Carrie: This was excellent! I used the first recipe as the main recipe, but instead of the brown rice, I used the roasted, spiced potato cubes from the second recipe. I also substituted enchilada sauce for the picante sauce and salsa - some went into the filling, lots more went on top. Really flavorful and filling!
Carrie: This was a nice, delicate soup. The flavors were almost too mild to my taste, but that is probably so as not to overwhelm the asparagus, which was lovely. I thought there were too many egg threads and it made the soup too bulky. Not sure I'll make this again, but I'll definitely seek out another asparagus soup recipe.
Carrie: This hit the spot! Sautéed the ground beef and onions the night before (no, this was not vegetarian) and put everything in the slow cooker pot to set overnight in the fridge. Put it on low in the morning for about 10 hours. Nathan's game would up going very long, so how fortuitous to have a hearty chili waiting for him. The two of us nearly cleaned the whole thing out (save one serving for lunch the next day).
Tuesday:
Pizza
Corn/Edamame mix
Carrie: Yes, very unimaginative. Nothing more to say.
Wednesday:
Indian!
Carrie: Another unimaginative dinner, but I'm never disappointed in the Deep frozen Indian dishes. I ate this thinking of Benjamin having the real deal this week!
Thursday:
Salmon Burgers
Salad
Carrie: Got home from work and checked our stock. We had some salmon burgers and buns in the freezer, a tomato, and an onion. Sounds like a meal to me!
Carrie: I was about to leave work and I thought I'd skim all|recipes.com for dinner ideas. This recipe was exactly as promised: quick, easy, one pan. Well, I turned it into two pans by sautéing onion and green pepper with some cumin, but it sure was easy! The 6 cups of tortilla chips seems like a lot, but they do compress down and keep everything together nicely. Chili, cheese, onions, tomatoes, sour cream - what's not to like? It's not gourmet, but it hit the spot!
I didn't do much planning this week beyond Monday, and it shows. But there were a few winners in there. I hope to get back on track when Benjamin returns this week.
Black Bean & Pumpkin Soup w/ Cinnamon & Ginger, Once Upon a Tart, p. 57
Tortilla Chips
Avocado & Greens Salad
Carrie: This was a simple and very tasty soup. The pumpkin added body, but did not overpower the flavor of the soup. I'm going to copy this recipe down before we return the cookbook.
Mozzarella Sandwiches w/Oven-Roasted Tomatoes & Pesto, Once Upon a Tart, p. 91
Chickpea & Carrot Salad w/ Cumin & Black Olives, Once Upon a Tart, p. 137
Carrie: Wow - two winners! The oven-roasted tomatoes were so simple and very flavorful. I bought some of the mini Ciabatta loaves for these sandwiches as I did before and that worked out well. And the salad was a surprise sensation! The dressing (we used chili powder because we were out of cumin) was so tasty and actually clung to the veggies well. So many salads have runny, gloppy, or oily dressing, but this was really great. We're writing this one down for future use.
Wednesday:
Mushroom Risotto with Leeks and Fennel, Fields of Greens, p. 164
Edamame
Carrie: We did the risotto in the pressure cooker, because we were pressed for time. The recipe called for 6 cups of broth -- too much for the rice to absorb in the pressure cooker, so we had to do a bit of stirring at high heat to evaporate the excess liquid. The resulting risotto was fine, but the taste sensation of this meal was the special cave aged Parmesan that Ben purchased. That was fantastic.
Thursday:
Spicy Corn Cakes with Smoked Cheese and Chilies, Fields of Greens, p. 227
Mixed Green Salad w/ Avocado
Carrie: The corn cakes were super easy and quick to assemble and cook. I didn't realize it before hand, but these cook very much like a thick pancake. That also meant that, like pancakes, they improve with each batch. The first batch too longer to cook and didn't cook evenly. I should have waited for the pan to be hotter before I started. But the taste was great. This would be a good Summer meal since the cooking time is minimal and the prep is easy.
Carrie: With the start of the kids' Spring Break, we wanted something easy. So Ben had the great idea of making what we had on Super Bowl Sunday. Mmm... Chili and spaghetti...
Palak Shorva (Curried Spinach Soup with Toasted Coconut), Fields of Greens, p. 90
Cauliflower
Carrie: This was a nice soup, but I thought a bit too mild.
Sunday:
Garlic Potato Soup, Cooks Illustrated Mar/Apr 2007, p. 13
Fall Salad with Warm Gorgonzola Croutons, Fields of Greens, p. 38
Carrie: Yum! A hearty soup with a mix of Russet and red potatoes. The Russet become mushy and blend into the background of the soup while the red potato chunks stay intact. The salad was fabulous: golden beets, greens, apples and a bit of onion. I was never a big fan of beets, but we've made some great beet recipes recently, this one included.
Monday:
Penne Pasta with Grilled Fennel & Roasted Eggplant, Once Upon a Tart, p. 147
Broccoli
Carrie: Fennel is another ingredient I hadn't been wild about, but we've tried several recipes with fennel and I've come around to being a fennel fan. The thinly sliced fennel and eggplant are roasted separately, then combined with the pasta. The roasting gives it a wonderful mellow flavor.
Tuesday:
Goat Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Once Upon a Tart, p. 89
Carrie: I'm so pleased how well this turned out! I found some fabulous mini ciabatta loves at Breadsmith - just the right size for a sandwich. The peppers were roasted over an open flame on our gas cooktop, then put in a paper bag, allowing the flavors to develop while we did other things. The goat cheese spread was super easy (pulse cheese with dried herbs and olive oil). The recipe also called for a olive dressing using tapenade, which we didn't have, but Ben did a marvelous job whipping up something. Everything was quite easy and quite good - we'll have this again!
Wednesday:
Leftovers
Thursday:
Buckwheat Noodles w/ Shitake, Bok Choy, Ginger & Scallions, Fields of Greens, p. 129
Edamame
Carrie: Mmm, this was a terrific Asian noodle dish. Nicely spiced and very satisfying. And I always love an excuse to steam up some edamame.
Friday:
Eggs Italiano, Eating Well Apr 2007, p. 27
Mixed green salad
Carrie: This dish was a bit of a disappointment. The poached eggs turned out great, and the veggies were good, but it just didn't come together into an interesting dish. It left me wishing we'd done huevos rancheros instead.
North African Vegetable Stew, Fields of Greens, p. 192
Israeli toasted couscous
Sunday:
Enchiladas Rojas, Fields of Greens, p. 244
Grilled asparagus
Benjamin: Perhaps it was the recipe, perhaps our lack of skill with rolling tortillas, but this turned out more like a casserole than an enchilada dish. Tasted good though.
Carrie: Yup, the tortillas fell apart during baking. We tried the blue corn variety - maybe they don't hold up as well?
Monday:
Tomato-Fennel Pizza with Provolone Cheese, Fields of Greens, p. 172
Coleslaw, Moosewood, p. 72
Benjamin: We actually made two pizzas -- one from the tomato-fennel recipe above, one improvised from ingredients we had on hand (fresh basil with black olives and roasted pine nuts). The dough we made in advance with the bread machine, using the Fields of Greens recipe with one substitution -- one tbsp of buckwheat flour (which we had) in place of the called-for one tbsp of rye flour. Both pizzas were delicious!
Carrie: Love the bread machine - set it and forget it! And the pizzas even tasted great when I had some slices cold for lunch the next day.
Tuesday:
Simple Potato and Green Pea Stew, Krishna, p. 209
Salad
Wednesday:
Leftovers
Thursday:
"The Rustler" Pizza (bbq mock duck, pineapple, banana peppers) from Pizza Lucé
Benjamin: Yes, this was our second pizza dinner of the week, but we were feeling lazy and had wanted to try out one of the vegetarian selections at the new Pizza Lucé that opened near us recently. What we ordered was good, though I have to say that I thought the pizzas we made ourselves on Monday were better.
Carrie: BBQ mock duck was awesome!
Friday:
Fettuccine w/Chard, Currants, Walnuts and Brown Butter, Fields of Greens, p. 130
Bread
Salad
Benjamin: We couldn't get our butter to brown for this (perhaps because we used salted butter rather than unsalted...details matter) and couldn't find the called for golden raisins at Whole Foods, but the dish turned out well -- rich, with a hint of sweetness.
Carrie: This was such a dish. I felt it had a great "comfort food" quality while not being too heavy or smothered in sauce.
This week, we are choosing recipes that use ingredientswe have on hand in our over-stuffed pantry.
Saturday: Event: Michelle R's Birthday
BarleySoup with Caramelized Onions and Pecorino Cheese, Everyone, p. 223
Salad
Sunday:
Potato, Fennel, and Leek Gratin, Fields of Greens, p.210
Kale
Benjamin: Another recipe in which the fennel blended nicely into the whole, giving an interesting kick to the flavors without overwhelming the other ingredients.
Monday:
Fettuccinewith Spicy Raw Tomato, Herb, and CaperSauce, Med. Vegan, p. 104
Broccoli
Benjamin: This was very flavorful and easy to prepare -- it'll be even nicer in the summer when fresh tomatoes are better and less expensive.
Tuesday:
Minestrone (with pinto beans, carrots, pasta, celery, and Parmesan), Classic Italian, p. 66
French bread
Wednesday: Event: the Chieftain's
Indian night
Thursday:
Leftovers
Friday:
Baked Manicotti(1/2 recipe), Cooks Illustrated #84, p. 13
Green Salad
Benjamin: There was a bit of a 'sophomore slump' dynamic at work here -- this was the second time we made this particular manicotti recipe, and it didn't come out nearly as well as the first. But it's still tasty enough that I'm sure we'll try again.
