Sometimes I eat on Saturday...

*bonus points if you name the movie ;)*

I sure do know how to dissapear huh? I'm not even going to pretend that I 1. remember everything I've wanted to blog about foodwise or 2. that I'll do it. It's been too long and honestly, I lost my steam there for a bit. I'm getting back on track now though so I figure I should be posting again. :)

I've been in a baking food lately. I wish I had gotten pictures but last week I did cornbread and banana bread. The banana bread stayed moist and springy for over a week despite being kept on the counter and obviously cut into. I'm guessing my bananas were perfect for it at the time. Knowing I wanted to try my hand at bread again (it's a love hate thing) I got everything needed for a basic white bread.

I started some tonight using this recipe and so far so good. My dough rose so much when I deflated it it hissed at me. This is a good thing! It also rose so much that instead of 2 loaves worth I have 4. I am waiting for the 2 to finish their final rising so I can bake them and I stuck the rest of the dough in the freezer. I'm hoping we like the flavor because I rather like the recipe. It seems fiddly and it is to an extent but so far the dough it makes is awesome so I'm willing to deal with fiddly.

I got a book from the library today that is making me want to cook so bad right now. It's The Joy of Cooking: All About Vegetarian Cooking. It has some history/"traditional" facts and some practical advice (like a food pyramid for vegetarians). I'm not a cookbook fan. I don't like the clutter and the amount of space they take up etc. and I want to buy this. The recipes look fantastic and I honestly can't say there isn't one I don't plan on trying. It has a variety of recipes from soup stock to pasta and salads. It uses real stuff too...there are a couple recipes for tofu but it's only a few and even then it doesn't list a bunch of ingridients a first timer would need to google. I cannot wait to get cracking on it! Too bad the store is closed. I seriously considered going and getting some stuff already. :)

Playing catchup....

I lost steam on the carrot stuff and haven't wanted to post pics/recipes. I do however have some super tasty stuff that I do want to post so we're playing catchup today. I'll post a pic, short summary, and recipe. Short and sweet. That way tomorrow I can start with the good stuff.

From top to bottom and left to right: CarrotApple bread, Carrot Bars, Carrot cupcakes, more carrot bars.

The bread was awesome. What you see here is recipes doubled. My friend and I split everything. We each took 1.5 loaves of the bread. It was gone within a day or two. The carrot bars were good though we expected something more crunchy/bar like. These were soft. Definitely cookie like. The cupcakes...not sure what happened to those. We varied the recipe a bit since we didn't have orange marmelade. We juiced an orange and used the juice and pulp as our sub. They were super moist and tasty. We had so much batter left over we used it for a bundt cake.

We did make our own icing. I don't have the recipe link anymore but it's your basic cream cheese one....cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar, and butter. I actually had to make a second batch due to the bundt cake.

(Blogger suddenly isn't wanting to cooperate with me on hyperlinks. From here on out I'll just post the full link.)

This recipe ROCKS! http://www.recipezaar.com/KFC-Coleslaw-33489 It's for KFC coleslaw. I used red cabbage and instead of buttermilk (I had none) I made some (milk and vinegar). It tasted exactly like the stuff from KFC! It was devoured. We had it when we had some people over for lunch. It didn't last long.

This is just a standard go to at our house. Noodles with some veggies. I sauteed carrots, radishes, and asparagus in some EVOO. Add salt, pepper, and oregano and put some on top of your noodles. Super tasty but super simple and fast. Great way to use up random tidbits.

MMmm: Somethin' saucy

This was what I made with the leftover lemon sauce. Noodles, tomatos, carrots (of course), celery. Cook everything up (sauteed the veggies) and then mixed in the remaining sauce. Topped it with a bit of parmesean cheese and a slice of buttered bread.

It wasn't too shabby. It was quick and easy and everyone ate it which is what I was going for. :) There were leftovers of it that I stuck in a casserole dish and baked the next day. Much better as a hot dish than cold. It was ok. I'm sure I'll make it again but it wasn't something I would jump to make. It was just sorta....meh. The lemon sauce is what made it.

MMMmmm: Veggie meatloaf and a lemon sauce

This was a pretty simple and effective recipe. Clicky!Clicky! I had read a few recipes that day and one used a ton of mock meat. For extra bulk I did add some Morning Star crumbles (also to replace the oats since I didn't have any) to my lentil mix. My tomato sauce ratio was a bit off so the loaf was a bit more crumbly than I would have liked.

This is almost a recipe I would use a lot. I'm rather particular about meatloaf and have yet to find the perfect one. As a vegetarian that's going to be a bit harder. ;) Since I said this was going to be about carrots take a closer look. Hard to see but there are carrots in this. It added a bit of extra crunch to your bite which was nice. It didn't really add any flavor. It did add a nice punch of color as well. :)

This was my favorite part. I had sauteed asparagus earlier and after pulling the meatloaf out decided I wanted a bit more oomph to it. I googled lemon sauce recipes super fast and found one I liked and had all the ingredients for. Clicky!Clicky! I did make some alterations...due to the insanely picky eaters here I nixed the spice. I'm not sure it would be any better with it though. This sauce seriously rocks! I also didn't have any paprika or basil. I just used a whole lot of salt and pepper and oregano. :) I also used about 1.5 lemons for the juice. I don't know if I just had small lemons or they were older or what but it was definitely needed. Once it was done (and no you cannot taste the garlic) I took a couple spoonfuls and stirred it into my asparagus. I had enough left over that the following day I made a stir fry type meal and used the rest of it to season it up (and since there were carrots I'll blog it :) ). Since there was no hot sauce in it this is a nice all around sauce. I used it on some bread the next day and it was perfect. I'm seriously in love with this stuff!

A carrot a day...

is going to be the theme here for a couple days. Not because I love carrots or anything but because I just used a ton. In a matter of 2 or 3 days. :) First up is more of a "processing of carrots".

When I went to get an orange the other day I noticed the carrots mom had given me were needing to be used. I pulled them out, and after a very discouraging trip to the store to get baggies, got busy. First I got them soaking. That is two grocery bags worth of carrots. I did a visual check and tossed any right away that needed to be.

Then I got to dicing into medallions. I can't remember if I peeled this batch or not (there has been a lot of carrot handling in the last 2ish days). I blanched them and stuck them in the bag and in the freezer.

Next up was chopping them. By this point my fingers were orange, children were driving me crazy, and I was burnt out on carrots. I stuck chunks of carrot in my blender and let it do the work. Again blanched and frozen. I'm not happy about the large scale storage but part of my discouraging store trip included coming home with no baggies. The ones chopped in my blender will be used for soups and stir fry and baking. I don't think I'll need to buy any more carrots for awhile!

Up next: Vegetarian (well duh) meatloaf with a lemon sauce (not on the meatloaf...), carrot and apple bread, carrot cupcakes (and subsequent bundt cake), carrot bars, and a peach dessert!

Oh how funny....without intending too my last post here was a carrot one too! By the time I'm done you'll have plenty to do with carrots. You'll likely never want to see them again too. :)

Mmmm: Carrot Soup

Carrot Soup 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 medium onion, finely chopped 

2 1/2 cups chopped carrots 

2 macintosh apples, peeled,cored and chopped 

2 celery ribs, chopped 

1/2 cup long grain brown rice 

parsley (optional) 

salt (optional) 

4 cups veggie stock



Put oil in a pan, saute onion, celery and garlic until tender. 
Add stock, carrots, rice, and apple. 
Bring to a boil. 
Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until carrots are tender and rice is cooked. 
Blend in blender. 
Add salt and parsley to taste.

I used a different apple and due to the size (they were sort of small) and the fact that one was actually half (little people like apples here) I used 2.5/3ish. Mine were....ummm sweet. I found the soup to be a little too sweet but had I not used the extra I think it would have been fine. Everyone (well 4 of 5) loved it. It would be prefect with a nice potent sourdough or rye. We only had plain ol wheat (not even the fancy kind) and it was somewhat lacking. Not sure if I'll make it again. It's tasty and we like it but I dunno. I may try a different recipe. It's super simple to make which was nice. Mine came out a bit thick but I also let it simmer longer to make sure my rice cooked through (I have bad luck with rice at times). I added my salt and pepper and oregano to the mix before blending it. It made for a nice even seasonning.

Mmmm: Creamy Lentil Soup

Clicky!Clicky!

I didn't have the tumeric, cumin, or ginger which would have been very nice. I added carrots to the onions for some added color and thickness. When I pureed the soup it came out sort of thin but that was just my impatience. I forgot puree tends to have some substance to it still so it ended up being a nice and thick soup. The cilantro on top was sooo tasty. I love cilantro!

Overall, a nice soup. We're having leftovers tonight. :)

Breakfast Egg Rolls

After my success last night I wanted to keep going. I decided rather late that the husband needed some breakfast egg rolls. It would use up the last of various items and be fun. I was right. There is something oddly satisfying about frying.

Corn
Onion
Butter
Eggs
Morning Star crumbles
Boca Italian Sausage
salt
pepper
seasoning salt
Azumaya large wraps
Mozzerella cheese
Cheddar cheese

Dice onion and garlic and cook together with corn. Season with seasoning salt. Scramble eggs (I didn't season). Mix eggs together with corn mix. Let cool. Add in cheeses and stir up. Cook meat according to package. I chopped the sausage into chunks. Once everything is cooked, spoon corn mixture into wraps. Add meat on top. Wrap up. Fry according to directions.

I haven't had one yet and I don't know what he thinks of them but the 3.5 year old loves them. Good enough for me!

Oh man was tonight tasty!

First up: Black Bean Hummus. TO DIE FOR. I'm not a fan of hummus but this one rocks. I was googling around for some green lemonade recipes and found a blog called green-lemonade. I went browsing through the posted recipes and came across one that was more of a suggestion than a recipe. Here's how I did mine:

Black beans- I used dried and boiled them for a couple hours since I wanted this now and didn't want to wait for soaking. Super fast and awesome way to cook dried beans! I did not measure out an amount..just dumped some in my pot and set it on the stove.
Garlic- 3 cloves diced up nice and tiny
Green bell pepper_- just 1 average siced...diced up into chunks
salt
pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
lime juice -fresh...I needed to get 3 limes used up. I only got about one lime's worth of juice.
Seasoning salt
A bit of water

Cook black beans and toss in blender/food processor. Sautee bell pepper and garlic together in some EVOO and salt and pepper. Cook until garlic is tender and getting abit crispy/brown on the edges. Add to blender. Add in a dash of EVOO to blender mix and squeeze in lime juice. Blend like crazy. Add in seasoning salt to taste and give it one last go round. Add a bit of water if mixture is too thick. Careful not to add too much!

I topped ours with mozzerella and we dipped radishes, green bell pepper, and celery. My only regret is not having more stuff to dip in it. :)

This is a new one all around. 3-cheese Lasagna Roll Ups ( Clicky!Clicky!) using Azumaya Large Square Wraps. The package for the wraps has a lasagna (tofu) recipe on it so I decided to give this a try. This does not have tofu in it. :)

I used Ragu 3 cheese spaghetti sauce. Not because I'm lazy but because I had it and I needed to get it used up. :) Cheese mixture is 1 tub of cottage cheese (the husband couldn't find the ricotta), 1 8 oz. bag of mozzerella cheese, and some parmesean cheese. I used oregano, salt and pepper for the spices. I used a different recipe than the one linked above but figured I should find an actual recipe to shar for what I acutally made. :)


These weren't too bad. I wasn't thrilled but the rest of the fam was. I set my oven to 350 which was what the recipe called for. A recipe that used real lasagna noodles. It wasn't until I pulled it out a half hour later (and well past our normal dinner time) that I thought about that. The noodles were sorta....gooey. I checked the directions on the wraps package and I was supposed to have cooked them at 400 (if I remember right...not in my kitchen right now to double check) for 45 minutes. I threw them back in, set the timer again, and upped my oven heat. After sitting for a few minutes to cool down the noodles hardened up a bit and were indeed normal. The picture only shows one layer. I was able to get another layer in there for a total of 10 roll ups. Next time I need to remember to allow for extra cooking time for the bottom layer.

I'll definitely make this again but use lasagna noodles and different spices. It was lacking in my opinion. There wasn't much punch to it which was sad. I like a well seasoned lasagna.

My house was tasty tonight! I'm being beckoned to the kitchen by the wee one who should be asleep. She wants more. Gladly.

MMmmmm: Beans and Rice: A veggie staple

We oddly enough have never made it until last night (this is while it was cooking).

I had some leftover black beans from a soup we made (that post is coming soon....) and needed to get making some dinner. I googled around for a black beans and rice recipe (Clicky!Clicky!) and got to work.

I topped mine with sour cream and oooooo. It was heavenly. I used fresh tomato instead of stewed and made sure they were nice and cooked. Oh it was awesome. I saved some for the husband and fought the urge to eat his. Turns out he ate dinner so I could have eaten it if I had wanted!

Mmmm: Avocado Chicken and Caesar Pasta

Oh man this was tasty! First up is the pasta (no amounts are given here since it's very easy to customize...this fed 3 people with plenty left over):
Bow tie pasta
Cucumbers
Tomato
Avocado
Caesar dressing (we used light...not sure of the brand. We picked light since it was anchovy free)
Squeeze of lemon juice

Peel cucumber and chop, chop tomato, and avocado. Add to bowl with pasta. Squeeze lemon juice and add caesar dressing. Done! Soooo good.


Clicky!Clicky!

I didn't have any parsley and I used parmesean cheese instead. Still tasty but next time I'd like to use what they have, I bet it just adds a nice punch to the flavor. Oh I skipped the bread crumbs and white wine as well.

Everyone devoured this! The chik'n was moist and tasted "real". The flavor was light but definitely there. Next time I make this I will use a stronger cheese though. I had originally planned on putting the avocado on top but decided against it at the last minute and tossed it into the salad. So happy I did. It was awesome!

Oh happy day!

See that? That, dear readers, is coming to my house! So what right? Not so! This means I will have actual pictures! Pictures that have a smidgen of decent quality. Posts without the phrases, "Sorry for the crappy pic" or "cell phone pic" ANYWHERE. I am very excited. I have things to take pictues of (such as thenew receipes I am trying out due to a new blog I found!) but I am waiting. Waiting oh so very impatiently for my new camera to get here so I can take some pictures worthy of a blog post.

(Isn't the husband such a nice fella'? That was bought as a present for me when I groaned about the injustice of cell phone pics and my etsy store...I think he's a keeper. :) )

It's coming.

Be prepared. I'm actually coming to post. Food stuff. On a more consistent basis. I know. It's scary. It'll be good though. Good and tasty. :)