Week of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2

Saturday:

• Leftovers! (that's what comes of cooking too much "comfort food")
  

Sunday:

• Simple Mung Dal Soup, Krishna, p. 45
  
• Shredded Cabbage with Green Peas, Krishna, p. 201
  
• Creamy Cashew Chutney, Krishna, p. 400
• Pita bread
  
  
• Carrie: The mung dal was nice but had a very subtle flavor, so I'm glad we paired it with some bolder flavors. The cabbage dish was great, as was the chutney. Pita bread worked okay, but a bit too soft and crumbly. I think a traditional Indian flat bread would have been better.
  

Monday:

• Taco night
  

Tuesday:

• Split Green Pea and Potato Soup, Classic Italian, p. 72
• Penne Pasta with Tomato Sauce III, Classic Italian, p. 95
  
  
• Carrie: The soup was fantastic! It turned out quite thick and we had to thin it a lot, but I really liked the flavor. And it was a great accompaniment to the pasta. We typically have pasta with a green, leafy vegetable, so it was nice to break out of that with pasta and soup!
  

Wednesday:

• Indian burgers
  
  
• Carrie: These were the last of a big batch Benjamin made way back on December 1. They've been a great "I don't want to go to the store, what do we have to eat in the freezer?" option.
  

Thursday:

• Veggie beer brats
• Spinach
• Carrie: I really like these Tofurky Beer Brats. I had mine with all the fixin's: sauerkraut, pickle relish, Dijon mustard, mayo, and ketchup - Yum!
  

Friday:

• Thai red curry
• Basmati rice
  
  
• Carrie: This was a yummy big mix of vegetables in a Thai red curry sauce - potatoes, eggplant, onions, carrots, tofu, and peas. And the rice turned out just right!
  

Week of Jan. 20 - 26

Saturday: Event: Lyra Baroque concert

• Purée of Celery Root Soup, orangette.blogspot.com
• Croissants
• Ben: The soup is simple and subtle, but had a good flavor -- I'm not using "simple and subtle" as code for "bland" in this case. I found that by shredding the celery root with the food processor instead of just chopping it, I could use the immersion blender at the end of the preparation with no problem. The combination with the slight sourdough tang of the croissants was excellent.
  

Sunday:

• Cuban Black Bean and Monterey Jack Casserole, epicurean.com
• Tossed Salad
• Ben: A very tasty comfort-food dinner.
  

Monday:

• Pepper-Flecked Potato-Lentil Medley, Sass, p. 201
• Broccoli
• Ben: More comfort food I suppose, but with a nice zing.
  

Tuesday:

• White Bean Soup with Pasta and Potatoes, Savory, p. 114
• Green beans

Wednesday:

• Polenta Gratin with Tomato, Fontina and Rosemary, Everyone, p. 526
• Ben: This was a tasty dish, as good as the sum of its somewhat expensive parts (that much fontina and blue cheese doesn't come cheap!). But the best recipes are those that surpass expectation by taking ingredients, whether humble or exalted, and making something more of the combination than simple addition. By that measure, I found this dish just a bit disappointing.
  

Thursday:

• Leftovers!
  

Friday: Event: First Date Anniversary

• Veggie & Mock Duck Stir Fry with rice
• Ben: A bit too salty -- I think I'll have to be more careful with the soy sauce when one of the stir fry ingredients (such as the seitan) is already marinated.
  

Week of Jan. 13 - 19

Saturday:

• Baked Manicotti, Cooks Illustrated #84, p. 13
• Hashed Brussels Sprouts with Poppy Seeds & Lemons
• Carrie: Even though we didn't get around to eating dinner until 9:30 (very cosmopolitan!), this was a superb dinner. The "manicotti" were actually no-boil lasagne noodles spread with the ricotta-parmesan-mozzarella cheese filling and rolled up. The flavor was fresh and not too heavy. The brussels sprouts were a great accompaniment: shredded and sautéed with poppy seeds.
  

Sunday: Emily's birthday!

• Rajasthani Buttermilk Curry
• Flatbread
• Salad
• Carrie: This was the first time I've had a curry soup. It was very tasty, but the portions were minuscule -- we doubled it and it was just enough for four bowls! It was quite rich, thanks to the buttermilk, and very flavorful.
  

Monday:

• Mussels à la Marinière, Mastering vol. 1 p. 227
• Olives
  
• Onion Gratin, Everyone, p. 282
• Carrie: This turned out quite well. I went to Coastal Seafood, just a few blocks away, and got the mussels. They were quite easy to prepare and cook (although, I think I started preparing them too early, because I think some got dried out). For once, I had timed it just right so that the mussels were done right as the gratin was finishing. The gratin was good, but a bit too much onion, though.
  

Tuesday:

• Welsh Rarebit, Moosewood, p. 93
• Sliced apples, grilled asparagus, and rye toast
• Pear Crisp, Baking p. 298
  
• Carrie: Always good! We actually went with grilled asparagus instead of our usual cauliflower and it turned out well. The beer that Benjamin used for the cheese sauce was a Belgian ale he'd not cooked with before, called Duvel. It turned out quite well. For dessert, I decided to make use of the lovely pears we received from Granddaddy. This was a super easy crisp which was a nice end to the meal, accompanied with some vanilla ice cream.
  

Wednesday:

• Indian!
  

Thursday:

• Indian veggie burgers
• Spicy black bean & tomato soup
  

Friday:

• Gratin of Young Artichokes and Olives - Med. Vegan, p. 160
• Moroccan Potato Salad - Med. Vegan, p. 77
• Cheese Pizza topped with harissa and hot ajvar
• Salad
• Carrie: Couldn't find the frozen artichokes the recipe suggested, so we went with frozen pizza topped with harissa and hot ajvar -- quite good!
  

Week of Jan 6 - 12

Saturday:

• Roasted Seitan - TheVeggieTable.com
  
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips - TheVeggieTable.com
  
• Salad
• Ben: A very promising set of recipes, though I don't think we brought out their full potential. The seitan dish was essentially a variation on the themes of "boeuf bourgignon", tastier than the tempeh version we tried a few weeks back (even putting aside my preference for seitan over tempeh), but the cippolini onions somewhat overwhelmed the dish and didn't quite cook through. When we make this again, I'd use pearl onions instead and perhaps consider adding carrots and mushrooms. The mashed veggies were good, but may not have cooked long enough, since they didn't mash as smoothly as I'd like them to be.
  
  
• Carrie: I really liked this dinner. I agree with Ben that a different onion would be better, but I thought the sauce for the roasted seitan had a great complexity and robustness to it. We were originally going to do the main dish with simple fingerling potatoes, but the seitan recipe recommended these mashed potatoes, which I'm glad we tried.
  

Sunday:

• Chickpeas and Potato Cubes in Creamy Coconut Sauce - Krishna, p. 75
  
• Griddle-baked Papaya Whole Wheat Bread - Krishna, p. 111
  
  
• Carrie: Well, the combination of these two dishes was very labor-intensive, especially the bread. We knew they'd be somewhat time-consuming at the outset, which is why we tried them on a weekend, but I'm glad we had Emily helping us or we'd have not eaten until 9!
  
  Both dishes were quite good, although the papaya in the bread was virtually flavorless. I'd probably not use papaya in this recipe again (just use water) unless the papaya was in season. The nice thing about the bread recipe is that there was nothing difficult about it, just that each step took a long time.
  

Monday:

• Gratin of Macaroni, Tomatoes, Basil, and Olives, Med Vegan, p. 111
• Roasted Green Beans with Slivered Almonds, Med Vegan, p. 147
  
  
• Carrie: Once again, the Mediterranean Vegan cookbook pleasantly surprised us! We were afraid the gratin might be a little bland, so we substituted "fire-roasted" tomatoes with peppers for just plain tomatoes. And it turned out to be very flavorful indeed. And quite the crowd-pleaser! A great restorative meal, especially for Nathan as he was coming off a long day that included a pitching work-out. And, boy, do we have leftovers! I don't need to plan my lunch all week!
  
  I was worried that the green beans didn't cook long enough, but I thought they turned out quite well! A little too salty, but that was because I was using dehydrated vegetable stock starter instead of home-made stock.
  

Tuesday:

• Persian Spinach Soup with Lentils - Vegetarian Times, Jan 2007, p. 84
• Flatbread

Wednesday:

• Huevos Rancheros over warmed tortillas
  

Thursday:

• Leftovers
  

Friday:

• Curried Penne - Vegetarian Times, Jan 2007, p. 42
• Steamed broccoli

Week of Dec 30 - Jan 5

Saturday: in New Hampshire

• Homemade pizzas
• Salad
• Ben: We found a nice addition to the sauce repertoire -- a spicy pepper-based sauce (apparently a Yugoslav favorite, though the brand we found in the Littleton grocery store was Turkish) called Ajvar.

Sunday: in New Hampshire

• Cheese Fondue

Monday: in New Hampshire

• dinner at Indian restaurant in North Conway

Tuesday: return to Saint Paul (late)

• takeout from the Italian Pie Shoppe

Wednesday:

• Indian burgers
• Salad with Chipotle Ranch dressing
• Ben: More from the stash of Indian veggie burgers I made last month, served on buns with our Ajvar sauce imported from New Hampshire.
  

Thursday:

• Fried tofu cutlets with Patak brand "Hot Rogan Josh" sauce, served over rice
• Green beans with ghee
• Ben: The Rogan Josh sauce (a creamy tomato & cardomom) was not remotely hot -- in fact I really can't fathom what the "Mild" variety might taste like -- but it was good.
  

Friday:

• Ultimate Chickpea Noodle Soup, www.101cookbooks.com
  
• Campo de Montalban cheese with crispbread crackers
• Ben: A tasty soup, and a nice paring with the cheese, which was distinctive without being overpowering. The fried noodles used as a garnish were fun to make and added a crispy texture that I enjoyed.
  

All-time Favorites

Here's a list of the dishes that we found to be extraordinarily good. We'll update and add to this periodically.

• Tomato Sauce III, Classic Italian, p. 95
• Simplicity itself: tomatoes, butter, an onion cut in half (discarded before serving), a bit of salt, a bit of sugar, simmer for 45 minutes. Divine! This is our all-time favorite pasta sauce.
  
  Why so good? As Anthony Bourdain says, (paraphrasing) "The difference between your sauces and my sauces (the sauces made in restaurants) is... butter. Lots and lots of butter." Case in point: this recipe calls for a stick of butter (1/4 lb.) for 2 lbs. fresh - or 2 cups canned - tomatoes. And I am facinated by the use of an onion just in the simmering of this sauce. It imparts its flavor and then discarded, leaving a vibrant red sauce for any occasion.
  
  
• Rebaked Potatoes, Enchanted Broccoli Forest, p. 227
• Easy, yummy comfort food for cold winter days. We make these twice-baked potatoes regularly and they are fairly quick, as long as you remember to do the 1st baking earlier. We usually will bake the potatoes in our toaster oven the night before while we are preparing (or eating) other things.