Sweet potato and roasted corn chowder (Southwestern)
Corn muffins
Salad
Sunday: return to Saint Paul (late)
Monday: Christmas at home!
Raclette
Salad
Tuesday: Travel to New Hampshire
Wednesday: in New Hampshire
Thursday:in New Hampshire
Potato Patties with Roasted Peanuts, Lord Krishna's Cuisine p. 550
Spiced Creamed Spinach, Lord Krishna's Cuisine p. 258
Hamburgers
Cuban Black Bean Soup, Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook p.25 (from the Harman cookbook collection)
Ben: My mother and Doug gave me "Lord Krishna's Cuisine" for Christmas, so we decided to try out some of the recipes. The potato patties were excellent, though perhaps too soft to work well as veggie burgers. I also need to work on my frying technique, to avoid making such a mess and avoid burning myself! The spinach recipe was outstanding -- rich and flavorful. We paired these recipes with burgers (for the carnivorous crowd) and a nice soup recipe from one of my mother's cookbooks.
Roasted Vegetables, Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook p. 197 (from the Harman cookbook collection)
Ben: Lots of garlic fans here, so we thought this recipe would get a good reception. The roasted vegetables made a filling and flavorful accompaniment.
Indian veggie burgers (served on hamburger buns with fixings)
Spinach with ghee
Ben: These were some of the veggie burgers I made a huge batch of a couple of weeks ago. For that first dinner, we prepared them as part of an Indian menu, but tonight we heated them up in the toaster oven and tried them out in place of the store-bought black bean burgers we usually have on "Burger Night". They're more substantial and also a bit spicier, but I think they worked quite well.
Sunday:
Tamales
Salad
Ben: The tamales were delicious, as they've been each time Carrie has made them, and the search for dried corn husks brought us to El Burrito Mercado in the neighborhood across from downtown Saint Paul for the first time, which was well worth the visit.
Carrie: I tried something a little different with the tamales. Instead of using shredded cheese and mixing it in with the chiles and onion filling mix, I used cubed queso blanco and kept it separate. Then, I assembled the tamales: spread masa base, add scoop of chiles filling, then add 3 cubes of cheese; spread a dab more of masa on top and fold up the corn husk (hojas de maiz, in Spanish). The tamales probably should have cooked a bit longer, but they tasted as good as always!
Monday:
Potato Leek & Fennel Soup, Vegetarian Times Nov/Dec p.
French bread
Brie
Olives
Ben: The soup was simple to prepare and, while not spectacular, served nicely as one component of a varied menu.
Ben: Four heads of roasted garlic! It would be have been hard to go wrong from there, but the walnuts made it even better.
Carrie: So good, I added it to our Allrecipes private recipe box to have it easily accessible! Very hearty without leaving you feeling over-stuffed. A great winter dinner!
Wednesday:
Tofu Tikka Masala over rice
Steamed green beans with ghee
Ben: We bought the Tikka Masala (Sharwood's) back when I'd made the Indian veggie burgers, thinking we might use it as the accompanying sauce, though I'd ended up making a tomato sauce from scratch. So tonight we just used the "Chicken Tikka Masala" recipe from the label, substituting tofu "cutlets" for the chicken breasts. It doesn't really fit with our "cook from scratch" approach to buy jarred sauces, but if we do it again I'd certainly go for this one -- very tasty.
Carrie: This was a great recipe for mid-week! So easy and flavorful!
Thursday:
Spinach Quesadillas, Veg Suppers p. 190
Salsa Cruda with Avocado, Veg Suppers p. 118
Spicy black beans
Carrie: Although this recipe required quite a bit of chopping, the final assembly was quick and easy. I heated the tortillas two at a time, one on one skillet, one on another (as suggested by Debra M.), added the cheese to one, let the cheese melt some, then added the spinach filling and put the second tortilla on top. Then I cut them and kept the quesadillas warm in the toaster oven as I assembled the rest. Ben assembled the Salsa Cruda in the meantime. It all came together so well! We added chopped onion, some adobo sauce, and a little beer to the beans. Yum!
Friday:
Couscous with peas, lettuce and mint (Mediterranean Vegan p.99)
Brocco-flower with garlic butter
Tunisian olive mix (Kowalski's olive bar(
Carrie: The couscous turned out nicely and had quite a mild flavor. It seemed a bit bland to me, but was nice accompanied by the more flavorful sides. The brocco-flower (hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower we found at Kowalski's) was wonderful with the garlic butter! The olives had a spicy kick since they came mixed with red chiles - yum!
