, so I don't put much stock in the argument that it's not affordable to eat healthy. I buy organic when I can and that does cost a bit more but overall I'd still rather eat conventional fruits and veggies than a host of overly-processed junk labeled as "healthy". Can someone help me down from my soapbox? Thanks.

Anyway, when I returned home and lugged the gatherings back from the car it was HOT! I wasn't terribly hungry but wanted something fun to taste so I made a Pina Colada version of my Green Monster. A little coconut milk and pineapple on a sweaty day goes down quite nicely! Add a banana and four cups of spinach and you've got yourself a well-rounded drink. Gustus Cat seems to think so as well.

I have an event to attend this evening that is offering appetizers but I'll probably try to stay away from them for the most part. It's being held in an Italian restaurant and it's always hard to tell at these functions what does and does not contain meat. I learned that lesson the hard way last week after a delicious but dangerous stuffed grape leaf. As such I want to eat enough to be able to handle a glass of wine to mingle with but keep me from getting too hungry, so I also had a Boca burger topped with a bit of cheese and ketchup. A bun would be too heavy today with the heat but a little bit of pretzel bread isn't!

Time to go get ready and head downtown!

Catch of the Day

2009-06-23T10:56:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been some time since I last blogged! I'm doing the standard "it starts on Monday" procedure usually reserved for correcting bad habits and starting anew with some fresh perspective. Cooking has been taking a back burner (sorry) lately for a number of reasons but it's more than time to get back to the kitchen and enjoy all the tasty treats that spring and summer have to offer.

The Beanpole and I spent a long weekend in the Carolinas basking in the warmth of the sun after the cool, rainy days in Philly and Chicago. Needless to say the refrigerator is rather empty at the moment save for some pathetic leftover strawberries what used to be leftover tempeh. After dumping my bags at home and checking on the Gustus Cat last night I popped over to the local market for a quick dinner and ended up with a Kashi GoLean frozen dinner of black beans, mango, and pilaf. I try to avoid frozen meals most of the time and don't feel too bad about this one since Kashi is a pretty healthy (nutritionally and ethically) choice.

All this time off from blogging has created some bad habits, however, and I neglected to take a photo of dinner OR the multi-grain roll with almond butter and strawberry preserves that I had for breakfast this morning. Instead, I'll leave you with a photo of my favorite lunch from our long weekend. I enjoyed every single bite of these babies!

I'm off for a run to my favorite produce store in Chicago to load up on fruits and veggies for a week of healthy meals to get back on track after vacation! I have a long list of to-dos today, an event to attend this evening, and I'm hoping to snag some beach time tomorrow afternoon if I can get caught up on everything after the trip. Summer seems to have finally arrived in the city!

Hiatus

2009-02-16T11:55:00.002-06:00

Ugh.

Due to a hand injury (specifically the anatomical snuffbox - google it, it's real, people!) this blogging adventure is being put on hiatus, primarily because I can't do...um...anything. Cooking is on hold, cleaning is on hold (no dishwasher=no dishes for me), yoga is obviously on hold. Yeah, pretty much everything. Typing one-handed requires too much time and effort so I'm chilling for a bit.

My appointment with the hand surgeon was moved from Thursday to today due to swelling and increased pain (yippee!) so hopefully by this evening I'll at least have a better idea what the near future holds!

If you're thinking that it's odd that someone could damage one of the tiniest bones in the hand that nobody has ever heard of that is called a snuffbox, just remember that I'm also the girl that has slipped on a banana peel twice (TWICE!), pinched her rotator cuff picking up a can of green beans and trapped herself in her own bathroom moments after her fiance left on a weeklong business trip. So it really isn't that strange after all....

Third Time WAS a Charm

2009-02-05T19:13:00.004-06:00

The rink opens at 12, but they resurface at 1:30 so I decided to wait and go a bit later today to get the laundry done. It was a pretty impressive morning - must have been the blueberries! I got the laundry done, took care of some bills, freshened up the kitchen, dealt with my nails (aka the hot mess of the day) and all in time to have lunch before heading out.

I knew I wanted something warm and hearty enough to keep me going through the afternoon but not so heavy that I felt full-full. I decided on a lemony shitake and asparagus sauce over quinoa. Pasta didn't sound too appealing and I wanted to give quinoa a shot since it's supposedly a wonder food. It's the only grain that is a complete protein in and of itself. Pretty cool, huh? This was my first go-round with it and I'm hooked! The slight nuttiness of it paired so well with the mushrooms. YUM!

I wasn't quite full and decided to go ahead and have a 2% Fage Greek yogurt with strawberry to fill up the empty spot in my stomach.

Shortly after lunch I headed downtown to hit the rink and was a bit disappointed to find about 20 people already skating. I don't mind the newbies who truly can't stand up on their skates and I LOVE the old-school hockey guys ducking in and out of the groups. I can get around the newbies and trust the hockey players completely to move where and when they need to, but there were a four guys in their late teens/early twenties who were, quite simply, being JERKS. What they were lacking in ability they more than made up for in ego and after narrowly avoiding being run over by them while they chased each other, threw things on the ice, and purposely tried to make people fall I was done. DONE. I made it nearly 30 minutes but just could not deal with them anymore and wanted to be able to enjoy the ice and my working iPod. Luckily my friend Karen recently pointed out that the OTHER rink is only a couple blocks away and basically hidden so I threw on my shoes and hiked over. What a difference 2 blocks made!

This rink is truly a hidden gem and I'm so grateful to have found it. I arrived to find eight or ten kids (real kids - all under 10!) who not only knew what they were doing on the ice but could outskate me. It reminded me a lot more of the rink I grew up on where there was a healthy mix of figure skaters, hockey players, and frequent fun-skaters who all could hold their own on the ice. Much more my style, and I even got the guts to work on my transitions from backward to forward skating as well as some back crossovers! Even the music was better - cheesy teen pop, which is in my opinion the best for skating. Luckily the rink had pretty much cleared by the time I bit it and none of the kids were there to laugh at me. : )

One of the best lessons I learned in yoga while working towards headstand was that sometimes if you don't fall it's because you're not trying hard enough, and that was definitely the case today. Once I really got into it, BAM, I went down. But hey, one of the skills they teach in classes is how to fall, so who cares?

When I got home I ended up doing a slow and light yoga practice instead of a power yoga session and am completely calm and loose now. That must have been just what I needed! The Beanpole's on his way home and to celebrate we're ordering Chinese takeout - a big ol' beef dish for him and veggies for me. Can't wait!

Bowl Full of Sunshine

2009-02-05T19:04:00.003-06:00

All the stiff and sore muscles from yesterday were GONE when I woke up this morning and while I'd been slightly apathetic about hitting the rink and mat today last night it all washed right away this morning.

Time to fuel up, so after rushing through some lemon water I turned to the trusty oats. The addition of blueberries has been wonderfully refreshing and I think they'll be making many more appearances. Today's toppings were chocolate chips (just a few!), coconut, blueberry, banana, granola for crunch, and some chopped dried apricots. I always forget to mention the tablespoon of flax I add to the mix but I think they make the meal!

Of course I had to have a spoonful of peanut butter as well! I'm almost out but have a fun little sample-size packet of Justin's Almond Butter that I picked up at Whole Foods that's ready in the wings.

Arda Chandrasan (Who Doesn't Love a Half Moon?)

2009-02-04T21:40:00.004-06:00

Mmmmm, yoga kicked my butt this afternoon. I think I underestimated how much I've been using my arms at the rink and what an intense arm workout yesterday's Power Yoga session was and I could barely make it through the vinyasas! In fact, I tweaked my shoulder a bit during one of the modified chaturangas due to fatigue - nothing serious, just a twinge here and there but still frustrating. I was extremely grateful for the standing sequence and the opportunity to finally give my aching limbs a bit of a break!

After lunch I cranked up iTunes and danced/cleaned the apartment. It's much more fun with fun music to move around to! Needless to say, all the cold winter air from skating, the cleaning, and the yoga made me ready to eat anything in sight. I narrowed it down to two choices - kung pao tofu takeout or breakfast for dinner. The Beanpole will be home tomorrow night and we'll likely grab dinner out this weekend at some point so breakfast for dinner it was! It's fast, easy, relatively healthy (compared to Chinese takeout!), and better still requires few dishes to clean up. I had two eggs scrambled with mushrooms, green pepper, onion, spinach, and tomato on a whole-wheat pita with a bit of Mexican cheese (maybe 1/4 cup?) and two veggie sausage links mixed in. The perfect half-moon side? Apple crescents of course!

Virtually every part of my body is deliciously sore right now so depending on the temps I might take a rest day tomorrow. I still want to fit in a yoga practice for sure though and have a slower-paced video that I might do to accommodate my cranky shoulder. I'd rather take a slow yoga day now than 6 weeks off for a crazy rotator cuff injury a la the green bean incident of 2007!!!

Third Time's a Charm?

2009-02-04T20:12:00.002-06:00

I hope so anyway! I headed down to the rink this afternoon to get a workout and some ice time and ended up being out in the 5 degree weather for 2 whole hours. The laundry was scrapped prior to going so I could load up on some new music and skate away to all the cheesy pop songs I love, but after one song (oddly enough, Sk8tr Boy) the iPod craaaaashed. Between the Beanpole and I we have five of the things but one or more always seems to be on the fritz. Today was NOT the day for it to crash because the workers had the music set to classic rock and Pink Floyd is hardly my idea of good skating music. I much prefer early 90's pop since it reminds me of my old skating days! Never mind though - nothing was going to stop me! While gliding around happily I realized that I am extremely right-legged when it comes to skating and can't even come to a simple T-Stop with my left leg leading. Now in addition to skating just for exercise I'm setting little goals for myself and walking through what little I can remember from my pre-Alpha classes with my left leg to strengthen it. Once the "crowd" (maybe 8 people?) dissipated I even managed to psych myself up and work on skating backwards and my back crossovers. I miss the BIG rink I used to practice on with the hockey circles to help me track my back crossovers and stay consistent!

When I got home I was red-faced from the cold and ready to eat. I thought about stopping on the way for one of my favorite falafel-hummus pitas but decided that something even more savory was in order and decided to whip up a red lentil curry and some garlicky kale. I'd seen this recipe over at eatliverun.com and finally had red lentils on hand to try it and it did not disappoint. I could honestly eat Indian food and/or curried anything every single day and it's great to have a quick recipe on hand that is much healthier than eating out! The bitterness and texture of the kale stood up quite well against the sweetness and creaminess of the curry and provided a nice balance. I rounded the whole meal out with half a pita quickly warmed in the oven.

I was fairly full after lunch but my sweet tooth decided that the savory tooth had gotten a little too much attention and decided to throw a fit, so I indulged it with a 2% Fage Greek yogurt and strawberry.

Next up is a yoga practice!

SUN!

2009-02-04T09:47:00.003-06:00

It's so nice to see after a couple cloudy-ish days. I just keep staring out the window at the perfectly blue sky and smiling. I'm not one who hates winter at all but sometimes the endless cloudy days are just a bit too much.

It's shaping up to be a lovely day. I'm planning on getting the laundry done as well as cleaning the entire apartment. Cleaning might be the only time I LOVE living in 600 square feet. I'm also planning on heading downtown again for a figure skating workout and then coming home to a power yoga practice. The only yoga classes in English I've been able to locate so far in Paris are in the Ashtanga style so I need to step up my game. It's chock-full of vinyasas and I'd like to be able to do full chaturanga throughout the practice, but that's going to require a lot more upper body strength and stamina than I currently have. I know, I know, it's about honoring the body and appreciating what I CAN do, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my more bendy self.

I started the day with a hot mug of water with lemon juice, as usual. I really enjoy the slow pace of drinking that and thinking about the rest of the day. Afterwards I moved on to - what else - oatmeal. Today's toppings were 1/2 a banana, blueberries, a couple chopped figs, a couple chocolate chips, a dash of cranberry-apricot granola, and of course, peanut butter.

Off to be productive!

Tofu Taco Salad

2009-01-28T14:35:00.004-06:00

Over the past couple of days I've realized that I've learned to cook and am quite good at it, but need to wean myself off always looking at recipes and be a little adventurous in the kitchen. Sure, recipes are great for ideas but it's time to test my knowledge and see if I can come up with some ideas of my own. I've also felt a little lost when it comes to tofu (even though the BBQ tofu turned out quite nicely) and thought it time to take a risk, hence the Tofu Taco Salad was born. Taco salad was one of the only dinners I would eat growing up (go figure) and I was hoping this would be a healthier version of the same. Restaurant versions are often served in a crispy taco shell, so I used barley to get in some grains and texture. Ok, so it's not exactly like the taco salad I grew up on but it was quite tasty and will be making many more appearances!

Tofu Taco Salad

Paprika
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to coat
Hot Sauce, if desired
Any desired toppings
About 3oz firm or extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup barley

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl to taste. Add olive oil and mix.

Press and drain firm or extra-firm tofu. While tofu is draining, prepare toppings and barley. I used spinach, bell pepper, tomato, green onion, half a small avocado, and not quite a quarter cup of shredded cheddar. Once tofu is properly drained, chop into small cubes and add to taco seasoning, stirring to coat. Heat pan coated with cooking spray on medium-high heat and add tofu, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until slightly crispy.

This was filling but still light and will be fantastic in summertime!

If It Ain't Broke

2009-01-28T14:33:00.000-06:00

Don't fix it, which is why I had oats again. : )

Now what else can I say about that?

Leftover Lentils

2009-01-27T20:29:00.003-06:00

It was a day of impulses! First the soup, and then a coffee treat in the middle of the afternoon. It's been cloudy all day and I just kept thinking about a coffee treat. I don't have any decaf espresso beans at the house yet and it was much too late for the high-octane stuff so I ducked out and headed across the street to grab a magazine and a 12oz decaf skim latte, which I brought home and doctored up with a bit of hazelnut flavor I had here. I looked at the label to get an idea of the calorie count and was shocked to find that the tiny portion I'd used was only about 10 calories. Nice!

I went back and forth on dinner and finally decided to finish off the soup and pitza from lunch instead of making a tofu dish so that I could avoid even MORE impulse items at the market since there were a couple ingredients I'd need for the recipe I wanted. The olives and cheese on the pitza turned even saltier and while it was ok, it was very dehydrating and I'm guzzling water trying to catch up! In fact, it was so salty that I needed something sweet to make up for it and had 5 chocolate chips to cleanse my palate. Oh, and I had that other pita. ;)

Yoga BrainI

2009-01-27T20:14:00.005-06:00

Since the beginning of my yoga infatuation my classes have always been in the evenings and even with my home practice I've found that to be the easiest time for me to focus. I like taking that time at the end of the day to let any worries wash away and focus on all the little joys. The general rule around yoga tends to be practice when it feels best for you but try to practice at the same time each day. I threw caution to the wind today with an earlier session and it is NOT for me. First things first, I got a case of the yoga brain, which can be quite pleasant in the evenings, and could not figure out what to eat or even HOW to eat lunch. I must have stared into the fridge for several minutes before deciding on a snack of a small slice of brie with a couple Kashi whole-grain crackers to at least keep me stable until I could comprehend the mechanics of lunch.

Still drawing a blank I settled at long last on take-out from Aladdin's, a Mediterranean not-quite-fast food joint around the corner. I ordered a "pitza" with feta, kalamata olives, a little baba ganoush, and grilled eggplant and a berry smoothie made with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, non-fat yogurt, honey, and a little orange juice. I ran out to pick it up and impulsively ordered a cup of their len-chili that I absolutely love. It's half lentil soup and half vegetarian chili and has just enough spice. So good. I ate about a quarter of the soup, and half the pitza.

Never mind the extra pita at the top! That came with the soup and was not part of my lunch.

Breakfast Surprise!

2009-01-27T20:11:00.002-06:00

Did you really think I wasn't going to have oatmeal again? Today's concoction was a repeat of yesterday's, but I'm going to get some fun new toppings when I go grocery shopping tomorrow to spice things up a bit.

I've been blogging at the end of the day as I've had to take photos from my phone rather than the camera since Beanpole took it to London. For some reason the two extra steps required to upload the photos is just too much for me.

Sleepy Cat Kind of Night

2009-01-26T20:45:00.007-06:00

I did a late afternoon yoga practice and felt so much better! I'd had some pain in my shoulder and neck this morning and went a little easy with practice to start but by the end had graduated to full chaturanga from doing the knees-chest-chin modification! While every practice is beautiful just where it is I'm still human and get to take a little pleasure in this step. : )

Shortly after I'd finished practice I got to talk to The Beanpole on the phone! This was the first time I'd heard his voice since Saturday morning and it was such a comfort. We'd emailed several times but that just isn't the same. He's having a good time in jolly old England but wishes I were there. Awwww.

It was already 7 when we got off the phone and since I've been falling asleep so early lately I wanted to make something quick for dinner so I wasn't eating too late. It's nice to have a bit of time to digest! I sauteed a BIG shitake mushroom and slapped it on a Morningstar burger with a thin slice of brie, popped it in the oven to melt the cheese, and made a salad to go alongside. The salad consisted of spinach, carrot, red and yellow pepper, some apple, a few slivered almonds, and a tablespoon or two of a raspberry vinaigrette.

After dinner I curled up with a cup of Stash's chocolate and hazelnut tea. I noticed it last night at the market and just had to try it. I added a dash of sugar and a tiny splash of milk.

It's interesting. The flavor seems like it should be either a solid or thicker somehow but it's growing on me. The chocolate is barely a whisper under the hazelnut but grows stronger as an aftertaste. When drinking tea I think I'm definitely more of a fruity/herbal girl, but this might be a nice choice if I'm craving a cup of weak coffee-flavored beverage. It is decaf, though, which makes it a GREAT choice at night so I can do something along these lines:

Food for Thought

2009-01-26T20:28:00.002-06:00

As usual, the oatmeal filled me up and I wanted something a little lighter for lunch. A wedge of brie caught my eye at the market last night and after trying too hard to recall the last time I'd had some I picked it up an couldn't wait to use it today! I knew I needed to get some studying in this afternoon and hoped this would hold me over while my rusty brain cells tried to remember some French. Last Monday The Beanpole was informed that he would be attending a week-long session of meetings in Paris - and I get to go with! Well, that last part was something we decided, but still - I GET TO GO BACK TO PARIS!!!! Our actual anniversary has been preempted with other commitments and some out of town visitors so we decided to call this an early anniversary trip! He'll be in meetings during the day and I'll be on my own running around trying to soak it all in, but we'll have at least a couple dinners and a day or two on our own. I visited in May 2005 and had a lovely time just walking around and taking it all in. The weather will likely be a little more unpredictable this time so I'm busy planning indoor sightseeing excursions. I'm so excited and can't wait to thrill the French with my toddler's grasp of the language haha.

I'd also picked up a couple rolls from the bakery last night and decided to make a quick sandwich with some brie, granny smith apple slices, and a little dijon mustard - one of my favorites! One the side I had some carrot sticks, some apple, and a small bowl of french onion soup, which wasn't planned but was all I had on hand!

Next up, some more housecleaning and a yoga practice!

Plenty of Pumpkin

2009-01-26T13:49:00.003-06:00

Last fall when I started baking there was a run on pumpkin and I had to search through 4 grocery stores to find some, so when I did I picked up 2 of the humongous 28oz cans. That's a lot of pumpkin! I've been craving the pumpkin chocolate chip bread I made a couple times this fall but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the rest, but over the past week I've read several different food blogs that incorporated pumpkin into oatmeal. It's such a healthy food and I just had to try it.

Today's oatmeal included pumpkin, flax, banana, a bit of coconut, peanut butter, a tiny bit of maple-pecan granola, slivered almonds, and of course a couple chocolate chips. YUM!!

Burger and Fries, Veggie Style

2009-01-25T21:29:00.004-06:00

It's said that it takes 21 days to create or break a habit. I'm about a week past that and this is the first time I have CRAVED meat. I really thought about giving in, going out, and ordering a giant cheeseburger and fries. If my vegetarianism were about animal rights I might have slipped up but I have the lovely thought of being doubled over in pain for the next three days to keep me on the straight and narrow. It truly isn't worth it, especially when there are safer options to satisfy these urges. Ignoring it wasn't an option after moving all the furniture in the living room to vacuum up all the cat hair. I even cleaned the curtains!!!! It'll never be as austere as the yoga studio - and shouldn't be - but the deep cleaning is having a calming effect already, and only a couple more rooms to go!

I ran out to the market and picked up the couple of things I needed for dinner as well as some bananas for the morning and got a couple whole-wheat rolls, a pack of veggie burgers, and a sweet potato. Veggie style comfort food, with half an apple from earlier:

My tea supply is also starting to run low so I picked up a new chocolate and hazelnut tea that's decaf. Can't wait to try it!

Curried concoctions

2009-01-25T21:21:00.004-06:00

I've had the heaters off again to cool the apartment down and it worked. It was freezing in here when I got back from church so I decided to have soup for lunch to warm up. I grabbed the curried red lentil soup from the fridge and saw that the kale was starting to look a little bit sad and wanted to use up as much of it as possible before the bunch went bad. I did a quick search for recipes and stumbled on one using apples and curry powder. Perfect! I'd intended to eat them separately but after tasting the kale and apple decided to try it with a bit of soup and it was delicious. What a great way to incorporate some veggies and fruit into an already yummy soup! I didn't have a lot of soup so it ended up being more stew like but so so good. I ate about three quarters of the bowl.

On the side I had the leftover lemony shrimp risotto from the other night. I liked the brightness of the lemon next to the curry stew.

Next up? Taking out some trash and super-vacuuming the living room!

Finally Huevos Time!

2009-01-25T21:17:00.003-06:00

I woke up early with a headache and ended up going back to bed for a couple more hours to try and kick it and woke up a second time much more refreshed. I'd run out of bananas yesterday and was pretty hungry and finally used the rest of the zucchini and black bean mix. It was a big Sunday breakfast - one egg and one egg white scrambled with the zucchini mix, 2 Morningstar breakfast sausage links, and a slice of whole-grain toast with a bit of fruit-only jam.

It definitely held me over through the cold walk to and from church, Mass, and the discussion afterwards, but might have been a little too heavy. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was realllly fighting off the sleepies during the discussion.

Settling in with 'Shrooms

2009-01-25T21:05:00.008-06:00

Believe it or not I fell asleep before I could write these up last night - probably about 9pm-ish. I'd eaten lunch late and didn't want to stop for dinner until I was done working on the apartment and ate around 8:00. It took almost twelve hours to go through all the paperwork and organize all the documents, but it was absolutely worth it. Two drawers that were overflowing to the point of not quite closing are now clean and well-ordered, two "junk drawers" no longer hold as much junk, and the china cabinet is home to some boxes that had been sitting on the floor for months as well as holding office supplies in an easy to reach fashion!!!

Drawer One, Before:

Drawer One, After:

Drawer Two, Before:

Drawer Two, After:

I still wasn't too hungry but had some shitake mushrooms to use and saw a recipe on a break earlier for a "pizza" on a tortilla with garlic butter. I didn't want to go to all that trouble but found inspiration and cut up some mushrooms, spinach, garlic, and added a bit of goat cheese and a dash of parmesan. The pizza was nice and light, and I was surprised at how well the tortilla crisped up.

And a nice glass of sauvignon blanc to relax with:

I was still a little hungry and waited a bit, but had dessert - blueberry Greek yogurt with a bit of slivered almond and granola.

Oh, and chocolate chips! ; )

Spring Cleaning, part two

2009-01-25T20:57:00.004-06:00

Oh my goodness, whatever made this morning's oatmeal so fantastic also made me full all day! I ate early - probably 7:30am - and did not even approach hunger until close to 3pm! I don't know if it was the oatmeal filling me up or the distraction of the cleaning process but when I looked at the clock I was quite surprised. As you can see, the apartment was in a state of disaster and I opted not to cook but to order a hummus falafel wrap from a place across the alley. The savory flavor always gets my sweet tooth working so I also ordered a "Tropical Storm" smoothie. I think it had 5 different types of fruit/juices in it!

The Mess:

The Wrap:

The Smoothie:

It was too late to eat AND go to my yoga practice and another 3 hours before eating was going to be too long so I convinced myself that my work around the house was a great form of yoga. Just as asana cleanses the body and preps the mind for meditation cleaning the house would serve as a prep for some other work to be done around here.

Early Spring Cleaning

2009-01-24T09:33:00.003-06:00

The Beanpole left nice and early this morning and since I couldn't get back to sleep due to being sore and stiff from yesterday (but so worth it) I was up and at 'em at 6:15 this morning. I had my lovely steaming cup of lemon water, moved on to some oatmeal, and started in on the day.

I have some crazy motivation right now to clean and organize the entire apartment and with The Beanpole gone for an extra couple of days including the weekend I've decided to jump in head first! I'm hoping to have the entire apartment fully cleaned and organized by tomorrow at the latest so I can go find some skates and spend the week on the rink. Today is Yoga Day USA and studios across the country are offering free clases. The studios in town that are offering them are slightly inconvenient so I think I'll probably just head up to the studio I used to frequent as they always offer free classes on Saturdays. I haven't been to a class in a LONG time but my poor legs are so stiff that I think that extra little push will be good for me.

Here's a preview of what I'm up against in the house.

Drawer One:

Drawer Two:

And these are both just from our two-drawer nightstand. I definitely have my work cut out for me!

Ice Queen

2009-01-24T09:09:00.011-06:00

Ice skating was so so much fun! We headed downtown late afternoon to the ice rink at Millenium Park and had a blast. Neither The Beanpole or I had been skating in the past couple of years but spent plenty of time on the ice back in the day in our own little unrealized "Cutting Edge". He was pretty sure he was going to show me up on the ice, so I won't mention who wiped out a couple times, but I will say that I was upright the whole time! Both of us had so much fun that we've decided to buy our own skates and go as often as possible. They charge a fee for the skate rental but the actual time is free! I'd forgotten what a great lower body and cardio workout it can be. We were there for about two hours and by the time we left were pretty much spent!

After wearing ourselves out we decided to walk up to our favorite tapas restaurant for dinner, with a brief stop to warm up with a glass of wine at a local wine bar. I had a 2006 Carmenere from Casa Silva Rivera in Chile. It was described as being like drinking a milk and dark chocolate covered plum. Now how am I supposed to resist that? I really enjoyed it and will be picking up a bottle soon! Sorry for the horrible picture - the lighting was bad and it was a little crowded and I'm still getting used to being the weirdo in the corner photographing her food!

We didn't linger as long as I would have liked over the wine as we were both HUNGRY and wanted to beat the dinner rush as best we could and took another brisk walk up to the restaurant. Here's where things got fun! We were both famished by this point an ordered 3 tapas to hold us over until the paella arrived - my favorite, the patatas bravas; his favorite, the mushrooms (there's a lovely fancy term but I've forgotten it); and our favorite, the gambas al ajillo (shrimp in garlic). YUM! Every single bite of it was delicious!!! Oh, and I had a couple slices of bread as well:

The tapas:

The paella:

Annnnnd, a giant dessert crepe:

It was an early evening and we came home straight from dinner due to some last minute pre-travel tasks The Beanpole needed to finish before waking up at 5:30 this morning to head to the airport. After all the fun we decided that we're going to make more of an effort to have real date nights. Yea!

It's Not Easy Being Green

2009-01-23T14:48:00.002-06:00

At least that's what The Beanpole said when I offered to make him some kale chips to go along with our sandwiches! Never mind, I made them anyway and they were much better this time. Instead of using regular salt I sprinkled them with some gomasio. It's a salt, pepper, and seaweed mix that reduces sodium while providing a huge boost of flavor. I think next time I can use even LESS!

I took The Beanpole's portion of chips along with my grilled cheese sandwich with roasted red pepper and tomato.

I'm a tiny bit hungry right now but am saving room for a hot chocolate at the rink. We're going on a date in a couple minutes - ice skating downtown, and then on for a glass of wine at one of our favorite spots. Mr. Hockey over there thinks he can outskate me - we'll see!

Sadness

2009-01-23T14:43:00.002-06:00

I was so excited last night about my eggs and zucchini and black beans, but when I woke up this morning my stomach was crying out for oatmeal so I caved. Our radiator seems to be working triple time and it is HOT in here. It doesn't adjust to the outside temps and puts out the same amount of heat in 30 degrees as it does when it's 30 below! I need to be as snuggly as possible when I sleep and even with all radiators turned off last night it was a toasty 70 something degrees in the bedroom. Bad sleep = cranky morning stomach. But that's ok! Oatmeal hasn't disappointed me before and certainly didn't today.

It consisted of the usual - flax, banana, a bit of granola, a few choco chips, and coconut. The coconut lends such a nice tropical feel to it and reminds me of honeymooning in Rio de Janeiro. Can't wait to go back!

Lemony Shrimp Risotto

2009-01-22T21:21:00.005-06:00

A couple hours after lunch I had a twinge or two of hunger and since that can leave me a little queasy when practicing yoga I like to have a tiny snack - just enough to have something in my stomach but not enough to force it to work too hard. Today it was a couple of Kashi crackers and a spoonful of hummus. It was just enough!

I started my yoga practice about 45 minutes after the snack and the crackers did the trick. It wasn't the best practice I've ever had but that's the beauty of yoga. Some days practices are the most rewarding experiences and some days not so much. Many yoga teachers liken it to a relationship. For all the rich rewards of a regular practice a student will inevitably hit rough patches and it can be tempting to stray, but staying and working through those very times only brings deeper connections.

After practice The Beanpole and I ducked out to grab a bottle of white wine so I could make risotto. Risotto is one of my favorite foods, despite the fact that I say that about everything I eat. One can create endless variations and it seems so decadent though it's very simple to make. Tonight I wanted shrimp and citrus so I made up a lovely scampi-like creation. It was so tasty and I had to pat myself on the back for finally creating a recipe on my own. My new favorite kitchen toy? The Microplane. I want to tear through the kitchen zesting everything now! Since The Beanpole is headed out EARLY Saturday morning I offered him the choice of spinach, kale, or asparagus as a side and he chose asparagus. I'm a bit glad he did because I want to make some more of those kale chips I made last week!

I used vegetable stock instead of chicken for the first time and found that it cooked a little bit faster for some reason, so it wasn't quite as sticky as I'd like but still so so tasty.

I'm hoping to get to bed nice and early tonight. I've got huevos to make in the morning and a DATE with The Beanpole tomorrow night!!!

Whatever I Want To Do, Gosh

2009-01-22T21:10:00.003-06:00

Lunch was tasty, if not fancy. Even after yesterday's super-cheese sandwich I still wanted more so I decided to make a quesadilla with some leftover black beans and zucchini. The mix I made a couple weeks ago was delicious with a little bit of cheese and homemade pico de gallo so I cooked it up again. I halved the recipe and still have plenty to whip into some huevos tomorrow morning!

And about 2/3 cup of Curried Red Lentil soup to round it out. The combination of curry and Mexican flavors was rather strange and probably best enjoyed each on their own - oops! I ate them both hungrily though so it couldn't have been too bad, right?

Sunny days

2009-01-22T11:18:00.004-06:00

Taking my carrres away...OK, well, I still have some cares but they're slipping away one by one! My foot feels better and my muscles are crying out for a yoga practice, and the head cold/sinus nastiness that plagued me the first half of the week has moved on. Yea! I'm truly enjoying breathing normally again and not having shooting pain all over my face and therefore have decided to call the Miller Lites from yesterday "medicinal". : )

On top of that I have a new adventure coming up in a couple months and received fantastic news from a friend yesterday, not to mention the massive heat wave (in the 30s!) now hitting the city after weeks of miserable temperatures. Spring may be a long way off but we Chicagoans know how to make the most of the breaks we do get in winter! It should come as no surprise that my celebratory meal was...........oatmeal. This time it included flax, banana, almonds, a spoonful of granola, a couple chocolate chips, coconut, and peanut butter. I just can't get enough of the stuff!

Not sure what the rest of today has in stock, but I'm definitely planning on heading outside for a bit to enjoy the tropical weather!

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

2009-01-21T22:05:00.003-06:00

After the greasy cheesy lunch and alcohol I knew the best dinner would be bright and simple, preferably with some citrus. I also had some kidney beans to use up and since The Beanpole had eaten a late lunch we just made the bean and citrus salad that I've posted before. I prepared a half portion based on the recipe and it was more than plenty for the both of us!

I made a couple small changes this time. I cut the orange into smaller pieces so that every bite could benefit from the citrus burst, and I added a dash or two of chili powder to the dressing for a nice spicy kick. The more flavors I can incorporate into any meal the more I'll enjoy it and this was no different. I thought about serving it on top of barley again but that just felt too heavy so I had seven or eight little Kashi crackers for my beloved crunch.

And lots and lots of water since I'm back to yoga practice tomorrow and need to be well hydrated!

Say Cheeeeeeese

2009-01-21T21:53:00.003-06:00

I met a good friend for lunch today at our old stomping ground. Back in the day when we were just pretty young things going to design school we often wandered over to a little bar under the El called Stocks and Blondes. Yes, really. It's a total dive and we were more often than not the only girls in the place, but they had cheap drink specials and that's the way to a college student's heart!

As I expected, the vegetarian options were slim pickings - two types of quesadillas (plain or veggie), a Gardenburger, or a portabella mushroom sandwich. I didn't want too much cheese so instead of the quesadilla I ordered the mushroom sandwich. I think it had more cheese on it than a quesadilla would have! I also substituted sweet potato fries for regular - but mine are MUCH better. These were more of a soggy greasy mess, but what can you expect from a place with a name like that?

I ate about three quarters of the meal, and washed it all down with four (four!) Miller Lites. Needless to say I started chugging water the second my little buzz and I got home - at 3:30 in the afternoon - and have been doing the same since!

Cuckoo for coconut

2009-01-21T21:45:00.003-06:00

Ohhh, now this was a lovely addition to the morning oats! Still not feeling well, I bundled up and ran to the market in search of bananas to make a sweet bowl of oatmeal and found a lovely, just ripe enough bunch hiding all the bright green bananas. I wanted to add a million different toppings today as my taste buds were starting to reawaken (must have been last night's soup!) but restrained myself and stuck with 4 - the usual banana half, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and a special coconut treat!

So creamy and bright, I loved it! I ate a little bit late and didn't have time to fit in a yoga practice as I'd hoped before I had to get ready and meet a friend for lunch and drinks but it'll be back to the mat tomorrow!

U-don say

2009-01-21T21:22:00.003-06:00

Actually, I did. I was still feeling pretty lousy yesterday evening and while I had planned to try out a lovely risotto recipe I just didn't have the energy. It made me so sad to have a refrigerator full of new fresh food, but like most, when sick I turned to comfort food. Some seek chicken noodle, but not me! I wanted nothing but the udon noodle soup from the Asian takeout place around the corner. It's loaded with veggies and has just enough of a kick to give the spice I need.

And I love any excuse to use my fun soup spoons straight from the Noritake factory and showroom in Nagoya, Japan!

Yes, We Can Have a Soup and Sandwich too

2009-01-20T16:49:00.004-06:00

The morning passed quickly as we watched the inauguration events. This is the first celebration I've watched since 1988 and Bush Sr. was being sworn in. I have a vague recollection of watching it in school and not being overwhelmed by any of the events and for various reasons have missed the last 4 so today's events were fun in a different way. Watching with a greater understanding of politics and the impact that one individual can have on the nation, no, on the world, made today considerably more exciting. By the time the speeches were finished I was getting hungry so I heated up some more Curried Red Lentil Soup and sliced an apple. Looking at that on the plate I realized that I was hungrier and decided to have half a hummus sandwich with cucumber and tomato.

I was still a little hungry after lunch so that's good. If my appetite is back I'll be feeling better in no time. I also did something wonky with my right foot over the weekend though and have decided that being sick and having a painful foot are NOT conducive to a yoga practice. Plenty of modifications exist for knee trouble, or shoulder pain, but there aren't too many ways to get around using the feet! I'm hopin to be back on the yoga train tomorrow. Two days off and I miss it!

Sweet or Savory?

2009-01-20T16:41:00.004-06:00

That was the question this morning. I woke up puffy, congested, and with watering eyes. Lovely! I sipped on some hot water with lemon and debated between oatmeal and eggs while searching blogs for ideas until I ran across an entry on Kath Eats Real Food about oatmeal - with an egg! I'd picked up some fresh basil at the market yesterday and decided to be a copycat and made 1/3 cup oatmeal (with a little extra salt and no banana), topped it with a bit of mozzarella, an over-easy egg, and a little fresh basil.

The verdict? I'll try it again when I'm not sick. It did hit both my oatmeal and egg cravings but I think my tastebuds are a little off right now with the congestion and puffiness.

Indulgent Weekend

2009-01-20T15:00:00.002-06:00

Most of the weekend meals were at various restaurants, so I don't have pictures, but did keep track of everything. It was such a fun weekend, but it's good to be back to eating normally (and healthfully!) again.

Saturday night we met some friends to sing karaoke at a Korean karaoke bar. Each group is assigned a private room which greatly reduces the embarrassment factor! We've been before but this time we had a room with a laser disco ball contraption and the karaoke machine ranked us. And yes, I got a 24 on a Debbie Gibson song but redeemed myself with a 98 for my rap skills! Who knew? Before the show, however, The Beanpole and I ducked out for some sushi. I had 4 avocado rolls (about the size of a thimble), 2 smoky bear rolls, 4 unagi rolls (also about the size of a thimble), 2 futo granny smith apple rolls, and a house salad. I also drank a lot of water knowing cocktails were in store! The party got a little out of control at the last karaoke session, but I was well-behaved this time (for once in my life) and over the course of the 5 hours had 2.5 Miller Lites, 1/2 a Leffe (Belgian beer), a shot of shoju (Korean rice wine) and about 4 ounces of complimentary champagne. Not sooo bad, especially after the close to 10 shots last time!

We got home quite late Saturday night (errr, early Sunday morning?) and had to be up early so I went straight to bed. I had a small bowl of oatmeal in the morning - I think I only used 1/4 cup and planned to eat a tiny lunch so I could fit in a yoga practice before our dinner out. That didn't go exactly as planned and I devoured the fish tacos at the Mexican place a couple blocks from the apartment. Ohhhh they were good though. I did squeeze in a short practice before we left for an early dinner of noodles. Nothing special here really, but I did bring more than half of the noodles home for leftovers!

Monday I woke up feeling shivery and congested and decided to hold off on eating for a bit and see if I could shake whatever was ailing me. After a steaming hot cup of water with lemon I still felt the hints of a sinus infection and decided to have just a slice of toast with some peanut butter. We had depleted most of our grocery supply and grabbed sandwiches while out running a couple errands and then decided on pizza for dinner. Neither of us felt good at all and The Beanpole said it was all he could think about so we ordered a pizza, picked up a couple books we needed at Border's, and brought the pizza back to the house. I had 3 big slices and then several glasses of Coke. It's the first time in about a month that I'd had more than a couple sips of a Coke and let me tell you, it tasted gooooooooooooooood. It helped settle my stomach and the carbonation played tricks with my nose so it didn't hurt so much!

Quiet Morning

2009-01-17T13:59:00.005-06:00

I made it to bed around 10:30 last night after watching a bit of a rodeo on TV with The Beanpole. No, neither of us are regular fans, but when we saw that one of the riders' names was Howdy Cloud we had to stop and watch the "bucking bull boogey dance" as the gem of an announcer called it. I don't know what time The Beanpole came to bed last night but I was actually up and awake 2.5 hours before him this morning! That never happens. I started off with another hot mug of water with lemon juice and a book. It's so nice to enjoy a slow Saturday morning with a comforting drink, a book, and total silence. What a treat! It wasn't long before I got hungry though, so I whipped up a repeat of yesterday's oatmeal.

The melty chocolate chips can't be beat! After doing a couple chores around the house I still wasn't quite hungry enough for lunch but wanted to eat lunch early enough to fit in another yoga practice this afternoon in time to shower and get pretty for tonight. I put together yet another leftover lunch of rice and dal makhani. Yes, I've gotten THREE big servings out of one order. It's kind of scary that this is considered a serving and now I have a perfect retort when The Beanpole laughs at me for ordering off the kids or senior menus when we go out since they're typically a little bit smaller. The dal makhani is finally gone! I also added some sauteed spinach today and had a last minute inspiration that really pepped it up - recipe below.

Sauteed Spinach
Spinach as desired, woody stems removed
Golden Raisins (to taste)
Garam Masala (to taste)

Spray pan with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add spinach, sprinkle with garam masala, and add golden raisins.

It's a little spicy, a little bitter, and a little sweet. I've found that I need a little of everything to be happy with a meal. : )

Tonight we're going out for sushi and then meeting some friends for Korean Karaoke!

Ooops, I did it again

2009-01-17T13:42:00.004-06:00

And slacked with the blog. I need to shape up!

As I said before, I can eat Indian every day and be completely happy, so that's exactly what I did for lunch. We'd barely made a dent in the rice so I heated some of it, along with leftover dal makhani, added some spinach, and even sneaked in the other samosa. The Beanpole didn't want it and I just couldn't let it go to waste! We also had some leftover garlic naan in the freezer which turned out to be not so great, but it did the trick and nicely gathered up the rest of the sauce from the dal.

I did a yoga practice a couple hours later from the video I picked up a couple weeks ago. I don't recommend videos to yoga newbies because there are so many possibilities for injury and/or confusion that can easily be avoided or clarified with live instruction. Having practiced on and off for six years though and dedicating myself to create a home practice though, I picked it up several weeks ago. I do enjoy certain aspects of it. It's nice to go through the same series of asana every day. Knowing instinctively what to do next allows more space for a physical meditation, which is why I've been drawn to Ashtanga. I don't have the strength for a full Ashtanga practice right now but hope to move into that within the next couple of months. The video does provide some of that, but I don't feel that I'm working my entire body equally with this video. It contains a lot of twisting and chest opening sequences but next to no hip opening which is one of my favorite areas to work. Yesterday's practice did not start well at all and I wondered a couple times early if I should put it away for a day but opted to stay in the practice and all of a sudden it was over! I love it when a practice flies by that way as it means I was supremely focused.

Normally I get pretty hungry shortly after practice but was still feeling full and didn't need to eat until much later. The Beanpole had had a late lunch so we decided to make a bit of veggie pasta and garlic bread to keep things simple. I had a bit around 9pm, and I don't think he ate at all. I had some asparagus to use up and added some to the pasta and broiled a little for crunch.

Not surprisingly after eating tomatoes my mouth wanted something SWEET. It almost always happens, so I indulged in a little blueberry Greek yogurt with a dash of granola and a couple slivered almonds.

Fresh start

2009-01-16T11:19:00.003-06:00

Everywhere I've turned this week I've read that one should not eat breakfast until a glass of (preferably hot) water with lemon is drunk. I woke up feeling refreshed and not too hungry this morning and decided to give it a try since I typically order it when dining out anyway. It's supposed to be detoxifying for one, and act as a prep for the stomach to start digesting food. The results? I really didn't expect to feel that much different but I do feel as if I had several cups of coffee. The Beanpole is working from home this week and sitting across from me looking at me like I'm nuts as I have a little dance party in my seat!! Anyone who has seen me try to dance knows just why this is hilarious.

After the crack (errr, lemon water) I made some oatmeal again. The heater's been in full force so despite the deeply sub-zero temperatures we've actually had to turn it off and only run it for a couple hours every two to three days and it finally started to cool down in here. I was ready for something warm and soothing. Today's concoction was focused on the amazing combos that peanut butter creates. I love it with bananas and I love it with chocolate so I made two kinds of oatmeal in one bowl! I like to put the toppings around the side so I can take just a little bit in each bite. : )

That looks like a lot of peanut butter but it was really only a tiny spoonful. It's natural so it gets a little goopy and melts down a little bit on the warm oatmeal. So tasty, and I loved the melty chocolatey parts!

A day late...and a couple dollars short

2009-01-16T10:17:00.007-06:00

Wow, not sure how I completely forgot to blog everything yesterday! I did take some pics but writing it up escaped me. Oh well! Catching up!

I woke up super early (5:45am!) and just had to have a nice big cup of coffee to start the day. I've been thinking about it every morning for a week and finally gave in. For breakfast, of course, I made some oatmeal. Yesterday's golden bowl satisfied all my needs so I repeated it and used half a banana, flax, some slivered almonds, a bit of granola, AND golden raisins. No worries about not enough texture here!

Around 10:30 my stomach started growling and I could not figure out how I could possibly be hungry so early until I realized that it had already been four hours since breakfast! I am not used to eating that early and thought a mid-morning snack of hummus and a few pita chips would be just enough to hold me over until an appropriate lunch hour. Unfortunately the hummus had gone bad so it was just the pita chips. : (

The oatmeal just didn't feel like breakfast to me and I was in the mood for a potato so I whipped up a florentine omelet (with spinach, tomato, and a little mozzarella cheese), rosemary hashbrowns, and a slice of whole-grain toast with a little strawberry jam. It finally felt like the day had started!! I was full full full after lunch but hoped that some of that would subside so I could work in a yoga practice before dinner - more on that in another post.

Ahhhh dinner. This was the meal I'd been looking forward to all day. I could exist on Indian food alone, I think. Leaving the house in -23 degree weather was simply not going to happen so The Beanpole and I opted for delivery and man, was it good. We've been to the Indian Grill a couple times for their weekend buffet but had never ordered off the menu and hoped that it would be as good. We ordered samosas, garlic naan, dal makhani (buttery lentils), shrimp masala, and a Coke for him. Indian is unquestionably one of my "trigger foods" if you believe in such things, and the plate below actually demonstrates restraint. I did go back for another 2-3 spoonfuls of the dal makhani to use up the rest of the naan. We didn't know until last night that this restaurant delivered and I think that information could be problematic. The good news is that I have a TON of dal leftover for lunch!

Disaster of a Dinner

2009-01-14T21:11:00.006-06:00

Oh well. That happens to the best of us and was mostly salvaged in the end. I'd done a yoga practice shortly before and was still in the fog. I hadn't originally wanted to practice but convinced myself with thoughts of looser joints and a good night's sleep. In the past those reluctant practices have often turned out to be some of the most enjoyable and while it seemed like an eternity it wasn't too challenging and I felt a little loopy afterwards. Loopy? Yes, as in it took me a full seven minutes of staring at the bread, cheese, tomato, and pan to figure out the best way to create a grilled cheese sandwich. I finally got it together and spread a bit of butter on the bread and threw it on the griddle, which I neglected to light until several more minutes had passed and promptly forgot about. The first round of sandwiches was absolutely charred on the bottom and I just stood there and pathetically implored The Beanpole to "just do something about it!" He (graciously) did and I tasked myself with making sure our Chipotle Corn soup did not overflow.

The soup was good, but not great. The Beanpole loves corn soup but I've always been on the fence and this didn't push me in either direction. I did add some bell pepper to get some more veggies in and he drained his bowl. I ate most, but the chipotle was playing tricks on my nose and I kept smelling the strangest corny spicy smoky odor and gave up.

The grilled cheese sandwich sequels were much better! The cheese was gooey, the tomato warm and sweet, and the bread slightly browned and crispy but not (ahem) charred. And this photo is fantastic!

As for the yoga brain, I've returned to earth for the most part but am sleepy! I'm not sure what's happening this week but I keep going to bed earlier and earlier. I might not even make it until 10pm!

Chipotle!!!!!

2009-01-14T13:49:00.003-06:00

Sorry, had to scream that one in honor of a friend. One of my favorite fast-food type restaurants has long been Chipotle. I just love that I can get something every single time and their lime-cilantro rice. So it's only natural that I decided to use some of last night's leftover rice to make a healthier version of the Chipotle favorite! I'd intended on making a burrito but changed my mind at the last minute and made a bowl instead.

First, I sauteed a little red onion, mixed bell pepper, and some black beans in a little bit of cumin and chili-powder for a kick. Then I added a little bit of lemon juice and parsley to the rice, mixed it up, and popped it in the microwave for a minute. I didn't have any lime or cilantro and figured this would give it just enough of a bite. I cut up about a cup of spinach and "shredded" a slice of cheddar cheese, and put it all together with a dollop of peach-mango salsa. It wasn't exactly Chipotle, but it was pretty good and fast too! I had a tortilla on the side, but only ended up eating about half of it. It's just too doughy to eat on its own.

Who Said Beige Was Boring?

2009-01-14T13:33:00.004-06:00

Liking oatmeal has been a long-time coming. At first I was intimidated by the process of making the homemade version thinking that it took a long time to prepare and involved considerable effort. If five minutes is too long and an occasional stir is too much then yes, my preconceived nothings are correct, but luckily I've found that neither is too taxing for me. Also, having never had homemade oatmeal I detested the gritty texture I'd become accustomed to with the prepackaged kind. That changed when I visited the Original House of Pancakes in Chicago. It's a chain I'd fallen hard for when living in South Carolina and was happy to discover that The Beanpole also loved in North Carolina. The waitress brings out a huge bowl of creamy oatmeal accompanied by raisins, brown sugar, and lovely little pitcher of cream.

I thought about cooking an egg this morning to make sure that I started off with more flavor and texture but went back to the oatmeal. As usual I topped it with the leftover half of banana, a little bit of granola, and flax, but after yesterday's lack of texture I decided to add some golden raisins and a few slivered almonds. This made all the difference. YUM!

I like to spread the raisins and bananas around the edge so I can add a little to each bite!

Some Like It Hot

2009-01-13T20:24:00.005-06:00

BRRRRR! It might actually be warmer outside the apartment tonight! All the radiators are wide open but no heat is pumping out. We heard a lot of clanging and knocking earlier today and I'm hoping that the workers remembered to turn the heat back on, but past history indicates that they likely forgot and it will be sometime later tomorrow before we start to warm up. I knew I wanted dinner to have three qualities tonight - hot in temperature and spice, have a strong bite to it, and preferably contain rice. The first two are self-explanatory and the second was because I suddenly realized that I'd really only eaten soft foods all day. The oatmeal, soup, more soup, and even the wrap all presented a pretty similar textures and I was ready for something new. I think I wanted rice because it goes oh so well with my favorite spicy ethnic food cravings - Indian, Mexican, and Chinese. The Beanpole and I talked about going out but I suddenly remembered my creole shrimp recipe and figured that would be the most satisfying. Not only that but we could save some money and use up a couple of ingredients around the house as well!

I adore this shrimp recipe for its ease and flavor. In the past I've served it as a sandwich on a toasted baguette with a little bit of goat cheese, but it stands up well with rice or on its own. You can make it as mild or as spicy as you like and I've long since stopped measuring so play around to taste!

Spicy Creole Shrimp (serves 2)
2 cups medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 small-medium red onion, sliced into strips
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
cooking spray
cumin
chili powder
hot sauce
pepper

Heat pan sprayed with cooking spray over medium high heat; add red pepper and onion. Saute until tender and onion starts to become translucent. In a bowl, mix all other ingredients; stir to coat. Add to pan and cook 3-4 minutes until shrimp start to turn pink. Add 1/4 cup water; cover and cook about 5 minutes. Uncover and let sauce cook off a bit.

I'd unearthed some pretty attractive spears of asparagus at Whole Foods yesterday and added them to tonight's comfort-food meal for some color and because well, I just love them.

All the spice finally warmed me up a bit and I feel calmer after having a meal with something to sink my teeth into. I still would like to try to reserve fish for dining out and prepare meals that are closer to a true vegetarian (whatever that is, haha) when at home. In order to do that I will need to be more attentive throughout the day and make sure that I incorporate more texture!!!

Not sure if these count as texture but as usual I needed just a tiny bit of sweet - especially after all the spice!

Drive-by lunching

2009-01-13T16:32:00.004-06:00

I definitely had a case of yoga-brain today. For those not familiar with the term this is the phenomenon that occurs after a great practice and leaves the student, well, a little spacey. I leisurely went on about my day, taking a nice long hot shower and lingering over what to have for lunch. Practice left me pretty hungry and I was ready to EAT and ended up making some soup, a hummus and black bean wrap, and slicing up an apple.

I wanted to use up the rest of the Carrot-Cashew-Ginger soup since it was ok but not great and make room to stock up on the Curried Red Lentil version, so I poured the rest into a small pot and ended up using about 3/4 of the box! I got to eat about four spoonfuls or so. The wrap was about 1/4 cup black beans and 1/8 cup onion heated quickly in a small pot (they'd been in the fridge and I didn't want anything too cold competing with the apple), about 1/2 cup spinach, hummus, and about a tablespoon of goat cheese for tang on a multi-grain wrap. I'd underestimated the size of the wraps but man, it was good and I devoured it. Then I looked at the clock and realized I only had twenty minute to get everything cleaned up, dry and style my hair, get dressed, and....get the cat into the carrier. Not good since the car was buried under 3 feet of snow and needed rescue! I scarfed down half of the apple and gave the rest to The Beanpole and got ready in a flash.

Augustus Cat (for once in his life) went straight into the carrier and behaved quite nicely at the vet and was given a clean bill of health! The Beanpole dropped us off and by the time I got back I was still hungry since I never got to finish lunch, so I reheated the bowl of soup and finished it off.

I have a couple ideas for dinner but haven't determined exactly what we're going to do yet.

Gooooood morning!

2009-01-13T10:31:00.003-06:00

Yea! I got to bed early last night (10pm - that's a big deal around here) and woke up this morning ready and able to eat. I usually feel better when I can have a solid breakfast and couldn't wait for a nice warm bowl of oatmeal. The blizzard that was due petered out during the night and the sky is clear and sunny! A little experimenting has taught me that 1/3 cup oatmeal is the perfect amount. I didn't want to overdo it on the toppings and just added a little flax, the other half of the banana, and a tiny bit of granola. YUM!

I'm hoping to fit in a yoga practice before lunch once I've digested a bit more since I'm always happier practicing on an empty stomach. I do NOT like the gurgly feeling in my stomach and throat if the last meal was a little too heavy. I'm going to need the practice to get a calm zen feeling because after that we have to take Augustus Cat to the vet for his routine checkup and vaccines. Putting him in the carrier requires some skilled maneuvering on both my part and The Beanpole's and he should be an absolute treat in the shockingly cold weather. Come to think of it I might be doing an extra practice this afternoon to de-stress from the madness!

Olive This Fettuccine

2009-01-12T20:01:00.005-06:00

Many of the recent recipes have come straight from a cookbook, magazine, website, or someone else's blog. I'm still trying to explore a lot of the wonderful flavors and this was no exception and probably won't post actual recipes until I start to be more creative on my own. I love green olives and used to be able to eat an entire jar (holy dehydration!) in a sitting but haven't purchased them in years so I was excited to try them out in this pasta dish. The fact that it called for an entire eggplant didn't hurt either! The dish on its own wasn't too nutrient rich so I rounded the meal out with a nice big salad for some fill and to keep the pasta portion size reasonable.

The salad was quite tasty with a homemade dressing. It had spinach, tomato, carrot, some sauteed (and cooled) shitake mushrooms and a little bit of red onion, and a little bit of goat cheese. The dressing was olive oil, lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of rosemary to boost the lemony flavor. I made it on the fly and will definitely keep the recipe around!

I loved the pasta (c'mon, eggplant and olive? Soooo good) but I think I'll use a different shape of pasta next time. I typically prefer shorter cuts like penne and fusili and think that the sauce would be better diffused throughout especially when using the starchier whole-wheat variety. The sauce had a wonderful kick to it and we needed to be able to taste MORE of it.

As of right now I haven't had any dessert like treats but the desire for something sweet after the very savory sauce is in high gear. What'll it be? A couple chocolate chips? A Greek yogurt? Chocolate of course!

A Run on Red Lentils

2009-01-12T13:48:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned I ran out to get some groceries for the week trying to beat the storm. My first stop was the market two blocks away and on the way I was stopped by a sweet, elderly Russian gentleman who expressed grave concern at my lack of hat in the cold. That might have been the best part of the trip. The store looked like it had been ransacked in the night and it took more effort than I would have liked to make it out with two thirds of my list. And no Greek yogurt? What is the world coming to? It's a local market and I can understand that there are certain "oddball" items that they migh not carry, but was sad to see no kale (I wanted more chips!) and wilted, brownish asparagus. I hoped for a streak of luck in the beans aisle but alas, they had no red lentils. I dropped off the items I'd been able to find and hiked on up to Whole Foods thinking they'd surely have the red lentils and plantains I needed. I checked in the bean section and with no success there wandered over to the bulk items area. Unbelievably the ONLY thing they were out of was red lentils! How could this be? As it tends to go with WF I ended up with a couple of random items that weren't on the list but will definitely be enjoyed. By the time I got home I was ravenous. I'd purposely left a couple slices of pizza from the other night for lunch today and warmed up about a cup of Carrot Cashew Ginger soup. It wasn't as tasty as the Curried Red Lentil but was still palatable.

I was still pretty hungry after eating lunch but wanted to wait a couple minutes to make sure it was actual hunger, and after about fifteen minutes decided yes, it was time to add a little to the lunch so I cut up a carrot into some little sticks, had a few pita chips, and a spoonful of hummus.

This was the perfect amount to take the edge of but a couple hours later I'm pretty hungry again. Maybe it was the cold windy walk from this morning?

I Like to Ate, I Like to Ate

2009-01-12T13:42:00.003-06:00

I like to ate ate ayples and banaynays. Anyone else remember that song? I introduced The Beanpole to it a couple weeks ago and he thought a couple screws had come loose until I proved its existence on the internet. What did we do before that?!

Breakfast was light and late again. I've noticed that my stomach's ability to handle food is directly related to the time I get up and have been surprised to notice that the earlier I arise the better my stomach is most of the day. Huh. We were out of milk and I didn't want watery oatmeal so I used my cop-out breakfast of a slice of whole-grain toast with peanut butter and banana and had a mug of hot water. I'm a little tea-d out at the moment!

The weather forecast has been downgraded from "snow" to "blizzard conditions" and it's already starting to get a little bit windy outside so I'm off to the grocery store to stock up the fridge and prepare to camp out for a couple days!

Better Luck Next Time, Part Deux

2009-01-11T21:13:00.001-06:00

I think we will definitely have better luck next time! I just re-read the emails around dinner? Yeah, it's NEXT week. Not tonight. That fully explains why we were the only ones there. I'm feeling a little silly right now. : ))

Better Luck Next Time

2009-01-11T20:49:00.006-06:00

The Beanpole and I had plans to meet a group from our parish to have dinner and get to know some new people but the evening ended up being a bit of a bust. Nobody else showed up! We walked to the church in the cold and still-falling snow and even arrived a couple minutes early. Neither of us wanted to go inside as the service was still in progress so we stood on the cold wet concrete waiting. And waiting. People finally started to trickle out and we waited a little longer but after 15 minutes decided to give up and strike out on our own. Still a little early for dinner we chose to grab a beer at one of the many tiny local pubs on our list to check out. Wow. It was educational to say the least. The bar sat about ten grizzly men, all clearly regulars, who passed the evening cursing at the playoff game and ribbing each other. A word to the wise - not all "Irish" bars can pour a good Guiness. It's hard to see in this photo but the head was full of huge bubbles and started to collapse within a minute or two of The Beanpole handing it to me.

The emails back and forth between the original group of people heading to dinner suggested one of the many noodle shops and after our beers we walked to one closeby. I went to the bathroom and came back to find that The Beanpole had thoughtfully ordered me hot tea! One of the many reasons I keep him around. : )

To warm up even further I ordered the tom kha soup - a creamy and slightly spicy coconut soup with tomato and shrimp. The richness started to fill me up pretty quickly so I left about three quarters of the bowl in order to keep my appetite.

I was surprised at the number of noodle dishes that contained some sort of meat or offered very few vegetables. Since lots of veggies weren't an option I stuck with an old standby - pad thai with tofu. Even before the big switch I sometimes ordered tofu for variety so in a sense this was comfort food for me. The serving was HUGE. I actually ate a little less than half. Here are the before and after photos.

Before

After

The leftovers are packed away in the fridge ready to become tomorrow's lunch! Lesson learned: when going to dinner with strangers be sure to exchange phone numbers in order to find each other or update with any cancellations!

Bananas To the Rescue!

2009-01-11T15:40:00.003-06:00

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach again and had no interest in food but had to get something in my belly. I'm going through the RCIA program at our local Catholic church and we had just a short time before we had to be at mass and then our session afterwards. We're dismissed about halfway through the mass and then have another hour discussion session and there is no way I can make it through without a little food beforehand. I made a tiny bowl of oatmeal (only 1/4 cup!) with bananas whipped in and topped it with about a tablespoon of granola, a tablespoon of ground flax, and the rest of the banana figuring that that would be bland enough to keep my stomach from getting too hostile while we were out. I tell you, I don't know what it is with bananas but they seem to be the stabilizing influence and by the end of our session my stomach had calmed down completely! As usual, we stopped at Stella's diner on the way home for brunch. I love our weekly date! I ordered the vegetarian omelet with egg whites and it came with hash browns and toast. I devoured the hash browns (of course, I told you I love potatoes!) and ate most of the omelet.

And a cup of diner coffee...(Please ignore The Beanpole's maniacal reflection.)

We're meeting up with a group from church this evening to go to dinner. This is our first time going out with this group and I'm looking forward to meeting some new people! We've talked about going to a local noodle shop but nothing is decided yet...

Late Night Veggie Delight

2009-01-11T15:19:00.008-06:00

Lunch yesterday was a little bit heavy and a little bit late. I knew it would be some time before I got hungry and sure enough several hours passed before I noticed it coming on, probably because I took a 3 hour nap! I rarely nap (and never for 3 hours!) and even managed to sneak out of naps as a kid because it means I'm up until the wee hours of the morning. Upon awakening I was in the mood for a little snack. That was just about the time The Beanpole decided to go lay down for a bit so I put together a little strawberry Greek yogurt with granola and flax. I find this to be the ideal snack - filling enough to hold me over for a couple hours but light enough that I don't feel overwhelmed.

With the yogurt I made a nice warm cup of roobios tea that my friend over at Kitchen Concoctions sent me in a holiday exchange. She has great taste and sent The Book of Tea with it. Even better I had recently received this charming tea set from my "sister" in Japan as a wedding gift.

The Beanpole napped for a couple hours and when he woke up we set about figuring out what to do for dinner. Friday's mushroom pizza was good but I could not get my mind around anything but a pizza with a little bit of goat cheese. None of the local joints offer this (blasphemy!) so I whipped up some pizza dough and we set out to the market for some toppings. We ended up with some bell peppers, shitake mushrooms, broccoli, and goat cheese. I'm not sure what I did differently this time but the crust rolled out a little bit thicker and a little bit larger so we even ended up with two leftover slices! We didn't eat until close to 9:30, and pizza is the perfect late-night dinner. My portion:

My stomach has been acting up the past couple of days after a week of resting quietly and I thought a banana might help calm things down a bit so I sliced one and spread a tiny bit of peanut butter in the middle to help it get down. I LOVE pb + banana but plain bananas are the bane of my existence.

And what do you know? It worked!

Not I, said the cat.

2009-01-10T16:46:00.005-06:00

Sorry again for being such a bad blogger. I even forgot to bring my camera with for this one! After getting to bed late last night (maybe 2ish?!) The Beanpole and I slept in a little bit this morning. I got up first and wandered into the living room only to find it STILL SNOWING and flipped on the forecast only to learn that it isn't planning on letting up until 2014. What's a girl to do? Grab a blanket and pillow, curl up on the couch, and watch a DVD while she waits for her sleepy husband to wake up. Once he did we talked about breakfast and realized that the only food resembling breakfast were some veggie sausage links in the freezer which was simply not going to work this morning. We bundled back up (again) and headed out into the wintery wonderland to The Red Hen Bakery. This is one of my favorite spots in the city. All the pastries are amazing and they offer five different types of croissants! The staff is always friendly and patient, even with some of the more, um, difficult customers I've seen pass through the doors. The neighborhood is an lovely mix of recent college grads; young families; and older people, many of whom are immigrants and/or suffering from some dementia. I originally had my mind set on a light pastry for breakfast but decided that I needed something a little more substantial and The Beanpole and I both had lunch instead. He had the Knuckle Sandwich (salami, ham, spinach, and an olive tapenade) and I had the New Veggie. The bakery offers two vegetarian sandwiches but I prefer this as it has goat cheese - one of my favorite things in the world! It consists of roasted red peppers, honey walnut goat cheese, green apple, and arugula and is served on an olive-rosemary ciabatta bread with a nice crunch. The Beanpole also impulsively purchased a miniature cherry pie, which of course I tested two bites of to rule out poison and any potential negative effects like that. : )

He's a Real Funghi

2009-01-10T16:20:00.004-06:00

Oh, dinner was delicious! The Beanpole and I had plans all week to grab a drink to celebrate the start of the weekend and no amount of snow was going to deter us. After a little debate we decided to go to a wood brick-oven pizza place in our neighborhood called Forno Diablo. We'd been once before in the summer hoping for a nice meal al fresco but alas, all the seating was taken so we camped out at a table in the back. It's designed to feel like an old speak-easy and while I love the dark, intimate atmosphere it's not so fantastic for snagging a quick photo of the food. I started with a glass of wine (Trapiche Malbec) and The Beanpole had a Manhattan. We ordered the Bruschetta Three Ways appetizer to start as we were both pretty hungry after getting a later start than intended. The plate arrived with three crostini with a different topping each, which was perfect for us to split without ruining dinner. One was a chickpea and olive, one a classic tomato and basil, and the last was a granny smith apple with raspberry jam, mint, brie, and red onion. YUM! Shortly after finishing the bruschetta our pizza arrived. We both love mushrooms and selected the Funghi pizza. The thin crust developed just the right amount of charred edging from the brick-oven and the marinated wild mushrooms were accented with herbs and a little truffle oil. It sounds strange for a pizza not to have cheese but the creamy flavor of the mushrooms would likely have been overwhelmed. The pizza was about 10" of thin crust and I dove into half of it. It was the equivalent of about 3 slices of thin crust pizza and given that there was no cheese or grease I figured it couldn't be too too bad. As we dined I noticed that the snow started coming down harder and harder so finally we bundled up and headed to our local pub where I had a couple Miller Lites. I think we came home about 12:30? It was nice to have a little happy buzz knowing that waking up in the morning would not be too too painful, especially after the excesses of yesterday's lunch.

That'll do, Pig. That'll do.

2009-01-10T16:09:00.006-06:00

Lunch was just too too much food and too too salty. I've started to get into the habit of using leftovers as lunches and only preparing "new" dinners but I want to shake things up a bit going forward. I mean, it's good and less waste for me but it's really pretty boring. We're starting to run low on groceries that don't require full preparation and don't have much in the pantry as far as snacks are concerned so by the time lunch came around I was ravenous!

I decided to polish off the rest of the red lentil soup from last night and found that I hadn't quite used up half the container and ended up with about a cup and a quarter. It's so deliciously creamy I could eat it every day but like any pre-packaged soup the sodium content is a bit high.

I've been dying to try these kale chips since I saw them on Kath Eats Real Food and had a big bunch of kale in the fridge just waiting to crisp up. I love potatoes in any form, particularly crispy, so having a decent alternative would be helpful. The Beanpole returned from an errand and tried a couple and I was a little surprised when he said "Eh, they're not bad." He even pronounced the second one "pretty good"! I definitely over-salted this batch and will use a much lighter hand next time. These would be a great snack or accompaniment to a sandwich too.

In case the kale chip experiment failed miserably I wanted a backup plan and turned to just a basic slice of whole-grain bread with a slice of provolone under the broiler again. Easy, quick, and definitely filling. And what's better than a soup and grilled cheese sandwich on a snowy day?

Only In My Dreams

2009-01-09T10:44:00.003-06:00

After a night of crazy and colorful dreams I woke up to a snow-covered world outside. Days like these remind me yet again how much I love this city. Of course, it helps that I don't have to leave the house if I don't want to and don't have to deal with commuting on a bus or train with thousands of other snow-soaked Chicagoans. : )

I'm not sure what is happening again with my stomach right now but I just can't handle much of anything in the mornings again. No, it's not that, so don't even think it. Breakfast just hasn't been all that appealing. Instead of trying to force food down my throat and being miserable I worked to honor that by having a tiny bowl of multibran cereal with a dash of granola on top and an orange, minus a couple slices stolen by The Beanpole, and my morning cup of green tea.

I'll probably have a small snack in a little bit to tide me over until lunchtime shortly, but I just can't fill up my stomach in the mornings like I did earlier this week.

Snicky Snack

2009-01-09T10:37:00.002-06:00

When The Beanpole was younger he couldn't go to bed on an empty stomach so his mom would always feed him a "snicky snack" and the habit has now been passed on to me. The sweet and tart apple last night held me over for a little while but it wasn't long before I wanted something creamy and chocolatey...So I had a bowl of vanilla ice cream (maybe 1/4 cup? maybe less) with a couple chocolate chips on top and went to bed! I love how putting it in my tiny bowl from Japan makes it look like so much more!

Tasty Surprise

2009-01-08T20:11:00.004-06:00

I just finished dinner and The Beanpole should be home any minutes so I spent the early evening hours scurrying about to get some things done. Lunch only held me for a couple of hours but I was running around and never bothered to fix a snack. Oops. I finally broke down and got a library card (long story, but for a brief time I was boycotting the CPL) and three books to keep me busy. I was hoping to find some bookson yoga philosophy but the local branch is sorely lacking in selection. I still managed to get books on some of my favorite topics though! One on India (subbing for yoga this time haha), cities and their importance, and of course, food. Ask me a question on any of those and you're likely to be stuck listening for hours and they're definitely my soapbox issues! Anyway. After safely tucking the books in my bag I headed back towards home with a scheduled stop to pick up some cat litter (always a pleasure) and ended up strolling through Cost Plus World Market for a couple minutes. They have such fun little food treats that I always make a pass to see if anything new has arrived. Not sure if these are new or not, but they have mini soup-boxes. I haven't seen these in my local store but they are absolutely perfect. These have been on my list to try but I hate committing to a large box not knowing how I'll like them. I picked up two interesting flavors - Cashew Carrot and Curried Red Lentil. Look how cute they are next to a "normal" size cereal box!

I picked up the litter and came home realizing how perfect the soup would be for dinner and started thinking about what to have with it that would be quick and easy since I still wanted to clean the house and make it sparkly. The Beanpole has some big trips coming up in the next couple of months and I want to be able to spend as much fun time with him as possible. By this point I was getting pretty hungry but it was too close to dinnertime to really make anything so I decided to wait and keep busy. The house is vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed, shined, and I even got the cookbook section of my bookshelf reorganized to make room for the ever-growing magazine and book collection. Then it was on to dinner!

I'm a sucker for a soup and "fancy" grilled cheese sandwiches with different cheeses and always a tomato so I popped a slice of whole-grain bread with the remainder of a plum tomato and slice of provolone under the broiler, started the soup, and sliced an apple to round the whole meal out. I meant to used the Cashew-Carrot soup but my constant curry craving brain hijacked my arm for a minute and I somehow ended up with the curried red lentil. The curry was a shock to my taste buds! Even more surprising however is that the sweetness of the apple seems to have curbed my normal post-dinner sweet-tooth!

Deja Vu All Over Again

2009-01-08T20:05:00.003-06:00

I had a lot on my figurative plate to accomplish this afternoon and was dying to make some more of those tasty sweet potato fries so I kept lunch simple and made almost exactly the same meal I had last night - BBQ tofu, sweet potato fries, sauteed chard, and this time added a slice of whole grain bread with a bit of jam. Dinner last night left me just a little bit hungry so I made even more chard (about 2 cups raw) and added the bread to fill me up a bit more while I was out running around.

Guess what? I STILL got hungry quickly. I'm going to have to play around with this one a bit more....

Ugh

2009-01-08T10:10:00.002-06:00

That sums it up, doesn't it? I was up late again last night unintentionally. I'm still afraid to include a nice cardio workout in my routine after the last couple of test runs have created miserable after effects. My sneaking suspicion is that those days are over but after finally feeling good all day every day for a week I'm a little spooked to mess it up. After eight months of fighting a painfully tight stomach, raging nausea, and several medical tests (who would have thought that that first painful gallbladder ultrasound would be the most enjoyable?) I am gun-shy when it comes to doing anything that will upset this apparently delicate balance. But wow, I have too too much energy right now to just sit here. I'm staring at the proverbial double-edged sword? Do I sit quietly and peacefully (and finally comfortably) and enjoy the simple act of feeling good while not expending most of the energy coursing through the body or do I take the risk and see if cardio (and I'm talking gentle - even a walk was problematic) is safer now and try to burn some of it off? Tough call.

I wasn't in the mood for much this morning and struggled to get down a little bit of Greek yogurt and granola. It's still just sort of sitting there so hopefully I'll be back to normal in a little bit!

Drrrrrrrty South (Virtue and Vice)

2009-01-07T21:11:00.003-06:00

Time for some comfort food around here, and who knows how to do that better than the Southerners? I don't know either. I wanted some barbecue (and I don't mean cooking out on the grill, as we tend to say here in the Midwest) sauce. I wanted some FRIES. Heck, I even wanted some greens! So you know what? I had them all - just cooked it all up the veggie way.

The barbecue sauce craving? I could easily satisfy that with tofu. I've purchased 11 containers of tofu in my lifetime. This is the first that has even been opened, much less cooked with. I've always been fearful that it would suddenly jump out of the container and run around the kitchen taunting me or successfully yield to the inevitably awesomely bad dish I was about to create. In fact, it wriggles around happily in its own packaging until removed and easily molded itself into the barbecue flavor I was seeking. The recipe simply could not be any easier.

Barbecue Tofu
-Slice extra-firm tofu into 1/2" sections widthwise as desired. Lay flat on a couple of paper towels; cover with a couple more paper towels; place a pan or cutting board on top for weight and let drain 15-20 minutes.
-Cover with BBQ sauce and let marinate as desired. (I let mine sit about 30 minutes while I worked on the fries.)
-Preheat oven to 350. Cook for about 20 minutes. (Yes, really, that's it!)

The fries? I bumped up the nutritional value by using a sweet potato and baking instead of frying. Have you ever made sweet potato fries? Cooking them to a lovely crisp is next to impossible, until now. I searched the internet looking high and low for a cooking method that would make it happen and tried a couple of the tips. They worked! The sugar does not allow them to crisp as a regular potato would, but these were far better than the charred mushy mess that usually occurs.

Sweet Potato Fries
1 sweet potato (Depending on size this could feed up to 4. Mine was medium sized, and I used a little less than half)
1 egg white
a dash of flour (slightly less than 1 tbsp)
parchment paper

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice sweet potato into thin (about 1/4") strips. Break egg white into a sealable plastic bag or other covered container. Add fries and shake well to coat. When fries are coated, add the flour and shake again, coating fully. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Distribute fries in one even layer with as much space as possible and salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning once.

The greens? I didn't have any collards on hands, but I did have chard, another great dark leafy green vegetable. While the tofu was baking I sauteed the chard in a little bit of cooking spray and a dash of nutmeg. I used about a cup since it wilts down pretty well.

Lest you think I'm all virtue and no vice I threw in a beer to wash it all down. The meal may be Southern-inspired but I'm still a Chicago girl and you won't find Bud Light anywhere near my fridge. I'm a Miller girl! The Beanpole and I had picked up a case for our ill-fated bowl game against the Hawkeyes last weekend so I grabbed one and enjoyed every last drop!

Sunny days

2009-01-07T20:26:00.003-06:00

It may have been cloudy and snowing outside, but lunch was a little bowl of sunshine! A couple hours after breakfast I found myself just a little bit too hungry to wait until a normal lunch time to eat so I had a slice of toast with PB and banana - one of my favorite snacks. It's creamy and crunchy, salty and sweet, and never fails to make me happy.

I couldn't wait to dive headfirst into yesterday's Black Bean and Citrus Salad leftovers. The combination of crunchy vegetables and smooth beans is delicious, but with the salad's sweet and tart flavors I wanted something a little savory to accompany it so I broiled up a couple more little polenta "suns".

I ate around 1 hoping that the salad would be light enough to digest in time for a 4:00 yoga practice but not leave me hungry and it did exactly that. This was my first practice as a card-carrying vegetarian and wow, what a difference. I've understand intellectually the connection between vegetarianism and yoga before but wondered if practice was truly different. I felt somehow lighter during practice and didn't fight the asanas mentally as I have before. Maybe it's the two week break (trying to practice from a video in a carpeted bedroom at the in-laws was difficult at best) and maybe it's more a matter of self-fulfilling prophecy (I believe I can stick with the vegetarianism so why not physical practice?) but it was...different. Not better, not worse, just different for lack of a better word. I felt more stable and committed to practice overall after such a strong incorporation of one of the yamas.

Happy Hump-Day

2009-01-07T09:18:00.002-06:00

After feeling full allllllll day yesterday I couldn't even sleep. I tossed and turned in the bed and ended up frustrating both myself and the cat, who decided that he needed to be on top of me. Every time I almost got comfortable he'd start crawling around looking for just the right spot to cuddle up to, which was inevitably my face. Nothing like a mouth and nose full of fur to put you right to sleep! After about an hour of this I gave in and moved out to the couch where the sweet sounds of late-night TV put me to sleep within ten minutes! I wasn't too hungry this morning and didn't want to feel as full as I did all day yesterday so I kept breakfast light - just a bowl of blueberry Greek yogurt with a bit of granola and flax and some tea.

Bad Blogger

2009-01-07T09:06:00.004-06:00

For whatever reason I was just not in the mood to be creative yesterday, so let's catch up and then move on to today.

I woke up HUNGRY yesterday morning which usually means that by the time breakfast is ready I've lost all interest. I tried to keep it fairly light but make sure it was substantial with an egg sandwich with tomato and provolone on whole-grain bread, and an apple. I forget how filling apples are! I ate around 9:30 and didn't get hungry again until close to 3pm!

Lunch was the superstar of the day, though. The photo in the cookbook (New Vegetarian Cuisine, by Linda Rosenweig) was mouth-watering and the combination of black beans and citrus seemed just the tropical getaway lunch for a snowy day. The recipe stated that it served four, and I halved the recipe, but it was still HUGE.I ate half of the prepared salad over half a cup of barley. It's a breeze to prepare and will definitely become a summer staple.

Black Bean Citrus Salad
3 navel oranges, peeled, sectioned, and chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp black pepper

In large bowl combine oranges, black beans, kidney beans, cucumbers and onions. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, cilantro, and pepper. Pour over salad; toss to combine. Cover and chill at least 20 minutes.

If breakfast was filling, lunch was even more so. I wasn't truly hungry but felt bad not eating dinner and didn't want to get the late-night hungry attack so I reheated some of the roasted veggies and tossed them with some Trader Joe's gluten-free pasta. I probably could have eaten half of what was prepared but kept on eating anyway. Oh well, lesson learned. After dinner I wanted something sweet (again!) so I did the usual and had a couple chocolate chips.

Roasted Vegetables and Polenta

2009-01-05T21:49:00.005-06:00

I've been dying to try the polenta I picked up while grocery shopping to see if it was easier/better/less explosive than the last batch. Success! The trick is to buy the prepared polenta in the tube if the recipe calls for slicing it and NOT the dry shrink-wrapped version. This is key, unless ending up with a pile of corny grits on the floor, stove, counter, and self is the goal. Probably not. I wasn't feeling particularly creative or motivated to try to improve the soup this evening so I dug into some of the leftover roasted vegetables with mozzarella...

...brushed a couple 1/2" slices of polenta with a tiny bit of olive oil and popped them under the broiler for 5 or 6 minutes (don't they look devilish cooking?)...

...and topped it all with freshly-grated parmesan cheese! YUM!

I was still craving something sweet afterwards! What is with the sweet tooth today? I debated having a tiny scoop of some vanilla bean ice cream but ended up savoring a teeny handful of chocolate chips instead and they totally curbed the ice cream binge that likely would have occurred. Off to bed early tonight and hopefully early to rise tomorrow!

Tomorrow is another day

2009-01-05T16:48:00.002-06:00

I had some errands to run outside today but after being away for so long it's entirely too relaxing to just stay at home where it's warm and cozy. The big bowl of soup and veggies from lunch held me over for a couple hours but something was calling me - anything crunchy and a little bit sweet. Strawberry Greek yogurt and granola? Perfect!

Soup's On (and there's plenty more where that came from)

2009-01-05T16:18:00.009-06:00

Wow. I made a rookie mistake. The grocery post below should explain it all. I pored over my two brand-new cookbooks carefully selecting meals for the week that would cover me through lunch and dinner taking into account servings per dish and making sure that each day was pretty balanced. I figured a soup, two salads, a pasta, and two tofu dishes might get me through the week. Look at all the leftovers from today's lunch!

Backing up a moment though, I made a spinach and lentil soup for lunch. It was ok, but not better than that. I was short on spinach and threw in a bit of kale to make up the bulk, but it's still definitely missing some major flavor. I'll blog the recipe for this one once I've figured out what it needs. Even adding some shredded Parmesan didn't add as much as hoped, but I have a couple more tweaks in mind.

I doubled up (quintupled, I think!) on the veggies with a roasted vegetable salad with a bit of mozzarella and parmesan. So tasty! Throw whatever veggies you have on hand (in this case zucchini, eggplant, tomato, red pepper, and a red onion) into a pan lined with cooking spray, toss with a bit of oil, basil, fennel, salt and pepper and pop in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. YUM!

I realized I hadn't added any grains so I popped a slice of whole-grain bread into the toaster and topped it with a little bit of cranberry sauce for a sweet finish.

I guess I have a lot of soup to look forward to!

Manic Monday

2009-01-05T09:06:00.007-06:00

I have a HUGE list of things I want to try to get done today - 30 items, in fact. I'll be happy if I can get most of them done or at least started though. The biggest task is to find a new humidifier. Our radiator has been kicking into high gear and leaves our apartment feeling like the Sahara and our old one bit the dust last week. No amount of water is enough to stay hydrated in here! The Beanpole hit the road again this morning so I'm on my own for the week to indulge in all things to-fruity. The best part is that our new favorite movie channel is showing one of my all-time favorites this afternoon - SHAG! You better believe I have every intention of camping out on the sofa for that one!

I had the alarm set for 6:45 this morning but stayed curled up and cozy until he left around 7:30 before getting up to make some oatmeal. For years I thought that I did not like oatmeal, until I tried the whipped banana recipe on Kath Eats Real Food. Check out her Tribute To Oats here!

I heated up a little bit of my cinnamon cranberry sauce first because I hate spoiling nice warm dishes with a cold bite, added the oats, a bit of granola, and about a tablespoon of flax, and washed down all the yummy oats with a hot cup of Stash Fusion Green and White tea. I love both kinds of tea on their own and this is perfect for the mornings when I'm not quite ready for all the earthiness of a regular green tea.

The perfect way to enjoy the rest of the banana - with a little bit of PB!

Something fishy is in the air

2009-01-04T21:13:00.003-06:00

It seems that I am setting out to prove that my small kitchen can't handle all the flavor! The Beanpole and I went out AGAIN tonight for dinner, this time for Mexican at a restaurant a couple blocks away. They claim to have "killer margaritas" but as good as the mango-flavored sounded I want to splurge on food tonight and not drink. The pancakes from this morning left me pretty full most of the day so instead of having lunch I had two small snacks instead spaced out by a couple hours. The first was a banana sliced lengthwise with about a tablespoon of peanut butter spread between and the second was 6 pretzel crisps with a slice of provolone cheese. The restaurant was pretty dark so I wasn't able to get any photos, but I had about a third of the chips and salsa topped off by yummy tilapia tacos with mango salsa. This was accompanied by a mound of white rice surrounding black beans. It's a tasty twist on the classic rice and beans which I was really craving tonight! The past couple of times we've been this has been the special and I always hope it's the feature! I am getting a little worn-down eating out all the time, though, and look forward to getting back to the kitchen tomorrow.

Cakes from a Pan

2009-01-04T13:14:00.003-06:00

We stayed up much too late last night watching a movie called Starflight One. It seems we have a new channel that purposely shows such gems and when we came across a movie showing a super-sonic plane that had gone into orbit, well, we just couldn't turn away. The stellar performances of Lee Majors and Hal Linden also kept us glued to our seats. Very dramatic stuff. We woke up late again and had talked about making pancakes so I set up a little breakfast bar for us. Until about 6 or 7 months ago I didn't even know you could make pancakes that didn't come from the Bisquick box, much less attempted to make them. I'd planned on making some plain and some blueberry but found at the last minute that I'd used up the rest of my blueberries in the delicious cran-blueberry sauce from a couple weeks ago. What's a logical subsitute? Chocolate chips, of course! The first guy didn't turn out so well - he was huge, doughy, and not so cooked on the inside. A little bit of practice though and most turned out pretty well for the first go-round, and we even have leftovers in the freezer for a busy morning! I was hungry-hungry and had 2.5 of these big cakes!

Rock The Casbah

2009-01-04T12:47:00.004-06:00

The Beanpole and I ended up going out (again) to dinner last night. This was probably a good idea since neither of us had left the house all day! Walking out the door of our apartment we're faced with about 30 different (and mostly delicious!) restaurants and despite all the options typically end up at one of a couple, but not last night.! We decided to walk a couple extra blocks to The Casbah, a nondescript Middle Eastern joint up the street from us. Our last visit was a year ago and since then the conversation has often gone like this:

SK: What do you want to do for dinner?
TB: I don't know. What do you want to do?
SK: I could go either way.
TB: Me too. Let's just grab something.
SK: Ok. What about Fabulous Restaurant 1?
TB: Nah.
SK: Ok, what about The Casbah? We always say we're going back.
TB: Yeah, we do. But I don't want to tonight.
SK: Yeah, me either.

This has gone on for a year. Really. Since Middle Eastern food offers a plethora of veggie-friendly options as well as carnivorous we finally went back. I don't have any photos of our dinner as the tables are incredibly close together and we were only about 4 inches or so from our neighbors on either side. It's not the best set-up for surreptitiously snapping photos!

The moment we walked in the waiter (manager? owner?) whisked our bottle of wine away and quickly returned with the open bottle and two tiny tumblers. Several minutes passed before he returned with menus, but we were in no hurry and in fact were quite enjoying the leisurely pace! The tiny space was packed so we ordered some hummus to tide us over to the main courses and sat back sipping our wine. The table next to us also ordered hummus (at the same time) but somehow ours arrived about 10 minutes before theirs! We were so close I almost offered to share! Soon The Beanpole's rather plain salad and my carrot-ginger soup were placed in front of us. The soup was so soothing, with just the right amount of creaminess and curry.

The Beanpole ordered the Sea Scallops and I ordered the Moroccan Shrimp Brochette, and naturally we traded tastes of the ocean. As of right now I am still happily able to enjoy seafood and intend to include it here and there amidst a mostly veg-based diet. The shrimp brochette was served over a bed of couscous and vegetables and were quite good. I can be picky about the texture of shrimp but these were cooked exactly to my liking with a bit of a crisp but still chewy. We were both full and skipped dessert this time but a couple next to us enjoyed a little bit of baklava that looked scrumptious.

It's a little pricey, a little cramped, and the service can be a bit laissez-faire but that's perfectly fine with me. Our waiter was amiable and we never felt rushed despite the small crowd gathering by the door. My personal tastes lean towards the smaller, independent establishments that dot the city streets and some of the issues that other diners find are part of the charm for me. Our food on both visits has been wonderful, the service friendly, and hopefully we'll make it back before 2009 is over!

Lazy Day

2009-01-03T15:45:00.004-06:00

It is dark and dreary outside with a forecast of rain or snow so The Beanpole and I have been lounging on the couch with the internet most of the day. I got pretty hungry about an hour after breakfast but distracted myself with the ever-addictive Facebook and decided to wait a couple more hours if I could to have lunch. We've talked about going around the corner to our little pub this evening and if we do will probably end up having dinner there so I wanted to do something light again for lunch. But I just could not shake the desire for eggs, so I had a second breakfast instead. This used to be one of my favorite treats for dinner and I knew it would be just the thing!

I had an open-faced egg sandwich on whole-wheat bread with a little tomato, spinach, provolone cheese, and pepper. So tasty! To round out the "breakfast" feel I added two veggie sausage links, and for balance a crisp granny smith apple (minus two slices that I forced on The Beanpole to counteract his diner lunch of a Chicago-style char-dog and a huge plate of fries). I'm still a little hungry but hoping that the big glass of water will fill me up!

Light Start

2009-01-03T14:00:00.001-06:00

Wheeeeew, it was a late morning. I wish I could say that it was due to a wild and fun night, but alas, I am old and boring. I spent a restless two weeks trying to sleep at the in-laws (though the king-size bed was a treat!) and have been desperately trying to catch up since we returned. You've heard a little bit about The Beanpole but there is another family member that has been slinking slightly under the radar - Augustus Cat. He's an almost 9 year old fluffy tabby that cannot ever seem to get enough attention. The two week vacation was rough on him and when we returned he was hoarse from screaming and had visibly been on a hunger strike. He's not let either of us have a moment's rest since. The past three nights have been a series of yowls, incessant kneading on any limb exposed from beneath the covers, nighttime crazies, and basically anything else he can think of to keep us from abandoning him for the comfort of a good night's rest. Finally, finally, finally, last night he decided that simply cuddling up next to my feet would be satisfactory and I slept. For twelve hours. Waking up at 11am isn't quite the fresh new start I'd had planned so I kept breakfast light and had a slice of calcium-fortified whole-grain bread with a bit of natural peanut butter, and Chobani non-fat vanilla yogurt with some frozen mixed berries, granola and flax, and a cup of green tea. Hopefully I can get back on track for the rest of the day!

Grocery List, Veggie Week 1

2009-01-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

I have some great recipes lined up for this week, and will be making 1 soup, 2 salads, one pasta, and two tofu dishes for lunches and dinners. They each serve 4-6 so I'll be portioning them out appropriately and spacing them throughout the week. Most, if not all, of these would serve equally well as a side dish for a meat-based meal or you could easily add a meat or seafood. One of the puzzling aspects for non-veggie people is what does a vegetarian buy? I'll be posting grocery lists at the beginning of each week to offer an idea of what is to come!

1 bag brown lentils
whole wheat bread
whole wheat fettuccine
ground flax seed
1 box bran flakes
1 box maple-pecan granola

1 leek
1 stalk celery
2 eggplants
2 lbs bok choy
1 lb carrots
2 cucumbers
2 zucchini
2 red onions
2 red peppers
green olives
1 lb potatoes
1 bunch kale
1 bunch swiss chard (red)
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch cilantro

4 lemons
3 HUGE oranges
1 tomato
1 bag frozen berries
3 bananas
4 granny smith apples
1 avocado

1 package firm tofu
6 eggs
mozzarella cheese
sliced provolone cheese
1 pint skim milk
1 round Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese
4 non-fat Chobani Greek yogurts (2 plain, 1 vanilla, 1 strawberry)

1 box Morningstar veggie sausage links

Spicy Black Beans and Zucchini Quesadillas

2009-01-02T20:00:00.000-06:00

My experience in the kitchen has been more successful than not, but I haven't reached the level of confidence yet to just start experimenting at random and throwing ingredients together to make magic happen. Thank goodness for all the food blogs! This meal needed to meet three key requirements: use zucchini; be vegetarian-friendly; and most of all be fast and easy with minimal cleanup. I found this recipe on Green Lite Bites and it turned out to be just what I was looking for. Not only was it a satisfying dinner but I even made some tasty eggs with the leftovers the next morning!

Spicy Black Beans and Zucchini
1 small diced onion (I added more because, well, I love onions)
1 small zucchini, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp salsa (I used some homemade pico de gallo that was on hand)
Non-stick cooking spray

Spray pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened. Add zucchini and cook another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle mixture with spices. Stir in beans and salsa and cook another 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

A Very Veggie New Year

2009-01-02T13:17:00.003-06:00

Remember a couple weeks ago when I mentioned that I'd be trying to incorporate more vegetarian recipes into our diet? Well, it turns out that every time I eat meat I am doubled over with a painful, heavy stomachache for days at a time so instead of simply adding a few more meatless meals a week I'm going "cold tofu". I've toyed with the idea for years for many different reasons but it feels like it's going to stick this time. Yes, it's great that I won't be contributing to the slaughter of animals and also (though somewhat passively) am making a choice to better the environment. Fantastic. But in all honesty the driving force behind this is an unwillingness to feel like absolute poo for several days. I will be the first to admit that there are going to be some very rocky moments ahead. I love breakfast meats, and Chicago-style hot dogs, and a beer-boiled bratwurst in the summer with a slab of sauerkraut has been my own personal nirvana. The very American notion of dinner consisting of a meat, a starch, and a vegetable is also highly ingrained and may be difficult to contend with. But there are also so many wonderful flavors out there waiting to be explored and this new lifestyle presents an exciting opportunity to learn about different foods, try some delicious new dishes, and grow in the kitchen!

Home for the Holidays

2008-12-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

No kitchen to cook in! What am I going to do with myself? No doubt I'll be up to no good.

The Beanpole and I are migrating south for the winter...Or at least the next couple of weeks. We'll be staying with his parents and soaking up as much of the warmth as we possibly can; catching up with old friends; meeting some new friends; and relaxing.

I've heard a rumor that now that I'm officially Mrs. Beanpole I'll have access to some of my mother-in-law's tried and true recipes. I can't promise to post them all. After all, some recipes (like my bloody mary recipe, which would knock any of your socks off and have you begging) are just better kept secret!

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

2008-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

I've always loved the color of eggplant (aubergine if you're feeling sassy) but have found it more difficult to enjoy the vegetable itself. The health and environmental benefits of eating vegetarian meals are well-documented and I'm trying to incorporate more of these into our diet. To help with the transition I'm using a lot of eggplant and mushrooms to help our meals have that "meaty" feel without actual meat. Don't be surprised to see a lot more of both around these parts! This recipe, while good, needs some modifications to be more authentic. First, I wouldn't call it "eggplant parmesan" as it ended up more like a lasagna and totally lacked in breadcrumbs - the best part! Roasting the eggplant first did add a nice layer of flavor and I'll try that technique with some other recipes.

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan (adapted from Good Housekeeping)
2 small eggplants, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2" thick slices
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 28oz can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (I used fresh as they were on hand)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley (I omitted)
4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place eggplant slices on cookie sheets and brush oil on both sides. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt. Roast 15 minutes; turn slices and roast until browned and tender, about 20 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, combine tomatoes, remaining salt and pepper; heat to boiling over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have thickened, about 20 minutes.

Turn oven to 400 degrees. In shallow casserole dish, layer half of eggplant and top with half tomato sauce. Sprinkle with half mozzarella. Repeat layers; top with grated Parmesan.

Cover loosely with foil. Bake until bubbling, about 10 minutes. Remove dish from oven and let stand about 10 minutes prior to serving.

Spicy Shredded Pork

2008-12-15T16:00:00.000-06:00

I have a confession to make. I love folded foods in any form, except pizza. It actually angers me to watch silly people fold a slice of pizza in half and nonchalantly munch away. That may or may not have something to do with my Chicago pizza devotion. But I digress. Like everyone I'm subject to food ruts and when they strike almost inevitably find myself indulging in some fashioning of a taco. I find it fascinating that nearly every culture has spun its own version of folded food. So when I ran across this recipe for spicy pulled pork I knew I'd have to make it. Turns out it's insanely delicious and as you can see below both TheBeanpole and I kept sneaking little pieces and were hardly even hungry by dinner time. It's that good. Trust me.

Spicy Shredded Pork (Annie's Eats, adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
4-7 lb. pork shoulder
1 onion, quartered
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ cup brown sugar
3-4 garlic cloves
1-2 tbsp. salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 cups water

Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder.

Combine the onion, spices, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper to taste in the bowl of a food processor. Add the olive oil and white wine vinegar. Blend mixture until totally combined. Pour over the pork shoulder. Rub over the whole surface of the pork, being sure to cover any folds or crevices.

Place the pork in a Dutch oven or roasting pan and add water to the pan. Cover tightly and roast at 300° for several hours, turning once every hour. When it is fork tender ( about 6-7 hours) turn the heat up to 425°, remove the lid, and roast skin-side up for 15-20 more minutes until crispy. Let rest 15 minutes.

Shred the pork shoulder using two forks. Pour some of the juice from cooking over the shredded meat to keep it moist. Serve with warm tortillas, lime wedges, sour cream and pico de gallo.

Challenge Three, Round One - Wild Mushroom Strudel

2008-12-14T21:57:00.005-06:00

It's the last challenge of 2008! I was somehow duped by Beans (not to be confused with The Beanpole, of course) over at Mmmm...Tastes Good into making something with mushrooms. It was sneaky of her but given my recent infatuation with variations of these fun-guys I'll let it slide. In fact, just this week we'd eaten Pork Chops Marsala and Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Caprese. The Beanpole and I were headed to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party so the recipe needed to be cab-friendly and easy to eat. Nothing from my ever-growing collection of cookbooks and magazine stash appealed and I started to lose hope until I found this recipe for mushroom strudel. Most of the recipes I use are designed to taste great and be relatively simple to recreate and I'm using these challenges to break out of my comfort zone a little bit and learn about a new technique or flavor combination. I hadn't worked with puff pastry before and decided to take this opportunity to test myself. It's not the easiest ingredient to manipulate but with a little bit of patience and SK's easy-as-pie wrapping method they turned out beautifully! Check out Smitten Kitchen for her gorgeous photo how-to on the phyllo. You'll thank me later!

Mushroom Strudel (Smitten Kitchen)
12 to 18 sheets phyllo pastry (12 to make four large strudel, 18 to make smaller triangles)
1/2 cup butter
1 pound mixed, fresh, wild and cultivated mushrooms (we used only creminis, and ended up with plenty of flavor. If you omit the stems, start with 1.5 pounds)
1 medium onion, minced
3 tablespoons butter
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional, we skipped it)
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Leaves from 1 sprig marjoram or thyme
4 to 6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling, if you wish (the latter amount for the minis)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Clear a large work surface for this, big enough for two full sheets of phllyo, your egg wash, parmesan and filling–trust me, you’ll need it.

Make the filling: Make sure the mushrooms are dust- and sand-free, wash if necessary, and trim if need be. Cook the onion in the butter and, when soft, add the mushrooms with the nutmeg. Saute for 5 to 7 minutes, until liquid has been released and has partially evaporated. Add the sherry and evaporate the alcohol by cooking over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the flour, herbs, and some salt and pepper, and let cool. The mixture will be moist.

To make small, triangular strudel: Take one sheet of phyllo at a time from their package; cover the remaining sheets with plastic and then a damp towel, ensuring they are completely covered. Brush one half of the sheet lengthwise with butter. Fold the unbuttered side over the buttered side, carefully, smoothing out any wrinkles and bubbles but not worrying if you can’t get them all. Again, brush one half of this lengthwise (a few inch-wide column) with butter, and fold the unbuttered side over it again. You’ll end up with one long column.

Dollop a spoonful of the mushroom filling near the end and sprinkle a teaspoon of parmesan over it. Begin folding one bottom corner of the phyllo strip over the filling until it meets the opposite edge, forming a triangle, as if you were folding a flag. Place the triangle seam side down on the baking sheet, brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Waste Not, Want More Pasta

2008-12-10T08:00:00.002-06:00

The Beanpole is working from home this week and it's taking some adjustments to making "man-sized" meals again. I started to prepare the Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Caprese, took one look, and realized that the poor guy would just not be satisfied with one little mushroom cap. We're heading to the in-laws' for Christmas early next week and kept the grocery shopping to a minimum and instead planned on making a couple bigger, heartier dishes that would yield plenty of leftovers and no waste so choices were limited. I threw on a pot of pasta, grabbed acouple items that would pair well with the mushrooms and was rather surprised at how tasty the dish turned out. True, it's difficult to ruin pasta but this surprisingly flavorful dish is perfect for rushed evenings!

Waste Not, Want More Pasta
1/2 lb penne pasta
1 14oz can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, drained
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup milk
fresh parmesan for grating
1-2 slices proscuitto, chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions. Stir in tomatoes and spinach, let warm. Add cheese, stirring to combine. Pour in milk, stir, and cook 2-3 minutes. Serve warm with topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and proscuitto.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Caprese

2008-12-10T07:59:00.001-06:00

Oh, how I love summer and the abundance of fresh tomatoes and basil. I make some variation of the Caprese salad at least every week and sometimes even every day during those warm, long days. But alas, winter has finally officially hit the city and there will be no more denying it. So what's a girl to do? Slap it all on a portabella mushroom cap, pop it in the oven, and enjoy all the delicious flavor while watching the snow fall outside.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Caprese
Portabella mushroom caps, 1 per person
Olive oil
Fresh basil
Tomato
Balsamic vinegar
Mozzarella cheese (I used shredded since it was on hand, but sliced would be fine)
1-2 tbsps plain bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Gently wipe mushroom caps with damp towel and remove stems. Brush tops lightly with olive oil and bake 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and layer basil, tomato, dash of balsamic, salt and pepper, and cheese. Top with breadcrumbs. Bake about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and starts to bubble. Place under broiler 2-3 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

Challenge Two, Round Three - Prosciutto Wrapped Pears

2008-12-04T21:47:00.006-06:00

A couple years ago a friend hosted a fun little jewelry party and served up what quickly became my favorite appetizer. Ever. Except for all the others I love so much. These have been a hit every time I've served them and tend to disappear before I've even set the plate out. They're extremely easy and take almost seconds to assemble!

Proscuitto Wrapped Pears
2-3 ripe Bartlett pears
Light Garlic and Herb Boursin Cheese
1/2 lb thinly sliced prosciutto (best from deli counter, but packaged will work)
Arugula
1/2 can lemon-lime soda, in bowl

Slice pears and soak 1-2 minutes in lemon-lime soda to prevent discoloring. Pat dry and spread with Boursin cheese. Top with an arugula leaf, and wrap with one slice prosciutto.

No, really, that's it!

Challenge Two, Round Two - Poached Pears in Marsala

2008-12-04T19:34:00.015-06:00

Ohhh, drunken pears! The last time I had fruit this alcohol-saturated was a better forgotten incident with the infamous Purple Jesus. It goes by several names but is almost certainly ladled out of a dirty cooler in a backyard. Unfortunately much of the fault for this failure lies in my hands. Not only did I make some poor substitutions, I blatantly ignored several of the instructions and thus we ended up with a sickeningly sweet, boozy dessert. Do not do any of the following: use vanilla extract in place of the bean; Sweet Marsala in place of Dry; forget to add the water; or become so engrossed in your current glass of wine that you forget the sauce is reducing filling your friends' apartment with smoke. I haven't gotten the nerve to try again with the leftover Marsala yet, but maybe someday.

Poached Pears in Marsala
2 cups dry Marsala
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
2 long strips orange peel
6 7-ounce Bosc pears, peeled, stems left intact
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (optional)

Combine 2 cups dry Marsala, 2 cups water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, split vanilla beans, and orange peel strips in heavy large pot. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add peeled Bosc pears. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover pot and simmer until pears are tender, turning pears occasionally, about 40 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to platter. Boil liquid in pot until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 12 minutes. Pour syrup over poached pears. Chill until cold, turning pears occasionally, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

Divide poached pears among 6 shallow bowls. Strain syrup; discard solids. Drizzle syrup over pears. Top each with dollop of mascarpone, if desired, and serve.

Challenge Two, Round One - Pear and Cranberry Empanadas

2008-12-04T19:34:00.014-06:00

These were the winner! I made a berry version of these empanadas last summer and was instructed by some friends to bring them to every gathering going forward. We discussed several variations to suit each holiday and cooking methods to improve the already delicious treat. I first fell in love with this fun little folded treat after trying one last winter at tiny empanada shop in the neighborhood, and then again in Buenos Aires when The Beanpole and I visited on our honeymoon. They're incredibly versatile and hold up to just about any filling one can imagine, sweet and savory. I read through several pie recipes prior to baking the filling and played around with the ingredients to taste, so while it's not the most exacting of recipes but is a great jumping-off point for anyone who dares to try their own! The tartness of the cranberries perfectly contrasted with the sweet pears and was the perfect finishing touch to a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner.

Pear and Cranberry Empanadas
Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup chicken stock
1 egg

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and mix well. Add shortening and break it up by hand until it resembles cornmeal. Add chicken stock and knead until all is incorporated. Let it rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes in cooler.

Filling
3 large ripe pears, diced
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
dash of nutmeg
dash of orange zest
squirt of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients into pie dish and stir to combine. Bake about 15 minutes or until pears are tender and cranberries are slightly mushy. They will also cook slightly when frying empanadas and when reheating if needed so be careful not to overcook. Let cool slightly.

When dough has cooled, turn out onto slightly floured surface and roll to 1/4" thick. Cut circles from dough with 4" pastry cutter. (I had a 3" cutter on hand and used that, then rolled dough to about 1/8" thick as I like a less doughy empanada but either will work.) Spoon filling onto middle of each circle. Brush sides lightly with egg wash, fold into half-moon, and press sides together with fingers or tines of a fork.

Heat a pan filled with oil (I used Smart Balance) to 350 degrees. Fry empanadas until golden brown turning occasionally , about 4-6 minutes, and remove. To reheat, cover with foil and warm in 350 degree oven about 5-10 minutes. Dust lightly with confectioner's sugar if desired.

Cranberries and Cinnamon

2008-12-01T18:43:00.015-06:00

I first tasted homemade cranberry sauce only a few years ago and have been changed forever. I'd only known the schlooooopy, sloshy mess oozing out of a can with rings intact so it's easy to see why this magic escaped me. But oh, fresh cranberry sauce is now a favorite and I long for it every year. Our Thanksgiving hostess this year used a canned sauce. GASP! But, the first cinnamon-flavored bite of the Harry and David (can they do wrong?) sauce begged me to recreate it with the leftover cranberries. Most recipes call for at least a cup of sugar but I decided to sweeten it another way and chose frozen blueberries. This is going to be delicious on top of some Greek yogurt tonight, and a nice morning bowl of oatmeal tomorrow!

Cranberry-Cinnamon Relish

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
8oz fresh cranberries
4oz frozen blueberries
cinnamon to taste (I like a lot!)

Bring water to a boil over medium head. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add cranberries and blueberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer about 10 more minutes or until cranberries burst. Add cinnamon, stir, remove from heat and let cool. Transfer sauce to refrigerator and let cool completely. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

Thanksgiving Feast

2008-12-01T04:00:00.005-06:00

The Beanpole and I spent a lovely Thanksgiving holiday here in the city. We'd been planning to for months and were looking quite forward to a relaxing day of football, food, and friends. And oh, was there food. I can't take credit for the majority of the dishes, but will be posting some recipes soon in the next ingredient challenge post. It's never just a party with this crowd and as expected there was plenty of food to feed the six of us and even enough to make leftover care packages!

Hors d'Ouevres
Cherry Tomatoes on Crackers with goat cheese
Stuffed Olives
Bread with herbed olive oil for dipping
Prosciutto wrapped pears with boursin and arugula
Dinner
Barbecue Ribs (regular and baby-back)
Deep-fried turkey
Sweet Potato Bake
Apple Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole with plain fried onions
Green Bean Casserole with cheddar fried onions
Butternut Squash Cranberry Bake with Almonds
Rolls
Cranberry Relish
Dessert
Apple Cookies
Roasted pears in Marsala
Apple Pie Empanadas
Pear and Cranberry Empanadas
Drinks
Copious amounts of wine, including several reds, a sparkling white, and a pumpkin wine that shall never be spoken of again.

Mussels, but no Brussels

2008-11-24T18:40:00.010-06:00

The Beanpole has had several opportunities to travel internationally for business and his most recent trip overseas found him in Brussels, Belgium. He attended several dinners and raved about the cuisine but has always had a special place in his heart for mussels. Finally, Saturday night we hopped on the bus and headed up to Hopleaf, a Belgian bar in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, for an evening of mussels and frites for two, and of course Belgian beer! (photo courtesy of www.weddingmapper.com)

The kitchen offers two styles of mussels. The first is prepared with a Belgian white ale with shallots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. We opted for the second, more traditional white wine preparation with garlic, fennel, and rapini. Both are served with a paper cone of frites and a bit of garlic aoili. The Beanpole spooned a heaping pile of shells onto each of our plates and we dove in. Each and every bite was delicious. At one point I remember eating as quickly as possible to keep up with The Beanpole and make sure he didn't devour the entire pot and we sat back in our seats with beer in hand and satiated grins on our faces.

The mussels were fantastic, but the real star at Hopleaf is the beer selection. The downstairs bar offers several Belgian and local microbrews on tap along with a sixteen-page menu of bottled beers and the upstairs cash-only bar offers a smaller but still impressive selection. Each brew is carefully poured into the appropriate glass to enhance the experience. The most distinct (and a personal favorite) is Kwak, an amber-colored malty brew with just a hint of fruit, which is served in a round-bottomed glass complete with wooden stand. I suggest ordering this treat early in the evening as returning the glass to the stand after a couple rounds can be a little difficult! (photo courtesy of butchesbrew.wordpress.com)

Hopleaf is almost always on my list of recommendations for visitors to Chicago, so if you're in the area please check it out!

Another Fabulous Resource

2008-11-21T10:36:00.003-06:00

Naturally I'm always on the lookout for a fun new spot to find a recipe I haven't tried and this is sure to quickly become a new favorite. Cookstr.com launched today! The home page offers a choice of Recipe of the Day or Author of the Day, and once a selection has been made a plethora of search options open up. Enjoy!

Challenge One, Round Two - Butternut Squash

2008-11-20T16:53:00.010-06:00

I had plenty of leftover squash from the Butternut Squash Challenge and decided to find some recipes to use the rest of it. The poor thing sat languishing in the refrigerator for a couple days so I roasted it with a bit of butter and brown sugar to eke out a few more days. And it sat for a couple more days before I got the motivation to play with it a little bit. I'm so glad I did! This risotto was fantastic! I added the cubed butternut squash right at the end only to warm them as I did not want them to get mushy, but it would be equally delicious with the addition of pureed squash.

Butternut Squash Risotto
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 tbs butter (I used Smart Balance)
3/4 Arborio rice (any short-grain rice will do)
1/4 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups chicken stock, heated
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 cups roasted butternut squash, cubed

Melt butter on low to medium heat in heavy bottom skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened but not browned. Add rice and toss to coat. Cook 2-3 minutes to toast rice. Add wine and cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.

When wine is absorbed, add 1/3 chicken stock and cook, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Add another third stock and keep stirring until liquid is absorbed. Begin tasting about 15 minutes after starting to cook rice. The ideal texture should be soft with a bit of resistance when biting into it. The amount of liquid will vary, so don't be surprised if not all is used.

Add parmesan and stir vigorously until absorbed. Add butternut squash cubes and stir to warm.