some photos etc

 

HA

 

Toss green beans with olive oil and parmesan cheese.  Roast in the air fryer.

Serve them with a mayo-mustard-garlic dip.

more green beans?  pickle 'em.

cheeeeeeeesy cauliflower

 

I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge but I didn't want to do the usual - steam or roast it.  We always do that.  I decided to do a puree and then add a whole bunch of cheese because why not?

I followed this recipe except that I used raw garlic instead of roasted and cream cheese instead of sour cream, and I measured all ingredients with my heart and not my measuring cups and you know what?  It was delicious.  Well, to the adults.  But we count too. 

bang bang broccoli

 This is one of my favorite things that I have made lately.  It was so easy and so good - and even the leftovers reheated nicely.

The Boy is still hanging in there on his vegetarian journey, although his interest does seem to be waning.  I always give him the option of a meat or vegetarian meal, unless I'm cooking all vegetarian, and he has been choosing meat a bit more occasionally than before.  It's fine, and we don't put any stress or expectations on him.  I don't always come up with the most exciting menu plans for him, so I'm sure sometimes he's just not interested in more fishless fish and veggies.

But anyway, I thought this would be a fun side/main to try, and I was right.  Not that The Boy felt the same because he got invited over to his friends for dinner and so he abandoned us for cheese pizza and a hockey game.  Humph.

The Girl hated it, of course, but she doesn't like anything fun or interesting.  I made this in the air fryer and it was 100% the way to go.  If you have one, use it for this recipe.  Just so good.

Recipe - Bang Bang Broccoli

spicy fried cauliflower "chicken"

 I love vegetarian and vegan food, but I don't love pretty much any of the "meatless meat" alternatives out there, personally.  I would rather just eat vegetables than chickenless chicken.  

I was excited to find this recipe in my copy of Sweet Potato Soul  - cauliflower fried like chicken!  The Boy also thought it was interesting, so we gave it a try.

 

And we loved it! It was easy, as easy as anything fried gets, and it was delicious.  I definitely could have used more of the seasoned flour to get through all my cauliflower pieces, but even though some of the last pieces to get battered and fried were light on the batter, they were still delicious.  

Recipe - vegan fried cauliflower "chicken"

 

butternut squash orzo

I made this squash orzo risotto one Sunday last month and it was so delicious and pretty that I wanted to try to get a good photo - and the sun was so strong so I took the dish out to the back porch in the sunshine, snapped a couple of pictures that I didn't crop the rugs bits out of, and stood and enjoyed the warm February air.

Spring is almost here, and I can't wait!

ways with cauliflower

Cauliflower is everywhere now - it's rice, it's pizza crust, it's wings.  

We love cauliflower and having some new exciting ways to cook it is fun.

This is Whole roasted cauliflower with whipped goat cheese that was so good.

This kick started a bit of a cauliflower craze in the house that went well until we tried cauliflower biscuits which was a bad idea.  So bad.

Stick with wings and crusts, Cauli.  Although I hear beets are trying to make a move on your turf....

Marcella Hazan's smothered cabbage and rice soup

This is a beautiful soup that we found very comforting when the weather changed abruptly early in the Fall.  The cabbage takes a while to cook but it's a nice feeling sometimes to slow down and enjoy cooking, not to rush through to the next busy task.

I've followed this method to make 2 clean-out-the-fridge soups since then, almost, but not quite, as good.

Recipe:  Marcella Hazan's rice and smothered cabbage soup

Recipes I've made - no photos

I am always on the lookout for new pancake recipes and this one was a real winner. Light and fluffy and a hit with the kids. I froze the leftovers and they reheated quite nicely. Pete's Scratch Pancakes

I made these ham quiche cups for a Sunday dinner and they were easy and tasty.  The leftovers were delicious for breakfast.

Another Sunday dinner was this very very delicious slow cooker creamy beef stroganoff which was amazing!  Of course the kids didn't like it, but the adults did.

For dessert one night I made these peanut butter and jelly bars which were good but very very rich.  But good.

I have made this Asian peanut butter pork three times since finding the recipe.  Delicious tender pork with a killer sauce.

My end result looked nothing like the photo in the recipe- I either over cooked  my squash or over mixed it, so it lost the  individual strands, but the flavor of this yakisoba spaghetti squash was really great.

Red Cabbage

I've got a couple of pot lucks coming up and I've already started researching some options, which is totally out of character for me.
After I finished up my cookbook shelf purge in August I tried to take another critical look  at all the cookbooks that stayed behind.  Do I really need all of them?  Really?
Well so far  the answer seems to be yes, but I am keeping that thought in my mind.  I am hoping that if I do decide that a book isn't for us, that I will do the right thing and donate it so someone else can enjoy it.
One book I wasn't sure if it should stay or go was The Rest of the Best and More - A Best of Bridge cookbook.  But now that I've flipped through it again I've found a lot of recipes I'd like to try - for potlucks and just eating in general.

I made the Red Cabbage recipe last weekend to use up a half head of red cabbage and also this is the sort of the thing that The Mister loves to eat.  It was easy and we had to tinker a bit to get the sweet-sour yin yang just right for us, but in the end it was delicious.  And even The Boy ate some!
Something about this dish says Fall/Winter to me.

Red Cabbage
from The Rest of the Best and More

3 lb red cabbage
2 green apples, peeled and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
2 TB bacon fat
1 tsp salt
pepper
1/2 cup boiling water

Shred cabbage and place in a large saucepan with remaining ingredients.   Bring to a boil and reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour, stir occasionally.

Sunday Dinner - Burgers and Vegan Cookies

This was a Sunday Dinner organized at the last minute - so we went with premade burger patties from the store, with salad and green beans, and cookies for dessert. 

The burgers were President's Choice brand, and they were really really good. 

I am in love with cold cooked green beans this summer; we've been (hee hee) having them at least once a week. My method is simple - a large pot of water is brought to 

the boil, a few spoons each of sugar and salt are added to the water, 

and the whole beans, ends removed, are added for 4 or 5 minutes. 

 Just until tender crisp. When done they are drained and shocked in ice water,

 and then put in the fridge until dinner time. 

These cookies were real winners from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz 

and Terry Hope Romero.  Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies.  

Very good, and very easy to make.  

I didn't think the raspberry was evident in the cookies,

 but my tastebuds don't work so well any more, so maybe it was just me.  

They were a hit at home and at work. 

Recipe here.

Roasted Cabbage

I can't even pretend to try to get a good photo of a slab of roasted cabbage.  It had no good angle.  But lots of delicious flavor.

I found this recipe on Facebook, thanks to a friend. 

The children, shockingly, did not share the grown-ups enthusiasm for it, but whatevs.  More for us!

Recipe: Oven Roasted Garlic Cabbage

Heavenly Roasted Cauliflower

This is a new favorite around our house.  I've been in a veggie rut the last little while, choosing "easy" veggies for the baby (peas, corn) and raw carrots, brox, pea pods and the like for the rest of us.  I had a jumbo head of cauliflower that needed to be used up but I wasn't in the mood for steamed or raw, so we roasted instead.

This recipe is brilliant and can be made ahead - roast almost until done in advance, then when you are ready to eat - toss back in for 10 minutes or so.  And don't leave out the onions and garlic!  

Parmesan roasted cauliflower

Green bean stirfry

My time organization skills and menu planning are gone, baby, gone.

I've given up trying to plan meals in advance, which then leaves me scrambling daily to figure out a healthy meal to get on the table quickly and cheaply.  Argh.

I don't love food as much as I used to.  I don't love cooking, or reading cookbooks, 

or menu planning.  Which is fine, whatever, except when it comes to 

having to feed your family 7 days a week.

So I'm on the lookout for fast, healthy, cheap meals that picky 6 year olds will eat.  Easy and fun.

This one is good - Szechuan Beans and Ground Pork.  I used ground turkey, and omitted the spice for the kids.  Ah, spice.  I miss you so.

Recipe: Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Pork

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Puree

I've used a fantastic book for starting my babies on foods - Cooking for Baby.  I got this as a gift from a fellow blogger when The Boy was born, and it is such a great book.

Now everyone is different, and everyone is entitled to their opinions on stuff.  For me it was important to make baby food.   Some people want to, some don't.  You do you.  

I found this book to be an amazing resource for all things baby food related - how to prepare and store, what foods to start with, what to delay or avoid.  

The recipes are not bland - dal, curry, tabbouli, burritos - babies/toddlers 

don't need to eat boring foods.

One I was anxious to try this time around was the Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Puree.

It was quick to make - only 2 ingredients!  A large red bell pepper is roasted, skinned and seeded, then pureed with 1 1/2 ounces of goat cheese.  

Unfortunately for The Baby, the bell pepper wasn't very sweet and the goats cheese (as goat cheese is) was very tangy.  It did not go over well, and was rejected on subsequent attempts.  

The Mister and The Boy had no interest in it either, so it was up to me to eat it up.  

Some was used as a dip for raw veggies, but my favorite was as a spread for 

toasted English Muffins.  So good!

Check out Cooking for Baby here

In which we take a perfectly nutritious vegetable, and fry it

I often buy vegetables with the best intentions, and then when I get them home, I'm like, now what?

(The current victim in my fridge are some pattypan squash from the market.)

I bought some lovely thin green beans recently, then promptly buried them in the fridge and ignored them.

After a week I was at the "use it or lose it" stage, so I found inspiration in my food cravings - something fried.  I was going to have a healthy main dish - roasted vegetable wrap - so why not doll up the beans and make them naughty?

The batter was equal parts flour and beer - 1/2 cup of each, and then some water to thin it down a little more, because The Mister was finishing off the can of beer.

The sauce.  Ah.  Sigh.    We have a bottle of Franks Red Hot Bollywood Sauce that we got at Target in  a combo pack with their regular sauce.  It's so delicious, sweet and spicy.  I've never seen it anywhere else, and I don't see it on their website now, so maybe it was a promotional thing?

Anyway, mayo, couple of grated cloves of garlic, some bollywood sauce.  Even the boy liked it!

I don't really like frying at home, but green beans are so thin that they're easy to fry in minimal oil.

Which, unfortunately, means I can make them again and again.

Cabbage Gratin

 I must admit I never think of cabbage when I think of veggies to cook for meals.  Cabbage?  I think coleslaw.  I think cabbage rolls (shudder).  I think - well, that's about it.

But I've seen lots of recipes lately - in my paleo searches, and on Pinterest - for grilled cabbage, cabbage "noodles", serving chopped cabbage instead of rice with stir fries and curries, and it made me think I should be more adventurous. 

I tried a cabbage gratin from the book Canadian Living's Vegetarian Collection.  I reviewed this book a few years ago, and it's a good book, so I was confidant this was a good starting point in my cabbage explorations.

I made a couple of changes - the savoy cabbage at the Superstore looked nasty and old, so I bought a napa cabbage instead.  I used a cup of light cream and a half cup of milk, but next time I think I would go with only a cup of liquid.  I also used panko bread crumbs instead of fresh, olive oil instead of butter, and parmesan instead of gruyere for the topping. 

The adults loved this, the kid tolerated it.  Cabbage is moving up the charts in our house.

Recipe: Savoy Cabbage Gratin

Meatballs and spinach and baked oatmeal

I finally got around to making these Lion's Head Meatballs, and they were so worth it. Very flavorful. I rinsed a couple off for Paxton, as he declares pretty much any unfamiliar food "Too spicy!" so I didn't think he would enjoy the coconut curry sauce. The grown ups did though. 

Lion's Head Meatballs 

I made the Jamie Oliver pea and spinach recipe to go with the meatballs. It's such a great and easy side dish. I noticed that the link I provided to what I thought was the original recipe actually has some changes, so I thought I'd give you a quick low down of how I make it (which again is slightly different than the original). 

Heat a spoon or two of butter in a pan with the same amount of olive oil. Finely chop 3-4 green onions, add to the pan, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes to soften. Add a good cup or more of frozen peas, stir, and let cook for a few more minutes. Pour in a cup of vegetable or chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add some big handfuls of spinach and stir into the pan until wilted. Serve.

 My boy was quite interested in the can of coconut milk I bought for the meatballs and asked every day if he could drink some. I used up the rest of the can to make my first ever batch of baked oatmeal, then poured some regular milk into the can, swished it around, and poured it into a glass for him. He drank it and then asked coconut related questions for the next hour.

 I am reserving judgement on the baked oatmeal until breakfast this morning. It doesn't look like I expected, and last night even after I let it cool for a while the texture wasn't what I had hoped for. I can't stand oatmeal - so soupy and mushy - but I know it's good for you. So I'm hoping this will be a way to make it more palatable. Hang on to your seats, and I'll report back later.

Sunday breakfast

 

Homemade pita with tomato, avocado, feta and hot sauce.

Nuff said.

Ham and Vegetable Gratin

This recipe was in the latest issue of Food Network magazine, and I wanted to make it because I had all the ingredients in the house.  I love it when that happens.

I stuck to the recipe except for 2 things - I didn't have a frozen pea and carrot mix, I used just peas, and I "bammed" the crisp panko bread crumb topping with a handful of crispy onions instead of the parsley (which I thought I had but didn't).

This was really good, really filling and made lots.  If made my way it tastes just like split pea and ham soup, and you know that can't be a bad thing.

Recipe: Ham and Vegetable Gratin

Cauliflower Curry with Chicken

This one received absolute rave reviews from Scott - 2 bowlfuls and more complements than he has ever ever given anything I have ever cooked. Ever. 

Our curry powder is mild enough that even Pax tried it and liked it - and he is in such a picky eater stage that most times he just looks at something he doesn't recognize and declares it "Too spicy". 

Cauliflower Curry with Chicken

 Altered from a recipe by Mark Bittman

 2 Tb oil

 1 onion, minced

 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

 1 tsp ground cumin

 2 tsp curry powder

 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatos

 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken, cut into small pieces

 Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

 salt and pepper

 Heat the oil in a large pan over high heat, add the onion, and cook, stirring, until starting to brown. Add the cumin and curry and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 

Add the cauliflower and stir well. Add the can of tomatos and 1/4 cup of water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and turn the heat down to medium low. 

Cook for 10 minutes until the cauliflower is beginning to soften. Then add the chicken, stir well, cover and cook for another 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the cauliflower is tender. 

Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon, taste, and add more salt, pepper and lemon juice if desired.