Saturday, October 1, 2011

Week 4- What I Made and Ate this Week

Sunday: Southern Indian Cabbage with Yogurt (V, VG if you don't add the yogurt but the yogurt really added to the dish) and Indian Shepherd's Pie (VG)
After the kids brought home a plethora of vegetables from the farm I had to figure out what to make with all of them. I had a head of cabbage, green beans, beets, a few sweet potatoes, onions, and some potatoes. I used up almost all of the vegetables in these two dishes. For the Southern Indian Cabbage I made it pretty much just as the directions said, except adding in some cooked green beans. As for the Indian Shepherd's Pie, the inspiration for this dish came from the cookbook Peas and Thank You. The author explains that this recipe came about when she had leftovers from her meatless Thanksgiving and she threw all the leftovers together into a dish. Here is the general recipe for what I made:

2 sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp soymilk
2 tsp cinnamon
3 beets
1 can chickpeas
Green beans
2 carrots
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup cooked lentils
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garam masala

First, peel sweet potatoes and cook until soft (using whatever method you like). Mash up the sweet potatoes with some cinnamon, a bit of margarine, and some soymilk. Cook your beets and green beans, again using whatever method you choose. Also cook your lentils. In a large pan, saute onions and garlic. Add carrots, chickpeas, beets, green beans, cooked lentils, broth, and spices. Cook for 4-5 minutes. At the last minute add dried cranberries. In a 2 quart dish, put vegetable and lentil mixture from pan into dish. Top with mashed sweet potatoes. Cook in 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

This dish was good and made a ton of food, but it was very labor intensive to make. Lots of veggies to cook and lots of pans to wash. I can see how it would be much easier to make if you already had all the vegetables cooked and leftover from Thanksgiving. And I wish that I skipped the Indian spin on this and just made it more like a Thanksgiving dish. The best parts really were the cranberries and sweet potatoes, just like those are the best parts of Thanksgiving (besides the stuffing!).

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Smoked paprika almonds (VG)
So you may have noticed that I get recipes from this blog a lot. And funny thing, the girl who writes the blog lives in Fort Collins, which is how I found the blog. And this week I actually met her as she was handing out samples of granola at Whole Foods. It's always a weird thing meeting someone in person and not wanting to come off too "stalkerish" telling them that you read their blog and try a lot of their recipes. Maybe someday I'll run into a stranger who reads my blog, and don't worry, I won't think you are a stalker- unless of course you show up at my front door. These almonds came out just okay, not as good as my tasty nuts. The smoked paprika lost its flavor when the almonds were roasted and the smokiness just didn't come across in the finished product.

Wednesday: "Chicken" fried rice (V)
You could call what I made "chicken" fried rice or maybe it would be better described as "chicken" fried risotto. Either way, it was delicious and easy.

"Chicken" fried rice (risotto)
2 cups rice, ideally cooked the day before so it can dry out a bit
1 package chicken style seitan
Frozen peas
Broccoli
Green onions
Carrots
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Sweet chili sauce
1 tsp. Sesame oil
2 cloves garlic
2 Eggs (optional)

In your wok or big ol' pan, heat up some peanut oil. Saute your garlic until fragrant. Add the seitan and let brown. Next add carrots and broccoli and cook for about 5 minutes. Now, here's where I messed up and ended up with something more risotto like*. Add your eggs and stir every once in a while so they end up scrambled. Add the rice and green onions, cook for about 5 more minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix the soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and sesame oil. Pour over rice in the wok. And there you are, done.
*I accidentally forgot to add the eggs before the rice and knowing that it probably wouldn't work I added the eggs once the rice was in the pan. The eggs ended up cooking into the rice making it sort of a sticky rice type dish. But it still tasted good.

Thursday: Leftovers and whatever the kids didn't eat off their plates

Friday: Baba ganoush (VG)
I love baba ganoush and I've tried buying it already made in the store and it always is terrible. I think you've got to make this at home or get it freshly made at a restaurant. There was a Mediterranean1 restaurant back in Winston-Salem that made great baba ganoush (and really good falafels) and boy do I miss that place. I've yet to find good falafel or baba ganoush out here so I decided to put the eggplant sitting in my fridge to good use. I always like to add some Liquid Smoke to mine to up the smoky flavor.


Saturday: Chili and cornbread (V)
The Huskers had a big game on Saturday night and whenever I think about watching a nighttime football game, I immediately think about making a big pot of chili to accompany the football watching. Chili is one of those things that you can mess around with and it almost always comes out great. I did once make the most wonderful chili and since I wasn't following a recipe I have no clue what made it so great. But I think it might have been the sweet potatoes. Here is the general recipe for the chili I made this week:

Badger meat chili (no Badger meat in here, just referring to what I hope the Huskers do to Wisconsin, and I can't wait to see who comes to this blog after googling badger meat chili):
1 package tempeh
3 cups veggie broth
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 large sweet potato
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
Corn (from my endless supply in the freezer)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can fire roasted tomatoes with chipotle peppers (Muir Glen makes these)
Cumin (I used a lot, probably 2 Tbsp)
Chili powder (2 Tbsp at least)
Onion powder (1 tsp?)
Celery salt (1 tsp)
Salt and pepper

First I like to steam the tempeh by putting it in a shallow saute pan with a little bit of water. Steam for 10 minutes, then it will crumble easily once it cools off. Saute your onion and a few cloves of garlic. Peel and cube the sweet potato. Throw everything into one big pot and cook for about 30 minutes. Open a beer, ladle up a bowl, plop down on the couch, and watch some football!

Go Huskers!




5 comments:

  1. Several thoughts:

    1. What do you mean "the kids brought home vegetables from the farm?" Is that rotten school punishing the kids with day labor?

    2. What was Ms. Edible Perspective like?

    3. I'm so impressed you busted out the seitan!

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  2. Oh, and 4. That is the sweetest little husker I ever did see.

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  3. Sometimes I dream about Mooney's baba ghanoush sometimes. Whatever you do DON'T buy the tribe brand. It tasted like a diaper filled with Indian food.

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  4. Meg,
    1. I wish they would punish my kids with day labor. It was nice having a fridge full of veggies that I didn't have to slub home from the grocery store.
    2. Normal, pretty much as expected. Maybe a bit shy, maybe creeped out by my stalkerness.
    3. I didn't make the seitan. I've given up on my seitan making aspirations.
    4. The sweetest and cutest. And probably could throw the ball better than Martinez.

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  5. Kim- Thanks for the heads up on Tribe baba ganoush. I already change enough diapers that smell like Indian food, no need to eat things that taste like that! I wonder if Mooney's is ready to franchise and open a restaurant out here and in Buffalo.

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