Zucchini Rice Gratin (salt lightly)

With the hardship involved in making meals since we moved into our new house (remember: we live in one half of the house and the fridge lives in the other), we've been lax with meal ideas and dinner has been more a hassle than a joy. On that end, I received a meal idea from my co-worker Rachel, who told me to head on over to the Smitten Kitchen for a recipe of Zucchini Rice Gratin.

Which I did and forwarded the link to my husband. He agreed that it looked like a simple but tasty meal idea and we gathered the ingredients we'd need. If you too would like to gather what you need, find out what that is by visiting the link for Smitten Kitchen in the paragraph above.

While I was on my way home from work, the husband made the rice, chopped up and cooked the veggies, and popped it all into a baking dish in one of our two ovens for 450 degrees F for about 20 minutes. When he popped it back out again, it looked good. Really good. I helped myself to a heaping portion and discovered the problem also noted by Smitten Kitchen itself: Way Too Salty. And keep in mind that this is after the recipe was altered to contain much less salt because the blogger of SK thought the recipe too salty. Oh boy was it. Still.

The problem is that each step of the recipe tells you to add salt. You add it to the veggies before cooking them seperately, you add it to the rice, and you add it once you mix everything together. Did no one tell the inventor of this recipe that a little dab will do you? Did no one think to inform that unknown recipe writer that if you add salted things to a salted thing and add salt, that might lead to an oversalted finale? Either way, I know the answer. Too much salt, there was. And now the husband has learned a valuable lesson: if you think the recipe is asking you to add a ridiculous amount of salt to something, you should probably listen to your gut, as it is going to have to digest that puppy when you eat it.

That aside, the dish was good, and still edible despite its salt-lick nature. Thus, we will make it again and only add the salt at one step instead of to everything.

(And I apologize for the lack of photos. I re-lost my camera in the unpacking hullabaloo. No worries. I have since re-found it again.)

Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili, redux

We have moved. There has been little action on any front, not cooking, not knitting, not writing. It's just been packing and unpacking. Then, I had the good fortune of moving in thirty-degree weather that wore down my immune system just enough for me to contract this horrible cold virus that's been going around. I was bedridden for two days, not consecutive but still, I was a sad panda.

As I try to get back on some sort of track with my various outlets of creativity, including the blog, here is a recipe I did over two weeks ago now. We needed to use up existing pantry items and we had a bag with 1 cup's worth of lentils in it, frozen minced squash, and several bags of corn meal. (We still have several bags of corn meal.) I remembered a meal I prepared a few years ago that involved chili and johnny cake.

Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili, revamped
What you need:
1 c dried brown lentils
1/2 c chickpeas (cooked)
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/3 c dark sulfured molasses
1 c. minced squash
2 c water
1 c white grape juice
2 Tchili powder
garlic powder, to taste
onion powder, to taste
1 T cumin
1/2 t ground allspice

Put all ingredients in a stock pot and cook until lentils are soft (time is indicated on the lentils packaging).

This version, which adds squash and cumin and replaces apple juice with white grape juice, had a particularly complex flavor that I enjoyed even more than the original recipe.

And here is my bowl of chili at the table with the bouquet of greenery (plus one blown white rose the florist gave me as a freebie) we purchased for my son's sunday school's lenten floral arranging. You can't see it very well in the photo, but that chili is topping a big square of johnny cake.

To make the johnny cake, I needed to grease a 9 by 11 cake pan, which gave me the perfect excuse to try out the oil sprayer we bought a while ago to avoid having to rebuy those spray cans of oil (like Pam). Instead of spending all that money on aerosal spray cans, you can buy this one spray bottle and refill it with whatever oil you prefer whenever it runs out.

You use the metal lid to pump air into the bottle. Then, you spray the oil. I was quite thrilled by it. It worked just as well as the spray can oils but instead of generic oil, it was filled with high-quality 100% olive oil. I'm not sure how I lived without one of these before it came into my life, but I hope never to have to do it again.

 

Of course, having to live without the oil sprayer might come sooner rather than later, as most of the kitchen supplies are still in boxes and I have no idea which of those boxes might contain a reusable bottle for spraying oil. Thus is life.

Oatmeal. OATMEAL!? (Insta and Burgerized)

(Points if you too noted that the title is a shoutout to Frosty the Snowman.) With sadness I convey the reality of my cooking dejection. I only have these two small endeavors to report: homemade instead oatmeal and from-scratch vegetarian oat and bean burgers. While they are healthy and not from a box, their existence strikes me as lacking in luster blog-wise. You see, I have blogged of from-scratch whole-oat oatmeal and veggie burgers before. Nonetheless, this is what I’ve been making. I have come to a cross-roads with my desk job. It is lovely to go there and work my time and then go home and not take my work with me. However, sitting in a desk does have its downsides, namely on the volume of my hind quarters and thighs. My solution: oatmeal. I am on the oatmeal-for-lunch diet. for the moment, until I can think of a better cource of action that isn't diety in nature. Oatmeal is filling and fiber-filled, and it means that I eat its small portion and am sated until two thirty, when I have my usual snack of Greek yogurt. It means that I don’t overeat out of boredom while sitting at a desk all day, only to go home and feast on dinner-portions. It means I stand some chance of maintaining my figure.   Instant Cinnamon-Raison Oatmeal 1 48 oz canister instant oats ¼ c raw sugar ¼ c brown sugar 1 T cinnamon 1 t nutmeg a few shakes of salt flax seeds (as much or as little as you want. I eyeballed it) 1 c raisins 14 snack-sized plastic bags (feel free to reuse repeatedly after a good rinsing) Mix all the ingredients well in a large bowl and divide the whole into ½ c portions into the 14 plastic snackbags. Of course, feel free to make substitutions for the fruits, seeds, spices, etc.   This works rather well as a filling but light lunch. And one batch makes enough for two weeks. Moreover, making the mix from scratch costs less and gives you complete control over the ingredients list. No extra sugar. Flax seeds for Omega 3s. No preservatives. Not too shabby.     Oat and Bean Burgers   These babies were made using the Vegetarian Lunchbox burger recipe. This was the second time I used it and didn't turn out as well as the first. It calls for way too many seeds. Next time, I will cut them by at last half. Those burgers were drowning in flax seeds. I mixed all the ingredients together, rice, oats, beans, carrots, flaxseeds, spices. Then I smashed them into eight patties and baked them.   They were still tasty, though a little bland and overloaded with tiny seeds. But heck, a burger's a burger. You slap it between bread, add cheese, and it's a meal. Hopefully, I can get into the habit of making several meals on the weekend and then put then in the fridge to reheat during the rest of the week. I'd rather be wowed by dinner than plop a lackluster oat burger in a bun.

Paht si-yu and vegan chocolate chip cookies

Last month, we slacked. It was rush rush rush and there just wasn't any time for a country of the month from which to prepare country-inspired dishes. That's why this month, we're combining two. Welcome to Chinese Thai month. It works well because there are a lot of chinese/thai cookbooks in the library, and now they're on our bookshelves.

Giant Eagle had buy one, get one broccoli, so I searched through said cookbooks for one that would use up some of the broccoli aging in our refrigerator and here it was: Paht si-yu, a thai rice noodle dish with eggs, broccoli, and dark sweet soy sauce. Added bonus, to make the soy sauce dark and sweet, you just add our own new kitchen staple, molasses!

For lack of rice noodles, we used whole wheat linguine. For lack of mushrooms, we used tofu crusted in sesame seeds, but then, by now it should be clear, this recipe, like all recipes in my kitchen, it needed to be Kate-ified.

Paht si-yu
(adapted from Real Vegetarian Thai)

1 package firm tofu
sesame seeds
all spice
teriyaki sauce
3 T soy sauce
1 T molasses
2 T veggie stock
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
3 T veggie oil
4-6 cloves fresh chopped garlic
3 cups bite-sized broccoli florets
1/2 a red pepper, thinly sliced
8 oz. dried whole wheat linguine, cooked according to package instructions
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Take tofu from package and cut slab into four equal rectangles. Press each rectangle into a paper towel to drain excess water and place on a tin-foiled baking sheet. Sprinkle each with allspice and teriyaki and then coat top in a layer of sesame seeds. Bake about 15 minutes per side, give or take, until tofu is slightly browned and much less soggy. Then dice the rectangles and set aside. Also, at this point, it would be good to cook those noodles.

2. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce and molasses, veggie stock (or, as I did, 2 T water and a pinch of better than bouillon), salt and pepper. Stir and set aside.



3. Heat large skillet to med-high. Add 1 T oil and coat pan. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add the tofu cubes and toss. Add the broccoli and red pepper and stir fry about 2 minutes, until broccoli is even shiny and bright green. Dump all into a bowl.

4. Add 2 T oil to the skillet. Add cooked noodles and toss. Then, push the noodles to one side and add the eggs to the vacancy. Cook eggs about 30 seconds and then toss everything together, scrambling the eggs as you do.

5. Stir in the soy sauce mixture (si-yu) and then the veggies. Toss everything together and voila, a lovely vegetarian thai meal. For an extra kick, after you spoon your helping into your bowl, sprinkle on some red pepper flakes. For a vegan version, just nix the eggs. The tofu can carry this protein train solo.

Paht si-yu is delicious. The molasses gives the whole meal a delicate but rich sweetness that a teriyaki just can't match. That sweetness pairs very well with the bitterness of the broccoli and my addition of the sesame crusted tofu gives it a little nutty flair. And of course, it's still a stir fry, so not only is it healthy and delicious, you can easily eat it with chopsticks. And I'm a sucker for chopsticks.

And for dessert, why not some vegan chocolate chip cookies? I was not brave enough for substitutes, so I won't list the recipe, as it would be verbatim, but consider this my first of many recipe reviews from the Vegan Cookies Invade You Cookie Jar cookbook, and if this first recipe in their book is any indication of the quality to come, I made a very smart used bookstore purchase.

These fine women have the vegan cookie down to an art. A lengthy introduction explains how you can accurately make substitutes for more specialized diets, like diabetics and people allergic to say, gluten. Then, we get to that first recipe, the original staple cookie recipe for anyone to have and share: the chocolate chip cookie.

And their version is the single best vegan cookie I have ever made. It's moist and full of flavor (perhaps moreso do to my extra vanilla addition since all I had was vanilla soy milk). Humorously, I almost made an unnecessary substitution right off the bat. These cookies call for tapioca flour (cornstarch can be substituted).

So there I was in my kitchen wondering where one even gets tapioca flour when I had a thought: I have Egg Replacer from that one month I tried to be vegan and couldn't afford it. Sure enough, egg replacer is essentially a big old box of tapioca flour.

Tapioca aside, these cookies are brilliant. And from the looks of it, more brilliance follows in the pages that come after. If you want some good vegan cookies, get your hands on a copy of this cookbook. Vegan cookies really will invade your cookie jar... and your stomach.

Chickenless stew with dumplings

In my childhood home, each of us got to pick our special birthday meal. My brother and sister would waver year to year: pizza, lasagne, no this year I want hoagies. For me, though, I knew exactly what I wanted. Every year, it was the same thing, my favorite meal, unfailingly, I insisted be on the menu every June 10th. My favorite meal was my mom's chicken and dumpling stew. Of course, this thrilled my mother to no end, because there is nothing she enjoyed so much as filling the kitchen with the hot air of cooking stew in the middle of June. Boy did she hate it. She would suggest other things, but I wouldn't budge. She didn't make stew often and it was what I wanted.

Of course, since I turned veggie, she has never had to make me that sauna-like birthday meal. And when she has made stew while I'm at my parent's house (always in the winter), I admit to looking at their bowls with envy as I eat my salad greens. Because I remember loving chicken and dumpling stew. I remember how I used to wait for it, watch my mother chop the vegetables, and just when I thought it was finally done, I would realize that no, it was merely time to add the dumplings.

I have to envy no more, for I have found a way to enjoy my childhood favorite without the chicken. The solution: chickpeas.

Chickpea and Dumpling Stew
What you need:
4 T olive oil
2-3 c. chopped onion and celery
1 large carrot, chopped
1 1/2 c. + 2 T flour
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 15.5 oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
half a small bag frozen veggies
3 c. veggie stock
1 T. soy sauce
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t rosemary or savory
salt and pepper
3 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 c milk

1. Heat 1 T oil in a large pot over med heat. Add onion/celery and carrot, cover, and cook to soft, 5 min. Stir in 2 T flour. Add potatoes, chickpeas, and frozen veggies. Stir in veggie stock, soy sauce, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on low for an hour, checking to make sure it stays moist. Add water as needed.

2. Now, it's take for dumplings! Make sure, again, that there is some extra water in the stew before continuing. Also, make sure the carrots and potatoes are cooked through. Then, in a bowl, combine the 1 1/2 c. flour, baking powder, and baking soda, plus 1 t. salt. Quickly stir in the milk and remaining 3 T oil to just blended.

3. Spoon dumpling mix over the surface of the veggies. It should look a bit like gathered clouds in a pot.

4. Put the whole pot into an oven set on 350 degrees. Bake until dumplings are cooked through, probably 25-30 minutes.

5. Take the pot out of the oven. Don't forget your oven mitts. Make sure to serve plenty of stew with each spoonful of dumpling. And if there's a lot of dumpling in your bowl untouched by stew, go ahead and squeeze some honey on it and eat it separately, as though it were a biscuit.

At the end of it all, the stew ended up a little dry. Keep in mind that all the things that comprise this stew like to soak up water, unlike chicken, which adds water. Keep adding that water, folks. I might even try own a reprised version of this that includes a can of cream of celery, just to give it more liquid and more softness.

As for the taste, it was delicious. Chickpeas, honestly, have always creeped me out a bit because they taste and smell so much like poultry. And that only benefits the stew. I could hardly tell it wasn't the stew I always insisted upon in the heat of mid-June.