Tofu Bahn Mi: Plant Strong Vietnamese

When our twins were 6 months old we moved from our inner ring suburb to what is geographically known to those in our former metro area as the “exurbs.” We are fully ex-ed from the “urb.” The Our exurb, ironically, is just outside of a lovely town. There are restaurants here, and thankfully an increasing number of options for ethnic food; however, lately I find that I simply feel better when I cook at home, even if I am sacrificing a real chef’s authentic dish in favor of my approximation that serves to satisfy a craving.  I often “make do.” This time, I wasn’t “making do.” This dish was fabulous.

Tapas for Two, or Four

Miss Picky Pants (known for the remainder of the post as MPP) is a grazer.  She is easily overwhelmed by large portions (with the exception of cake, of course), and loves to have just a bit of as many things as possible.  In a desperate attempt to have dinner out a few years ago, Mr. Little Sis and I took the twins to a Tapas joint here in our little burg.

Don’t know if you’ve ever walked 4 year old twins into a restaurant before, but I can tell you it’s the rare restaurant staff that greets this moment with true enthusiasm.  Weren’t they surprised to find out that as long as they kept the bread and little plates coming, MPP and her all cuisine loving brother would be just fine, thank you very much.  To be fair my little MPP, she comes by the small plate thing honestly.  I love having bits on the plate to choose from , tie together, nibble on, mop up with bread.  Yum. Tonight we had just such a plate.  If there had been sections dividing MPP’s food, everything would have been perfecto.  All of it was simple, hearty, and super yummy.  Perfect for these increasingly cool evenings.  A little preview of autumn’s heartier fare. The highlight of the meal, for me, was garlic mushrooms, a classic tapas favorite. The beauty of this dish is its simplicity and its versatility. Want it with rice – rock it out. Over quinoa? Keen. With pasta? Perfection. Garlic mushrooms, a foodie’s best friend.

Slow and Simple Tortillas, Beans, and Rice

There are times when we all need a fast meal.  We are overbooked. We are overtired. We are overworked. There are also times we need a slow meal. We are overworked. We are overtired. We are overbooked. So we stop and go to the kitchen and pull out ingredients to make a meal that is comforting, that is universally accepted in the home, that everyone can help make. We bring our consciousness back to the basic reality of finding nourishment and achieving flavor. We bring our attention back to the domestic, in the very best sense of the word, the hearth, the heart of our existence on this earth. We use our hands to turn ingredients into a basic meal. We are still likely overbooked, but less tired, and the work is restorative, the motion therapeutic, the company a balm. Slow food. Breathing. We CAN wait a few more minutes. Especially if it means we get homemade tortillas.

Simple Pakistani Fare (GF,V)

A few years ago I got a cookbook. It was a life changer. I know that sounds a little melodramatic – and it is I guess, but food can change us, and the way that we look at food can change us.  Before my kids were born I started thinking about simplicity a bit, and was immediately attracted to the idea behind More-With-Less. This cookbook encouraged me to think about the role of processed food in my home, to think about my relationship with meals and food, and to slow it all down a little.

Over the years I’ve used this book to explore international cuisine from a non-restaurant perspective, international cuisine that regular people in other countries actually eat in their homes. Before we made all of our dietary changes, this was the perfect companion to simpler and yet more interesting meals. And now, I find the simple recipes in this book so very easy to adapt and the philosophy behind them is so peace creating for me that I wanted to share it with you.

Tonight I returned to an old favorite of ours, and made a little switcheroo so I could still eat it on a weekday. The author shares a recipe for Pakistani Kima, made with ground beef.  When I made it in the past, I used ground turkey.  Tonight, I made lentils the star of this simple curry show. Surprise! Another fabulous lentil dish.  Perhaps we really should call ourselves the Lentil Lodge… At any rate, this easy curry was fantastic and just the thing for the half of my crew fighting a nasty little end of summer bug.  Lentils, curry spices, fresh green beans, potatoes, onions and tomatoes.  Fantastic.

Pakistani Lentil Kima – adapted from More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre

• 3 T coconut oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 potatoes, rough cut 1 inch pieces
• 1 T curry powder
• 1 1/2 t salt
• dash pepper
• dash each cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric
• 2 1/2 c diced tomatoes
• 2 c fresh green beans, cut in half
• 2 c cooked lentils

Warm coconut oil in pan (I used cast iron). Saute onions on med heat until they are at least translucent.  Add garlic and stir until fragrant.  Add potatoes and stir to coat with coconut oil.  Add spices and stir to coat. Let cook for a minute or so.  Add tomatoes. Turn heat down to simmer and cover.  Cook about 15 minutes; check potatoes for doneness and simmer until nearly cooked through. Add green beans and cover.  Simmer for an additional 5 minutes (more or less to your green bean doneness preference). Add lentils and stir.  Heat until lentils are warm. Serve over rice (or whatever gran you have on hand). We garnished with a little coconut and fresh cilantro.  So easy and so delish.

  

Power Tabbouleh – and yes, it’s GF

Don’t know about you all, but here in Mid Maryland the weather is SPECTACULAR.  It feels like fall – the great part of fall when the humidity drops, the temps are still in the low 80s and the sky is bright blue and features fluffy white clouds.  Whoever loaned us their weather, I thank you and regret to inform you that we would like to keep it, thank you very much. I almost don’t care that the infant tomatoes that were emerging post deer invasion have also been eaten.  Shame on me for going out of town for 36 hours.  Apparently creating a urine barrier as deterrent is a daily requirement.

While the deer (or the squirrels, I don’t even care any more who the perp is anymore) were eating my tomatoes, we took a short trip to my hometown, Silver Spring, MD.  Mr. Little Sis had some work to tend to there over the weekend and we tagged along so we could do a little “get to know your Mom” touring. We returned thoroughly exhausted, in part from incredibly awesome park experiences, but mostly because the folks on the other side of our locked adjoining room door were reunioning with their family and a lot of bourbon until 4 in the morning.  I digress…

Our superb park experiences over the weekend inspired me to take the kids a little farther afield for some adventures today.  After swim class we played tag, restaurant (with robbers and everything, my children like exciting dining), and fed a whole mess of turtles in the quarry.  We found some bugs (and fed them to the fish – sorry bugs), watched some geese and played on some great playground equipment.  After leaving there and scoring a whole slew of deals on perennials at the hardware store, we all returned home pretty wiped out.  I decided it was time to give a summer standard from my past a go. Tired hungry kids are sometimes the most willing to try new foods.

Standard tabbouleh has tons of parsley (which is great for you in a variety of ways and covers a multitude of garlic breath sins), bulgur, tomatoes, garlic and some kind of acid mixed with olive oil.  Well… I hain’t got no maters, I say almost weeping.  Well, okay I have one that I plucked early before the real invasion began.  It was just coming ripe on the windowsill.  In honor of Mr. Bigg Sis and all those for whom gluten is verboten, I decided to make good use of the leftover quinoa in the fridge. Following Deborah Madison‘s lead (which is always a good idea), I combined green lentils and chickpeas to power that salad up even more.  Plenty of protein, fiber, and tons o’ flavor.  Yep, power tabbouleh.

Power Tabbouleh – adapted from Deborah Madison’s Bulgur and Green Lentil Salad with Chickpeas in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

• 2 c chopped fresh parsley
• 2 c cooked quinoa (or whatever grain you have on hand)
• 1 1/2 c cooked French lentils (I’m sure brown would be fine too, but I do like the green here)
• 1 c cooked or canned garbanzo beans (drain and rinse if canned)
• zest of two lemons
• 2 cloves garlic, made very small however you like
• 4 scallions or spring onions, chopped small, including some green
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 6-8 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 t paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Looks like a lot of ingredients, but this was so ridiculously easy – one of those times where having some leftover cooked grains in the fridge makes dinner a snap.  I cooked my lentils specifically for this meal as I didn’t have any in the fridge.  I cooked two cups of French lentils in boiling water with a bit of salt and a bay leaf.  I can’t recommend this bay leaf maneuver enough – made the beans so flavorful and delish.  I had way more than I needed for the salad, but I knew my little lentil fan (Miss Picky Pants – you go figure that out) would want some plain.

While the lentils cooked I did all of my chopping and combined all of the cold solid ingredients.  I drained the lentils and let them cool for about half an hour. You could absolutely make this warm, but I was going for room temp or cooler. When I was done assembling a green salad and making dressing, I added the lentils to the other ingredients, combined the lemon juice, oil and paprika and poured it on.  Tossed everything to mix.  Salted and peppered to taste.  Lovely. Then I chopped my sole tomato and added it.  The added tomato was nice, but honestly, unnecessary (blasphemy). This salad knocked my socks off and is super flexible.  What do you like in your tabbouleh? As for me, beans are where it’s at.

  

The Berries Are Here!

There is no better time for eating than summer – or well, late spring through early fall. Okay, so there’s a lot of good time for eating, but my point (and I do have one) is that there is nothing so wonderful as the riot of flavors and colors that fresh produce bring as the weather turns warm. My garden (which I’ve not shared much about this year) is going swimmingly. The potato patch is insane. I’ve got kale and chard coming out of my ears and the tomato plants look promising (knock on wood and anything else that will help).

Some plants have not liked the unpredictable weather (the peas are struggling this year and the bugs ate all the beans) and I’m dealing with a new wildlife threat. It seems that my geriatric dog was more threatening than I supposed and now that he has left us for the great beyond the neighborhood deer have found (and leapt into) my garden. One bold little doe had a great, and very large, salad of strawberry leaves and chard before we scared her away. I’m testing various repellent measures and will let you know how it goes. For the moment, she seems to be favoring my hostas over my berries and I like that just fine.

Despite the intruder, I’ve picked about 12 pounds of strawberries in the last 6 days. Yes, I said 12 pounds. For some quick practical math – organic strawberries are currently going for $4 a pound at my local Wegman’s. I spent $0 on my strawberry patch this year. $0. I mulched with dry leaves late last fall and have only sprinkled some organic slug deterrent – okay so I’ve probably spent .50. I’ll round it up to $1 for fun. My 12 pounds of organic (and awesome tasting) strawberries would have cost $48 at the market. I got them for $1. I grant you I bought some strawberry plants a couple of years ago, but I’ve harvested every year. We’re well into the gravy zone. I thought I’d share some strawberry info with you so you can pocket $47 worth of free and super healthful organic fruit too. We’ll start with WHY strawberries are awesome, then I’ll talk gardening. If you absolutely don’t want to grow strawberries, skip past the gardening bit and read about storing your berries so you can take advantage of summer’s berry bounty (and lower prices).

Caribbean Flair – Cheap, Easy, Delicious

I can’t count the number of posts that I’ve started by way of saying that I was running late and hadn’t planned dinner well…  Well, I guess I could, but honestly I don’t really want to.  The simple fact is that planning is not my strong suit.  So how do I eat healthy food without breaking the bank? I keep a healthy pantry and that pantry allows me to start with the ingredients that I have and cobble together something that works for most of us most of the time.  (Learn more about our real food pantries here.)  So last night, running on about 3 hours of sleep and a miserable day of contract work I stood in front of my magic pantry and waited for inspiration.

And then it happened.  Oooh, sweet potatoes.  Oh right, I just got some quinoa!  Black beans, hot dog!  Chipotle, garlic, cumin, salt, coconut oil… oh and cilantro!  Oh yes, life is good.  Dinner for four in about 35 minutes featuring:

Leftovers Transformed – Pot Pie Palooza

I’ve had this idea brewing for a little while… a pot pie that I could eat (given my dietary predilections). Well, okay, I’ve been thinking about pot pie generally for a VERY long time. When I was in high school my Mom would occasionally offer up a Mrs. Budd’s pot pie from the grocery store. High times indeed. I have long been smitten with the pot pie.  I was reminded by my husband that while pregnant with the twins pot pie was one of a very few foods I actually made him go procure for me at strange times (pineapple and watermelon were some of the others). Even now that I don’t eat a lot of what goes into most pot pies, I can still be brought to a slow drool (attractive, right?) with a picture of a pot pie (as a good friend in Boston who can attest to – she unknowingly tortured me with a photo from Harrow’s Chicken Pies, but I digress).

The lovely thing about being somewhat obsessive about pot pies is that a passable pie crust is not nearly as hard as everyone would have you believe, and let’s face it, the crust is really a good part of what awesome pot pie is all about. So yesterday I decided to throw Ms. Picky Pants a bone and construct the perfect pot pie for my daughter with the delicate palate – pre-appproved foods only in this baby. A quick look around the fridge provided the ingredients list (the benefits of cooking extra felt once again). So here it is, my leftovers pot pie!

The Sweet Beast and Morning Decadence

It’s been a while since we specifically talked about sugar. But really it’s a discussion you just kind of keep having.  I have it with myself all the time.  I’m having it right now, in fact, because I’m sitting here wondering why I don’t keep more dessert in the house.  The fact that I’ve been thinking about this for an hour explains why I don’t keep more dessert in the house…  So, maybe it’s time to talk about sugar again.  For those of you who were lured in by the Morning Decadence part of the title – it’s there, recipe included, waiting for you below.

SOTW: Crock Pot Creamed Lentil Soup

Yeah, I know we have lentil problems.  A lentil fixation.  A lentil leaning, as it were.  The truth is that lentils may well be the perfect legume, hearty full of all the goodness that the legume family can bring, but so very forgiving because they are so small.  Didn’t soak?  Bah.  Running out of time?  Never fear.  Lentils are the home cook’s best friend.   Lentils are easy, cheap, delicious, nutritious, and friendly to those of us who are a little lacking in the planning department.  If you haven’t drunk the kool-aid (and I am speaking purely figuratively here because I really, really don’t want you to drink kool-aid) on lentils with us before, it is high time that you did.