What we ate: Aug. 4-8

We were out of town Aug. 7-8 and ate out a lot. So this is an abbreviated week...

Monday

PE and D not here

TA ate: chicken garlic sausage, tomato sauce, penne, shredded cheese (leftover from Sat. night dinner)

M ate: omelet with goat cheese, chives, a little ham

Tuesday

PE and D not here again

TA and M invented a tortilla layer cake:

In a pan, saute lots of garlic cloves (we chopped up 10), add 1 can pinto beans, some salsa

We took 3 medium sized tortillas

First layer: tortilla, sauteed beans, cheese (we used slices of Swiss since it's the only cow's cheese M can eat, but shredded cheddar would taste better)

Second layer: tortilla, cream cheese, beans, more salsa

Third layer: guacamole

Tip:

We should have reheated the whole thing in the oven or microwave so the cheese would melt, then added the guacamole.

Wednesday

(Eating what's left in the fridge before our trip)

broiled salmon marinated in lime juice and olive oil; leftover rice (salad served but too mooshy to eat)

Thursday

On the road...

Friday

TA's birthday; we all at Applebees in M's hometown in NC.

Mexican lasagna/vegan enchiladas

I took two separate recipes, for enchilada sauce and Mexican lasagna, and adapted them into two dishes--Mexican lasagna (with cow's cheese, for D.) and vegan enchiladas (for M., who can't eat cow's cheese).

Even if I'd had goat's cheese on-hand, I probably wouldn't make Mexican lasagna with it since it takes so much cheese--it would be very costly using goat's cheese, which can run $5-7 for a fist-size chunk.

Enchilada sauce

Adapted from: Mexican Enchilada Sauce

The cool thing about this recipe is that it adds cocoa, to make the sauce brown--didn't really taste the cocoa, so not sure if it added any flavor.

I followed this recipe, except for the following substitutions:

--1 tbsp. chili powder instead of 3, added 1 tsp. cumin

--3 cloves of garlic, chopped (since I had no garlic powder)--could easily use 5-8 cloves

--instead of 3 cups of water, I used 2 cups chicken broth, 3 cups water

--1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

Follow the recipe otherwise. Freeze leftover sauce for another batch.

Mexican Lasagna

Adapted from: Honeymoon Mexican Lasagna

I used this recipe as inspiration, and for guidelines for construction, but made it vegetarian and added brown rice since I had no turkey on-hand.

Bean Filling

Combine:

2 cans of pinto beans (better if I had made my own, cooked with garlic and cumin)

1-2 cups cooked brown rice

(optional: small can of chopped black olives)

I threw in chopped chives and a little bit of parsley from my garden, but sauteed onions or scallions with garlic would have been better

Tip:

Use a round casserole dish the size of your tortillas for easier construction.

Construction:

sauce, tortilla, bean filling, a layer of salsa, a layer of shredded cheese

Continue until you reach the top, with cheese the last thing. I wouldn't bother adding parsley to the top.

Vegan enchiladas

Using same bean filling, fill 3-6 tortillas. Put in rectangular glass casserole dish that easily holds them all, with enchilada sauce on the bottom. Put more sauce on the top. Bake with the Mexican lasagna. Serve with sour cream (vegan or otherwise).

What We Ate: July 14-18

It's been hot here all week, so when I've cooked, I've tried to make short-cuts to recipes, to get out of the kitchen faster.

Monday

sauteed scallops tossed in with rice noodle-veggie dish leftover from Sunday night

What PE ate:

Trader Joes chicken pot stickers, noodles, carrot

Tuesday

I made a sort-of version of the Greek dish Pastitsio, but without the cream sauce since I didn't want to add another step and since I was under the impression that TA didn't like cream sauce. TA had a friend over for dinner, who ate 5 servings of it.

• Sort-of Pastitsio (recipe follows)

• frozen spinach sauteed with garlic and pine nuts

• (TA's friend is allergic to nuts, so we also had last-minute frozen French green beans with butter, lemon juice and dill).

RECIPE

Sort-of (Stream-lined) Pastitsio

• Prepare 8 oz. of pasta--like penne, elbows, or the squiggly one. Cook until al dente, rinse, set aside.

•Preheat oven to 350.

• Meanwhile, saute 1/2 lb. (or up to a lb.) of ground beef. (If you're using one chopped-up onion, add with beef, and forget the green onions, etc., later. Drain most of the fat; add 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic, saute for 2 minutes; (add chives, green onions); then add small can of diced tomatoes.

• In a large casserole dish, add pasta, then stir in still-warm sauce from pan. You may add shredded cheese or feta (I didn't, and it still tasted fine). Sprinkle top with pecarino or parmesan.

• Put in oven until top cheese looks melted.

What PE ate:

she was at sleepover

Wednesday

With 1/2 lb. of gr. beef leftover, we made tacos, with shredded cheese, tomato and lettuce. TA put it in tortilla and made a burrito. No alternatives, everyone ate it. Vegetables: leftover spinach or beans.

Thursday

I thought I was thawing out a whole, cut-up chicken until too late--and saw that it was just 4 scrawny chicken backs, purchased to make chicken broth. Since I recently over-bought cans of garbanzo beans (and no other), I decided to make this Mediterranean night. I searched on Internet and found a Mediterranean soup at www.realsimple.com, which called for a whole chicken, but I just used chicken backs.

• hummus (1 can of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice)

• falafel (1 can of garbanzo beans, flour, baking soda, garlic, chives, parsley) with pita bread, tomatoes and tahini sauce (tahini, yogurt, lemon juice).

• Mediterranean chicken soup (I thought this was a little bland... it really needs more garlic and/or spices like cumin, but the couscous was a nice touch).

• green salad

Friday

sauteed boneless chicken breasts and thighs (basic recipe in New Joy of Cooking, p. 587, my edition) with Tomatoes and basil (recipe on next page of same cookbook), pasta. Vegies: leftovers or salad.

Reactions: Again, I thought this recipe was too bland. It only called for 1 tbsp. of garlic. Maybe it would have been better with the capers, but my family doesn't like them. It was better with hot sauce and powdered cheese added.

What PE ate:

plain sauteed chicken (set aside) with plum sauce and peanuts she crushed at the table (she didn't like it that much, though)

What We Ate: July 7-11

Monday

M. sick (with PE's virus from last week). D and TA ate leftovers from Sunday's barbecue (smoked pork loin, sausage, cole slaw. M ate pretzel crackers. 

What PE ate: 

I don't know what PE ate since I couldn't stomach the smell of dinner and stayed in my room... She survived.

Tuesday

Everyone still ate leftovers (M had chicken broth and toasted bread).

Wednesday

pesto (from small basil plants thinned out), linguine, green beans

What PE ate:

linguine with shredded cheese, carrot sticks

Thursday

• leftover pesto on store-bought polenta (sliced and heated in casserole dish with olive oil and dried basil); 

• [made-up dish] cannelli beans cooked in a pot with paprika, chives, garlic and sour cream, covered with whole-wheat bread crumbs and put in pan under broiler until bread crumbs toasted

• garlic bread

• green salad

• (later) fruit salad with yogurt dressing

What PE ate:

Neither TA or PE will eat polenta. TA ate pesto on leftover noodles and everything else; PE ate small omelet with cheese and ham, fruit salad later. 

Friday

(I thought there was enough leftover polenta to make another dish with it, but after preparing stuff to put on it, I pulled out of fridge and discovered only 5 small slices left--so I had to improvise)

• polenta, white rice, leftover beans in a casserole dish with leftover/frozen pizza sauce, pecorino cheese and sliced sausage

• baked acorn squash

What TA ate:

baked potato, sausage, bread, squash

What PE ate:

rice, sausage, squash

Homemade granola

I have not yet mastered making excellent homemade granola. In fact, my homemade granola is often passable, at best. But with Naked Granola selling for $4 for 12 ounces ON SALE (that’s $5/pound) and other granolas nearly as pricey—as well as the fact that most commercial granola contains a lot of added sugars—I soldier on with my granola-making.

Part of my problem is that I always worry that the oats are too raw, so that most of my granolas verge on being on this side of burned.

So, this is a recipe in-process. I’ll post more tips and suggestions for refinement as I figure them out.

Tip: Though most recipes call for making granola in long, shallow pans, the easiest way to cook it is to use a large cast-iron pot. This way, when stirred, the flakes don’t fall out of the pot, as they’re likely to when using pans. You can also heat up the liquid parts of the granola in the same pot, on top of the stove. And there should be some nutritional benefit to using cast iron.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250-300 degrees. (250 degrees is about the normal temperature, but will require more intervention and cooking time. 300-325 will speed things along, but at risk for over-browning).

Ingredients:
-½ cup canola oil
-¼- ½ cup sweetening (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, or any combination of them)

Pour these ingredients into a cast iron pan and heat on medium-medium low until they melt together. Whisk. Then add:

-4 cups whole (not quick) oats
-chopped nuts of some kind, around 1-2 handfuls (suggested: pecans, peanuts, sliced almonds toast well, whole almonds with skins do not—the same is true for hazelnuts)
-1/2-1 cup of some other grain with a different texture, for variety (like puffed millet or puffed rice)

Possible flavorings:
-vanilla extract, orange oil/extract or lemon extract (added to liquid ingredients, prior to adding dry)
-cinnamon, powdered cardamom or ginger—or a combination of all three (add to dry)

Stir well until coated with the sweet, oily goo, then pop into the oven (no lid).

Check the granola every 10 minutes or so and stir with a large spoon. You can go for longer stretches when the oven is at a lower temperature, especially at the beginning, but 20-30 minutes into it, you’ll need to start checking more frequently or turn off the oven for the last 10 minutes.

(Hint: during the 10-minute intervals, you can do a series of short exercises, or wash the dishes—don’t try to do anything that requires a long stretch of attention).

Pull out of oven when it reaches desired level of brownness. Cool. Store in a container with a tight lid. (I find large Mason jars the best.) Add raisins or dried fruit to container and shake in, if desired.

For breakfast, serve with unsweetened granola (especially if you used a lot of sweetening).

Granola snack: In a small bowl or custard cup, mix equal parts of granola and peanut butter; add a little honey, to taste. Little kids seem to like this. Leave it in the cup, to serve (don’t bother to shape). Add chocolate chips, if desired.

2-Minute Ranch Dressing

[I mentioned making ranch dressing in one of my "What We Ate" posts but now I can't find it. Someone asked me for it the other day, so I'll give it its own post. As I said in that post, if you make your own yogurt and always have it on hand, making your own ranch dressing is a logical step since you already have half of the main ingredients.]

Note: equal measure here means one-half cup, one cup, etc.

• equal measure of yogurt (any kind) or buttermilk or sour cream (if you only have it and don't mind it being rich)
• equal measure of mayonnaise (any kind)
• few sprinkles of dried garlic powder (you can use fresh garlic, but it will have to be used right away)
• squeeze of lemon juice or a little vinegar, to taste (you'll need more vinegar if you use sour cream)

Other possible additions:
dried onion powder
dried or fresh chives
herbs, like fresh or dried oregano or basil

Make it in a measuring cup so you can measure, stir and pour from the same container.

When you've used what you want right away, put in a glass jar for the fridge. Depending on how much vinegar you added, it will stay fresh for a couple of days, sometimes longer, but it's best to use up within 5 days--so don't make much more than you can use quickly. One-half cup portions usually works for us.

Once you see how easy this is to make, you'll wonder why you were spending $3 for a bottle for store-bought--and this way, you avoid the MSG.

Tip: This is an easy thing for kids to make and they like to experiment adding new flavors each time.

Foods to Make: Tomato sauce

The problem with most commercial tomato sauces is that they use cottonseed oil (which isn't that good for you) and an excess amount of sugar (which makes them taste too sweet). If you have crushed tomatoes (or canned tomatoes, which you can crush), you can make your own sauce in a few minutes.

Quick way: throw 1 large can of crushed tomatoes into a microwavable glass container, add 2-3 tbsp. of olive oil, garlic powder and a few shakes of dried oregano. Cover and microwave on high for five minutes. Add a smidgen or tsp. or two of sugar, if needed, to cut acidity.

Slow way: throw same things into a pot and heat on low for an hour or more. Take the lid off at some point if you want it to thicken.

Note: I've never had luck trying to pressure cook tomato sauce--it always seems to burn on the bottom. So, the microwave is the only quick way I know that works.

5 Foods to Make/5 Foods to Buy

5 Foods You Can Easily Make Yourself

1. Tomato sauce (from canned, crushed tomatoes)

Recipe in separate post.

2. Bread crumbs

When bread is getting stale, throw it in a blender. Freeze in small containers.

3. Pizza crust

If you have a bread machine, it only takes about 5 minutes to put the ingredients together and another five minutes to roll it out or stretch it.

4. Ranch salad dressing

This is a no-brainer if you already make your own yogurt. 

Recipe: Mix half yogurt and half mayonnaise (1/2 cup each or more). Add lemon juice or vinegar, then a few shakes of garlic powder. It should taste at least as good as store-bought.

5. Bread for meals

If you have a bread machine, it only takes 5 minutes to toss in ingredients and get bread in 2-3 hours.

5 Foods to Buy

We've tried to make these things at home and it's either too messy or time-consuming to make them ourselves, or they just don't come out as good as store-bought.

1. Stuffed grape leaves

(Even with canned grape leaves available, making the stuffing and then putting it into each individual leaf takes a LONG time).

2. Sandwich bread

If you're packing a sandwich for school, it's going to hold up better if you use commercial sliced bread. I've been experimenting with adding xanthum gum and/or gluten to my bread to make it hold up better, but it's still not as crumb-free and malleable as commercial bread.

3. Potstickers/dumplings/pierogies

Again, very time consuming and the end-result at home is no better.

4. Salsa

Noted, with exceptions: Unless you're using fresh tomatoes, making salsa from canned tomatoes will not taste as good as a store-bought jar of salsa.

5. Crushed tomatoes

Unless you grow your own tomatoes, it's more economical to buy them in a can rather than canning them yourself.

What We Ate May 12-16: Turkey meatballs, desperation chicken

Monday 

Leftover pasta with tomato sauce and sausage; leftover corn

Tuesday

Desperation dinner (for more on desperation dinners in general, see 5/15/08 posting). Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, served with basmati rice. (To make it more palatable for the adults, we threw small portions of it into stir-fried celery/mushrooms/garlic along with the white rice). Mixed salad greens with ginger salad dressing.

Recipe: Ginger/soy dressing

(I made this up at the last minute)

Throw into a blender 1/4 cup oil (canola), 1/4 cup vinegar (rice if you have it), 1 tbsp. or more soy sauce, fresh garlic and fresh ginger. Add a couple of spoonfuls of tahini if you have it and blend again.

Wednesday

(I made yogurt that morning...)

Ground turkey meatballs with lime-yogurt sauce (adapted a recipe from Cooks.com, found with Google recipe search); basmati rice; broccoli. Dessert: homemade blueberry frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries.

What PE ate:

leftover TJ chicken, celery sticks with peanut butter

Thursday

Leftover meatballs with yogurt sauce; corn; rice. Later: fruit salad (strawberries, apples, bananas, raisins with a lemon-yogurt-maple sauce).

What PE ate:

(She was hungry when we walked in the door late, so she had fruit salad with lots of yogurt. Later, she ate rice and chicken, with a milk-banana smoothie).

Friday

Twisty noodles with skinless chicken breasts and broccoli in a sour cream sauce; salad. (Recipe from Google recipes... About.com).

What PE ate:

One small piece of chicken set aside after only sauted, with sesame seeds and honey added; corn; buckwheat noodles (leftover from M's lunch) with peanuts and soy sauce; corn.