Garbage disposal

Sorry sorry sorry.  And sorry a few more times.  We didn't forget about you all.  We're just in a transition phase and are a bit disorganized.   But we're back!  And ready to post lots for you to cook.  Don't worry Heather, Megan will throw up a good one next!  :)

So, back in the day (high school), I had a bit of a nickname.  Wait wait wait.  Don't be thinking that kind of stuff.  I was a good kid.  My friends called me the garbage disposal cause I ate anything.  Inevitably, someone didn't finish all of their lunch.  So I swooped in to take care of business.  I miss the days before my metabolism slowed.  Anyhow, Smith allllways got Pizza Hut breadsticks, which happen to be one of my weaknesses.  I distinctly remember that there were always three and for some reason completely unknown to me she could only ever eat 1.5 or 2 of them and that was enough to fill her up.  So then it was my turn to take care of bidness.

So, anyways, this really does correlate to my recipe in a rather roundabout way.  Ok, see, I was called the garbage disposal and this recipe is called garbage disposal quinoa.  Or trainwreck, whichever you prefer.  Both could probably relate to me but I suppose that's a story for another day.

You will need the following:

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 of an onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons italian seasoning
1 veggie bouillon cube
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

So, here's the beauty of this recipe.  It's designed to clean out your refrigerator!  So, if you have any other veggies that you think would be lovely in this toss 'em in!  Broccoli or cauliflower would be awesome.  If you're a squash person, toss it in!  Go nuts.

 Soak your quinoa.  Trust me on this.  I've forgotten before and it's gross.  See my recipe for quinoa enchiladas if you've forgotten how that process works.  Bring water to a boil.  Add quinoa, bouillon cube, italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper.  In the meantime, saute onion and garlic in heated olive oil.   Once the onion becomes translucent add to the quinoa mixture.  Cover and boil until the water is absorbed.  Give it a good stir and toss in the sunflower seeds.   Mix in parmesan cheese and serve!

I like to eat this with a big fat salad.  It's a great go to when you think you've run out of food or you have stuff you need to use up before it goes bad. 

Enjoy with a nice cold beer!  I can't believe I even said that...

Megan J

A lesson in modification

Alright spinsters.  If you're like me you think cookbooks are freaking awesome.  I love to flip through them and check out pictures and pick and choose what I want to cook next.  So, recently, I found a delicious sounding creamy tomato soup recipe in my new favorite cook book, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  I read through it and thoroughly drooled over the ingredients and thought to myself how amazing it sounded.  Then I looked at the portions.  6 cups of vegetable broth?  You trying to feed an army here or what?  Then I looked and realized it serves 8. No, huh uh.  Here's what the recipe called for:

2 tbps olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 lb yukon gold potatoes (cut into chunks)
1 c sun dried tomatoes (not the kind in oil!)
6 c veggie broth or water
1 28 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
juice of 1/2 a lemon

So, in addition to being one little person I'm also a bit cheap and lazy.  Normally I would go get fresh herbs and love 'em but I couldn't muster going to the store right after school got out.  Seriously, 3:30pm at Smiths is a nightmare.  Trust me.  So, I decided to fly by the seat of my pants and this is what I came up with:

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp italian seasoning
a dash of salt
some fresh-y pepper (get the reference?)
2 small yukon gold potatoes, cut into small chunks
1/2 c sundried tomatoes
1 can veggie broth
1 regular sized can fire roasted tomatoes
 lemon juice (as much as I feel like!)

So start by taking a soup pot and put it on medium heat with the olive oil in the bottom.  Add onions and cook until they're translucent.  Add the garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper.  Saute for another minute.

 Add the potatoes and sundried tomatoes and veggie broth.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Simmer on medium heat until potatoes are tender.  Add the canned tomatoes and set aside so it can cool.  Once it's a reasonable temperature put it in your food processor, blender or whatever you have.  As my awesome cookbooks says - "Puree the living hell out of it until it is very smooth".  Then add as much lemon juice as tastes good.  I served mine with some bread cause honestly, who doesn't love bread and soup together?

Please bear in mind that any recipe can be modified for one, spinsters.  It's all about creativity.  I doubt my soup tasted exactly how it was supposed but I thought it was tasty and really, that's what matters.  Don't worry if you don't follow things exactly.  It's ok!  And if you fuck it up, oh well.  Lesson learned.


Good luck experimenting and cook on!  
Megan J


ps - look what I did today!  You know you're jealous :)

Blackened Mahi Mahi

 

 

So as you may have noticed from other recipes I have posted, I am a BIG fan of dairy products.  Unfortunately after eating several of my previously posted recipes I came to realize that as much as I like dairy, my stomach dislikes it.  Alas, I have now cut out a major portion of the dairy products I was consuming.  In fact I've cut out everything except the stuff I get free, like catered meals at work, I've never been good at saying "no" to free things.  The reason I tell you this is because now most of my recipes will be dairy free (DF) as well as gluten free (GF).  I cut out most gluten from my diet a few years ago but fell off the wagon.  Now that I'm going without dairy I figured it was a good time to rededicate to gluten free.  Before my dairy free adventure I would have cooked a garlic cream sauce with the mahi mahi.  The flavor goes really well with the cajun flavor of the fish.  Instead of the garlic cream sauce I put my mahi mahi on a bed of quinoa and added some brussels sprouts on the side.  I know that not everyone is dairy free and you're probably thinking,  hmm, that garlic cream sauce sounds kind of tasty, and it is, so I'll go ahead and give you the recipe for that as well.

You will need:
1 mahi mahi fillet
1 T. paprika
1/2 T. oregano
1/2 T. thyme
1/2 T. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
olive oil

Combine all of your herbs and spices on a plate.  Coat your mahi mahi on all sides with a thick layer of the herbs and spices.  Put some olive oil in a skillet and heat.  Once hot add the mahi mahi and cover.  Cook a few minutes on each side until done.  Really the mahi mahi is pretty darn easy.  I cooked my quinoa as directed on the packaged and placed my mahi mahi on that, instead of my usual garlic cream sauce.  So now I bet you're wondering how to make the cream sauce so here goes, you will want to start the cream sauce first as it will take the longest.

You will need:
the smallest carton of heavy whipping cream possible
a few garlic cloves
butter
olive oil

Drizzle your garlic with the olive oil and roast in the oven.  I believe Megan J. is more specific in her simple pleasures post.  Once garlic is roasted you will want to use a garlic press or blender on it.  Add garlic to the heavy whipping cream and about a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and heat.  Allow the sauce to reduce to desired consistency and pour on top of your mahi mahi when it's ready.  Although this is easy the sauce does take some time to get to the right consistency.  Once it's done though, you'll love it!

Enjoy! Megan S.

Crispy Chicken Salad

This salad turned out to be real tasty.  I highly recommend eating it.

The Chicken:

1 small chicken breast

About 8 saltine crackers

½ cup flour

1 egg

The Dressing:

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

¼ teaspoon chili paste (less or none at all if desired, I like it spicy)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

The Salad:

Romaine lettuce

Shredded carrots and cabbage

½ small can of mandarin oranges

5 cherry tomatoes, halved

¼ cup shelled edamame (follow cooking on package)

2-3 wonton  wrappers, cut into strips (optional)

 1. .Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Crush saltine crackers into fine bits and mix with flour in a small dish, set aside.  Whisk egg into small bowl season with salt and pepper and set aside.  Cut chicken into bite size pieces and coat in the flour/cracker mixture.  Dip chicken into egg, fully saturating it and then again in the flour/cracker mixture and refrigerate.

3. Spray a small baking dish with cooking oil, place wonton strips and bake until golden brown 7 or so minutes. 

4.Heat a small skillet over medium high heat with a couple of tablespoons of oil and cook chicken until golden brown, or cooked through.

5. Cook edamame.

6. Make the dressing by whisking the hoisin sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili paste together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

7. Once chicken is cooked toss in a bowl with lettuce, carrots, cabbage and dressing until well coated.  Plate your salad and top with tomatoes, oranges and wonton strips. 

There are all kinds of variations you can make with this salad.  Use grilled chicken instead for a healthier approach.  Mix up the veggies, substituting your favorites.  I usually pick my ingredients based on color.  I’ll be honest with you.  I like my food to be pretty.  A meal should always have something green, red or orange, and a neutral color in my opinion.  By doing this I am able to trick myself into eating somewhat healthy.   I try not to overdo my ingredients though, paring it down to a few for maximum flavor explosion.  If there is too much going on in a dish, it tends to overpower the thing I like most about it.  In this salad, the dressing is the real winner.  I wouldn't add anything to the salad that could possibly compete with the flavor of the dressing. 

Turns out when you purchase wonton wrappers, there are at least 50 in the package.  So you will certainly see something in the wrapped variety for at least one more recipe. 

Thai soup!

So, apparently it's the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac.  Which is a big deal, it seems.   I had to do some googling to figure out what this meant or why it was important and have gathered that those who are born in the year of the dragon are the luckiest of all.  Like they just have really good luck.  This is not me.  You know the saying that says, "if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all?"  Yup.  That's me.  During my google travels I also discovered that I was born in the year of the pig (what up '83!).   This means that I love to overindulge and I want to do everything right.  I also have a taste for luxury and people often think I'm too good to be true.  Probably why I helped start a super awesome cooking blog :)

Here's another fun fact. I heart Thai food.  I could eat it all day every day and be a happy camper.  I love the flavors, the textures, the spice.  Especially the spice.  My favorite is the Tom Kah soup which is a hot and sour soup.  It's absolutely delicious and I don't tire of it.  I do, however, tire of the $15 price tag at Thai Palace.  I mean, seriously?  So when I found this recipe that's a pretty close substitute I was pretty stoked.  Hopefully you'll like it as much as I do!

You will need:

1 13.5 oz can coconut milk (Thai kitchen lite is awesome)
2 cups veggie broth
1 cup water
the juice of one fresh lemon
the juice of one fresh lime
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
hot pepper (chopped, and added to taste)
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup minced celery
1/2 package of tofu (I prefer to use the spouted variety as you get much more nutritional value)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup rice, prepared

Cut tofu into cubes.  Put oil in a skillet and warm.  Once oil is heated, add tofu.  Cook until browned on all sides.  In the meantime, combine all the rest of your ingredients in a pot and cook over medium heat.  Simmer.  During all this hub-bub you should also be cooking your rice.  And to be honest, I can't help you with that.  Somehow, I always manage to mess rice up.  Which is stupid cause it's not hard.  But I digress.  Once your tofu is browned and delicious throw it in the pot with everything else.  Let simmer as long as it takes rice to cook.  Take one heaping scoop of rice and put it in a bowl and then fill 'er up with soup!

Cheers!  Megan J

Chicken Lo Mein

For some reason I always think it's going to be REALLY hard to make a Chinese inspired dish.  I don't know why, I just do, fortunately, most times that I've tried it hasn't been nearly as hard as expected.  Admittedly, it took me two attempts at lo mein to get a dish that tasted good.  Not because this recipe is hard, simply because I wasn't using the right ingredients, sometimes that happens when you experiment in the kitchen.

For this recipe you will need:
one chicken breast
spaghetti noodles (I used GF rice noodles)
a cup or so of frozen stir fry veggies, or buy your fave fresh veggies instead
2 T. sesame oil
2 T. soy sauce
2 tsps. ground ginger
1-2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. corn starch
2 T. hoisin sauce

Start by thinly slicing your chicken breast.  Combine 1 T. soy sauce, 1 tsp. ground ginger, minced garlic and corn starch in a bowl with your sliced chicken, coating chicken well.  Let this sit while you start your pasta, use as little or as much as you want, cook pasta according to package directions.  When you add pasta to water start your chicken.  Cook chicken in 1 T. sesame oil on medium high heat until mostly cooked.  Remove chicken from pan, add 1 T. sesame oil and sautee veggies for a couple minutes.  I used frozen veggies because I'm always in a hurry and it was easy.  Feel free to use fresh veggies of your choice instead and sautee.  When the pasta is done cooking add it and the chicken to the pan with your veggies.  Add the other T. of soy sauce, 1 tsp. ground ginger and the hoisin sauce.  Cook together in the pan for about 5 minutes.  If your dish gets too dry feel free to add a little bit of water.  Cook together until pasta, chicken and veggies are well coated with your sauce and then dish up.

I really enjoyed cooking and eating this dish.  It probably won't completely take the place of the lo mein at my favorite Chinese restaurant but it will probably help with cravings between visits.

Now check out this somewhat old picture of Megan J. and me (Megan S.)

Ah, simple pleasures.

I truly believe in life's simple pleasures.  Those small things that will always bring a smile to your face no matter what's going on.  Sometimes it's a great song, like Short Trip Home by Edgar Meyer and Co, or putting on clothes fresh out of the dryer.  Ahhhh.  Love it.  And sometimes it's things like your favorite foods.  I grew up on some serious comfort food like meatloaf, goulash, spaghetti and butter noodles.  Of course, with the whole vegetarian thing a lot of those are off limits.  However, I find that I will always make time for one of my all time favorites - bruschetta.

You will need the following:

1 baguette (I like whole wheat, go figure)
2 ripe roma tomatoes
one grocery store container of fresh basil
two fat slices of fresh mozzarella (the squishy kind)
that garlic I made you roast last week
2 tbsp olive oil

Slice baguette into thin slices (approximately 6 slices).  Drizzle each piece with a little olive oil.  Adjust oven so the rack is down fairly low and put the baguette pieces on a cookie sheet and broil until they're slightly crisp.  Switch the oven to about 400 degrees and remove cookie sheet.  Slice cheese into small enough pieces to fit on each piece of bread and layer.  Put back in the oven until cheese is melty.  At this point I put my garlic in as well to get that warm again.  Once cheese is melty add tomatoes to each one followed by a leaf of basil.  Remove garlic cloves from roasted bulb and place one on top of each basil leaf.  And you're done! 

Now, normally I would tell you to pour a fat glass of wine and enjoy but if you're like me you went a little overboard over the holidays and need a breather.  I went for an americano with my dinner tonight and it was quite nice.  The only downer is I may be up all night.  Whoops.

Also, you may have noticed pictures at the end of the last few entries.  Seemed like a good idea to give you all faces to go with the names so you can properly facebook stalk us :)

Cheers!  Megan J