On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me, four colly birds.  That's right - colly birds.  Apparently the version we know featuring "calling birds" is just a horrible bastardization of the original, which isn't really that hard to believe seeing as we live in America and just about all aspects of our culture are distorted, corrupted, twisted hollow shells of what they once were...but I digress.

This revelation was my muse for this recipe.  A colly bird is an English nickname for a blackbird; "colly" being an Old English word meaning "soot" or "coal".  My mind immediately started reeling off all of black foods I could think of...which ended up only being one: blackberries.  I then got the internet to reel off all the black foods it could think of, which ended up being quite a few more, many of which I had never heard of.  One of these was black rice.  My first thought was to do a blackened tofu over black rice with a black bean sauce.  I liked it, I really did, but it didn't feel like a holiday dish to me.  Nothing about it felt special or new or, well, like Christmas.  So, I scrapped the tofu-rice dish.  I started to think of all the foods that embody Christmas for me: the top three dishes being mincemeat cake, waffles and potato soup (both of which may or may not be making an appearance next week), and rice pudding.  Now, I wouldn't consider myself a big rice pudding fan, outside the occasional whipped cream-topped sundae-glass full eaten in a grimy diner booth with a cup of coffee in the middle of the night, of course.  However, every Christmas Day, I partake in the Confoy-Osenlund family tradition of eating rice pudding together with hopes that your bowl will contain the sole almond in the whole batch.  If you get the almond, you are the King/Queen of Christmas and you are forced to wear one of those paper Christmas-cracker crowns.  Its all terribly exciting, and usually results in some fairly embarrassing photos.

So, in honor of the original lyrics and Confoy-Osenlunds, I bring you a black rice pudding topped with blackberries macerated in port and black pepper.

I followed theKitchn's recipe for black rice pudding, minus the coconut.  Also, I highly suggest letting it sit in the fridge over night - it gets thick and creamy and absolutely wonderful.

Port and Black Pepper Macerated Blackberries
½ pint fresh blackberries
1 cup port
1 tbs honey
2 tsp fresh crushed black pepper

+ Place blackberries in a glass measuring cup.  In a small pot, cook port, honey, and 1 tsp of black pepper over medium-high heat.  Once it begins to boil, cook for a moment or two, then pour the hot port over the berries.  Allow to sit and stew for at least 30 minutes - the longer they sit, the more the berries will break down, and the port will infuse in the berries.  
+ After the berries have been sitting, pour the liquid back into the pot.  Add the last tsp of the black pepper. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.  Cook until the port has reduced into a thick syrup.
+ To serve, top the black rice pudding with a few blackberries, then drizzle a little of the port-black pepper syrup over the top.

On the Third Day of Christmas...

So, if you read last post, you know of my growing anxiety concerning this latest project, especially the bird heavy days ahead.  However, the fear has subsided as many of my friends and fellow-foodies have come to my rescue and suggested some absolutely wonderfully creative ways to interpret the song into food.  In fact, it was my high-school friend, Christina's idea to use Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms for the third day's recipe.  A spark of culinary genius that would have never crossed my mind.  Brilliant, really, Christina.  

So, for the third day, I give to you a trio of Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms: a maitake pate, honey-glazed and roasted whole maitake mushroom, and a simple maitake and mixed mushroom soup. While only one can truly be considered French, these three hens are delightfully delicious and a perfect holiday party starter.

I was introduced to the Hen-of-the-Woods, or maitake mushroom at the Stockton Market this past April (and even wrote a post about it), but I wasn't quite sure how to use them.  The only way I'd ever cooked mushrooms was sauteing them in butter with onions as a pizza topping.  It wasn't until I started working at Gravity Hill that I was invited into the magical world of mushrooms.  One of the vendors at the market every Sunday was Shibumi Farm, a local couple who cultivate nearly 30 different types of mushrooms using no pesticides and only plant-based materials to grow the fungi.  Not only did they broaden my horizons to so many different types of mushrooms, but they changed the way I cook mushrooms - the miracle that is the dry saute.  

How To Dry Saute: 

+ Place a large pan over high heat.  Once the pan is hot, add the mushrooms.  Cook while stirring occasionally.  The mushrooms will begin to squeak (or scream, as the seven year old daughter of the mushroom couple put it).  Cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid, shrunk a bit, and begin to brown.  

+ Once the mushrooms are cooked, de-glaze the pan (I usually use a splash of wine), making sure to scrape all the good mushroom bits from the bottom of the pan.  

+ Then, add butter, olive oil, salt, or other seasonings and saute as normal.  

I found the recipe for the pate on the Serious Eats site.  Just a heads up, it's not vegan (but don't worry, the soup is!)  I felt that the use of cheese as the fat was necessary in order to get get the right consistency and to keep it true to a real pate.  However, there are tons of nut-based pate recipes on the web, like this one from C'est La Vegan.  The only change that I made to the Serious Eats recipe was that instead of broiling the mushrooms, I dry sauteed, de-glazed with red wine, and then finished them off with olive oil, a little butter, salt, pepper, and thyme.

The whole roasted maitake mushroom is stupidly simple and quick, but looks beautiful and impressive.  Place a fist-sized cluster of the mushrooms into a small ramekin or other oven-safe dish.  Melt 1 tbs of butter and 2 tbs of honey in the microwave.  Drizzle the honey-butter over the mushroom, making sure to coat all of the little tops.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the mushroom shrinks and begins to brown.  Sprinkle with sea salt and serve warm.  And make sure you soak up the extra mushroomy honey-butter in the bottom of the ramekin, you don't want that to go to waste.

Maitake Mushroom Soup

2 cups, maitake mushrooms

4 oz package of mixed mushrooms

½ cup dry red wine

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs butter

1 tbs rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 tbs thyme leaves

1 tbs sage leaves, finely chopped

1 can full-fat coconut milk

salt and pepper

+ In a medium pot, dry saute the mushrooms.  Once they're cooked, de-glaze with red wine.  Add butter, oil, herbs, and a bit of salt.  Cook until the mushrooms are soft and the liquid had thickened.  

+ Add the coconut milk, stir well.  Using a stick blender, blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

+ Cook until soup is heated through and desired thickness is reached.  Serve hot, garnished with thyme leaves or sprig of rosemary.

Restaurant Love and Autumn Dinners

I keep a mental list of restaurants that I want to go to in my head.  Whether it be from passing one while visiting a new town, or word-of-mouth, or articles in the Dining&Wine section of the New York Times, I store and file and save until the right time.  Most of these places are far-ish away or fairly expensive, so they're stockpiled in the "Special Occasion" section.  Now, these could be family and friends birthdays, winning the lottery, new job, passing a test, knowing someone who passed a test, buying a new pair of shoes, parallel parking perfectly on the first try, or having the same day off as your best friend.

I've been eyeing Deanna's in Lambertville for a couple of months now.  I go to Lambertville/New Hope on a fairly regular basis, and thought that I knew every restaurant in the area...until my dad and I accidentally turned down the wrong tiny little street at the end of town and I saw an old fashion "Bar" sign and another advertising handmade pasta.  As soon as I got home I did some research and discovered Deanna's.  It wasn't the menu that won me over (though the over half-a-dozen fresh made pasta dishes did help a little), but the photos - Deanna's tiny, yet cozy space is transformed into a whole new space for every holiday.  It looked warm, welcoming, and intimate, and I immediately fell in love.  And then stored it in the little filebox in the back of my mind.  Until yesterday...

It happened to be a "Having the Same Day Off As Your Best Friend" occasion, and Chelsea and I headed into Lambertville to walk around on a beautiful, warm autumn afternoon and, of course, eat really good food.  And Deanna's was on the top of the list.  The orange twinkle lights and giant skulls decorating the exterior had me a giddy mess before we even got in the door (if I haven't already mentioned it, I'm a Halloween junkie.  I can't get enough.) For our date night, Chelsea and I sat at a small table in the bar area, under screaming banshees, surrounded by cobweb curtains and intricately carved pumpkins and masked, antlered, sparkly half-naked mannequins.  And one of the specials that night was pumpkin ravioli with a walnut alfredo sauce.  Which I of course had to have.  Unique, inviting, fun atmosphere paired with phenomenal, fresh, delicious food?  What more could you ask for?

If you asked for a store front in the next building that sells Deanna's pasta and sauces, then your wish has been granted.  Chelsea and I popped our heads in to check the place out, with no intention of buying anything, and I left with a dozen pumpkin ravioli.  Part of it was a spontaneous, over-excited purchase, but a much larger part was me wanting to try my hand at recreating a vegan version of the wonderful dinner I had just eaten.  Which, I'm proud to say, tonight I did just that.  I didn't want to be a complete copy cat, so I added rosemary and sage to my sauce to create deep, earthy flavor that I thought would pair well with the pumpkin.  The only thing that I'd do differently would be to grind the walnuts up finer, there were too many chunks which didn't add anything texturally to the dish.

Vegan Walnut Cream Sauce

1½ cup walnuts

2 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tbs fresh sage, chopped

2 tbs Earth Balance butter⅓ cup sweet white wine (I used an Spiced Apple dessert wine)

1 can coconut milk

salt & pepper to taste

+ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the walnuts flat on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with 1 tbs each of rosemary and sage.  Bake for ten minutes, or until the walnuts are brown and fragrant.
+ Once the walnuts have cooled, grind the walnuts and herbs in a food processor or small blender until it becomes a coarse meal.
+ Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Add the rest of the herbs and saute until they just begin to brown.  Add the wine and cook for a minute or two.  Then add the coconut milk.  Cook until it reduces a bit and thickens up.

+ Stir in the walnuts, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish.  Cook until desired thickness is reached. 

+ Serve warm over a pile of Deanna's pumpkin ravioli.  Garnish with reserved walnuts and chopped rosemary.

Almost-Autumn Roasted Eggplant Soup

Well, folks, I've done it again.  Not only did I get the stamp of approval from my brother, but I even impressed myself tonight.  Roasted Eggplant Soup.  I don't know where I come up with this stuff...okay, that's a lie.  I got the idea at work today since the soup of the day was a roasted eggplant soup.  But it's not like that!  See, when I came in this morning I saw the soup up on our specials chalkboard and got really excited, but then I found out it was full of cream and served with a giant glob of goat cheese on top - don't get me wrong, I love goat cheese, but body isn't as big of a fan as I'd like it to be.  However, after hearing my coworkers and customers rave about the soup all day, I decided that I needed to give it a taste.  I poured a tiny sample cup with a pinch of goat cheese.  It was delicious, but a little disappointing - I thought it was too heavy and rich with all the cream and cheese.  I wanted something lighter that really highlighted the eggplant.  My mind immediately starting reeling with possibilities of how I could put my own spin on it to make it vegan and, well, better.  Thankfully I had a pile of Gravity Hill baby eggplants waiting for me at home which allowed me to put everything that was swirling around in my head down on paper down on cutting board in a pot.  It turned out even better than it was in my head.  Topped with some roasted sun gold tomatoes, it was the perfect "almost-autumn" soup - all the flavors of fall with the lightness and freshness of summer.

Note: I used baby eggplants, but you can substitute those with 3 medium eggplants or one very large one.

Almost-Autumn Roasted Eggplant Soup
15 baby eggplants
1 head of garlic (at least), cloves slices
1 cup dry white wine 
1½ cups vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
1 tbp Thai red curry paste
1 tsp red curry powder
salt 
olive oil

+ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
+ Slice each eggplant carefully down the middle, making sure just to create a slit and not slice all the way through the eggplant.  Stuff each slit full of garlic slices (I mean it, get as much as that garlic in there as you possibly can).
+ Place the garlic stuffed eggplants in a large baking dish, then drizzle generously with olive oil.  Bake for about a half an hour or until the eggplants have begun to shrivel.  Then, pour white wine (one cup or enough so that the eggplants are in about an half inch of liquid) into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until eggplants are soft and wine has reduced.
+ Once the eggplants are done, allow them to cool for a few minutes.  De-stem them, but leave the skins on, and place them in a large pot, along with the garlic slices and any wine and juices left in the bottom of the pan.  Using a stick blender, break down the eggplants until smooth and creamy.  Add a little of the broth to make blending easier.
+ After the eggplant is broken down, turn on medium-low heat, and add the remaining vegetable broth, mix well.  Once incorporated, slowly add the coconut milk, stirring after each addition.  Add the curry paste, curry powder, and salt to taste.  Stir well.
+ Cover and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until ready to serve (though the longer you cook it, the more the flavors develop).  Garnish with some roasted tomatoes and a sprig of basil flowers to really meld summer and autumn in one bowl.

PB&J Oatmeal

For the past couple of months I've been on a bit of a breakfast smoothie kick (See: Green Berry Smoothie and Eat More Kale for reference).  However, this kick has fizzled out these last few weeks, and I've found a new obsession - oatmeal.  I feel like oatmeal gets a really bad rap.  Most people think of oatmeal as grey, mushy, and bland, but I'm here to tell you, that's not the case.  Oatmeal is the perfect blank canvas that you can color with the palate of your fridge and pantry to create something beautifully delicious.  The possibilities are endless - cinnamon and honey oatmeal topped with fresh blueberries, zucchini bread oatmeal (here's a phenomenal recipe from Oh She Glows), strawberry blueberry oatmeal,coconut ginger lime oatmeal, chocolate banana oatmeal, sweet curried oatmeal (yes, curry and it's amazing), any and every combination of ingredients you could possibly think of.  Still think oatmeal's bland and gross?

...You do?  Well, that's why I'm going to give you the recipe that will change your mind about oatmeal forever - peanut butter oatmeal with a strawberry blueberry compote.  I mean, who doesn't love peanut butter and jelly?  By taking the peanut butter off the bread and into the oats, and by elevating the jelly to a simple compote, this sandwich transforms into a soul-satisfying, childhood-reliving, smile-inducing way to start your day.

Note: There are different types of oats that you can use to make oatmeal - rolled, steel-cut, and quick oats are the most common.  I usually use rolled, since they are fairly low maintenance and cook quickly, without getting mushy like the quick oats.  I recently discovered Old Wessex 5 Grain Cereal that's a mixture of oats, rye, triticale (a wheat-rye hybrid), barley, and golden flax - it cooks just like the rolled oats, but has a heartier texture and a slightly earthier flavor that I've found I really like.  I also add chia seeds to my oatmeal 1) because it's ridiculously good for you - protein, fiber, and essential minerals like calcium and magnesium - and 2) when soaked in liquid, they get a gelatinous coating around them, which not only thickens the oatmeal, but gives it a pudding-like texture that I love.

PB&J Oatmeal
makes one serving

⅓ rolled oats
⅔ almond milk (or whatever type you'd like)
a pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chunky peanut butter
1 tbs chia seeds
4 fresh strawberries, quartered
2 hand-fulls fresh blueberries1 tbs honey

+ Put milk and oats in a medium sauce pan.  Turn heat to medium, add the salt, cinnamon and honey, then give oats a quick stir.  Bring to a low boil.  Immediately turn heat to low and allow to simmer gently.  Add peanut butter and chia seeds, then stir well.  Cook until thick, or desired texture is reached, stirring occasionally to make sure it isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot.
+ While the oats are simmering, combine berries and honey in a small sauce pan.  Bring to medium heat.  Stirring occasionally - you can even mash them with a fork or potato masher if you like a smoother texture.  Cook until the berries have broken down and created a thick syrup.
+ To serve, layer oats and compote parfait style.  Eat warm out of a big bowl with a tiny spoon while sitting on the couch reading the morning paper. 

Food-Talk, Friends, and Ramekins

I love food and I'm not afraid to say it.  But it's not about eating food...well, not entirely.  My love is of the possibilities, the creation, the idea that every experience can be a new one with the addition of a little spice.  I get excited to try new techniques or mixing ingredients together just to see what happens, and it's an incredible feeling when it works and everything balances and tastes delicious.  My meals bring me great pride which make me want to share them...maybe too much.  I mean, my friends and family definitely aren't complaining about having to partake in the products of my culinary obsession.  However, I think that I have begun to wear away at their patients and interest when it comes to talking about food.  My food-talk is non-stop - a new recipe I saw online; Mark Bittman's ingredient of the week; the ground cherries I found at Gravity Hill and what I could possibly do with them; the daily question that grates at my family: "What should we have for dinner?"  When I go on a tirade about how I prepared the cabbage I made for dinner last night or an idea I had for zucchini oatmeal, my loved ones usually give me a patronizing smile and blankly nod until I've exhausted myself.  I have apologized to them, but I can't help it - food just gets me really excited, passionate, and apparently very talkative.  However, I think that I have found my savior, the solution to my gab problem, and her name is Chelsea.

Fresh farm veg on a cutting board is happiness.

Chelsea works with me at Main Street, moonlights as a chef at a New Orleans style restaurant, and is just as much of a foodie as I am.  She's a friend that I can talk to about the zucchini flowers I found at the farmer's market but don't know what to do with, and instead of having her eyes glaze over, her excitement rises to meet mine as she gives me her grandmother's fried zucchini flower recipe (which I made and was unbelievable).  What I appreciate most is that when we talk it's not one-sided, it's a conversation - we bounce ideas off one another, share advice, recipes, techniques.  I feel like I've learned so much just from talking to her over the past couple of months, but last week I went over her house for dinner and learned even more from watching her cook.  She made a simple pasta dish with roasted vegetables, except it was a completely innovative meal for me.  After she mixed the roasted vegetables into the pasta, she finished it off by sauteing some garlic in olive oil and pouring it on top.  Then - the most exciting part - the toasted bread crumbs.  On the table was a little ramekin filled with bread crumbs (for those who don't know, a ramekin is a little ceramic bowl that can withstand high temperature, which makes them the perfect vessel for cooking and serving dishes, and holding bread crumbs).  I didn't quite understand what they were for, until Chelsea sprinkled some on top of her bowl of pasta.  I was hesitant at first, but it was amazing.  It added crunch, a surprising texture, to the pasta that is usually lacking. Toasted bread crumbs!  On Pasta!  Who would've thought?!  Apparently Chelsea and her family, since they've been doing it for years.  For dessert, we had mini-blueberry peach pies also served in ramekins, which happen to be the perfect individual serving size.  Everything was wonderfully delicious, and she gave me so many ideas for things to do in my own cooking...which I put to good use this past weekend.

Fried Zucchini Blossoms thanks to Chelsea's Grandmother

My college friend Kit came for dinner, and Chelsea had a huge impact on the meal I made him.  Not only did she give me inspiration, but she gave me my very own set of ramekins since I couldn't stop talking about them, and I cannot express my thanks to her enough.  For Kit, I made tri-colored penne with roasted tomatoes.  Usually my pasta dishes come out pretty much the same, since I always use the same ingredients, ratio of seasonings, and techniques.  But for this meal, I stole Chelsea's method of pouring the garlic and olive oil over the dish at the end and finishing it off with bread crumbs - it turned a simple pasta into something new and different and fabulously delicious.  For dessert, I also made individual ramekin pies - I made a vegan chocolate cream pie since that's Kit's favorite and topped it with some honey glazed fruit, another Chelsea inspiration (except don't tell Kit it was vegan, he wasn't supposed to find out...oops).  Kit ate two mini-pies and finished mine that night, and then had two more the next day.  My brother, who is highly critical of my cooking and tired of my healthy meals, was impressed and said that I might actually be able to do this whole cooking thing for real - thanks, Des.  And I have to say, I even impressed myself with these little pies.

Moral of the story is that I am so happy to have found a fellow culinary enthusiast friend that I can food-talk with and who is just as passionate about it as I am.  I find that knowledge and understanding is best gained through sharing and conversation.  And it's far more enjoyable and much more potent than studying from a book or reading off the internet.  I just can't wait to have Chelsea over my house so I can cook for her.  Only question is...what should we do for dinner?

Roasted Tomato Penne

1 pint cherry tomatoes
10 basil leaves, sliced¼ cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbs butter
½ lb penne
1 clove garlic, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper

+ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
+ Halve most of the tomatoes, keeping a hand-full whole.  Place the tomatoes in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Allow to sit for about ten minutes so that thee juices can seep out.  Then, add pepper and half the basil.  Drizzle with olive oil and mix so that all the tomatoes are well coated.  Place in a shallow baking dish, bake for 40 minutes, or until tomatoes are shriveled and juicy.
+ While the tomatoes are roasting, heat a splash of oil and butter in a medium pan.  Once hot, add panko.  Stirring occasionally, cook until the bread crumbs are brown and toasted.  Set aside.
+ Cook and drain the pasta.  Set aside.
+ Once the tomatoes are done, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a small pan.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic.  Saute until the garlic just begins to brown.
+ Toss the tomatoes and remaining basil in with pasta, mix until combined.  Drizzle garlic and oil over pasta.  Serve each bowl sprinkled with bread crumbs.

Boy-Approved Vegan Chocolate Cream Pie
makes 8 mini-pies

10 chocolate graham crackers
⅓ cup butter, melted
1 bag dark chocolate chips
⅓ cup coffee liqueur
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 package silken tofu, drained
3 tbs honey
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh strawberries, quartered

+ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
+ Place graham crackers and butter in a food processor, blend until the crackers are broken down, and the mix resembles bread crumbs.
+ Place about three tablespoons of cracker into the bottom of each ramekin.  Push the cracker into the bottom of the dish, making sure there are no holes in the crust.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.
+ While the crust is baking, bring a medium pot of water to a simmer over medium heat.  Place the chocolate chips, liqueur, and vanilla in a medium metal bowl set over the simmering water.  Stir often to prevent the chocolate from burning.
+ Once the chocolate is completely melted, place the chocolate, tofu and 1 tbs honey in the food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Pour some chocolate mixture into each ramekin, leaving a little room in the top of each.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
+ Right before eating, toss berries in 2 tbs of honey, mixing until well coated.  Spoon some berries on top of each pie to serve.

A Comfort Food Kind of Day

For the past two days I've been couch ridden with a terrible illness.  So awful that it has left me so physically deformed that small children run at the sight of me.  I have been plagued with conjunctivitis, or as it is commonly known, pink eye.  Honestly, I didn't know that grown-ups got pink eye; I thought it was confined to children who spend their days cooped up with thirty other sticky-handed, germ-ridden toddlers in the bacterial breeding grounds we call "day cares".  However, I got it and have spent the last 48 hours looking like a boxer that just lost the big match.  I would post a photo (yes, I do have a photo that my father took of me moments after I woke up, eyes swollen shut, as he giggled), but I'm going to spare you the agony - plus I wouldn't want you to lose your appetite, seeing as the recipes coming up are some of the best I've made yet.  Though to be fair, neither are original recipes, but I blame it on the fact that my face must have been scaring the Culinary Muses away.

So, I've been stuck inside for two days - mainly because I look like death - and I've acquired a bit of cabin fever.  I mean, there are only so many Lifetime movies you can watch before you lose all faith in humanity.  Today was a rainy and chilly day, which made me feel even more confined in my house.  I needed to do something.  So, I cleaned the kitchen - my go to chore and past-time.  After that I tried reading for a bit, but my muscles were twitching and my brain was drifting, and in less than ten minutes I was agitated and needed to get up and do something again.  Thankfully, I decided to check Facebook (what else do you do when there's nothing to do?) and saw that my mother had posted a link on my wall from the Martha Stewart website announcing that today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.  Now, while I'm not a huge peanut butter cookie fan, the idea of baking was too good to pass up.  Martha had a ridiculous amount of peanut butter cookie recipes, but, with the help of my brother, I wound up choosing the Peanut Butter Surprise cookies - I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, and I liked the idea of using peanut butter without having the whole cookie being overwhelmingly peanut buttery.  The batter was surprisingly light and fluffy - resembling a mousse more than a cookie batter.  This made getting them on the cookie sheets a tad messy, but gave them a fluffy, cake-like texture which paired well with the melty chips and creamy peanut butter filling.  I tell you that Stewart girl sure knows how to make a cookie.  She really should brand them or something.  I mean, she could be big if she plays her cards right. 

After the cookies were trayed and waiting in the fridge to be baked after dinner, I was semi-satisfied. For about an hour.  So I of course started planning dinner - another favorite past-time of mine.  Maybe it was being sick or maybe it was the cold, wet weather, but the day just screamed "comfort food."  After some digging online, I stumbled upon a vegan butternut squash mac&cheese recipe from OhSheGlows - her smoothie and overnight oat recipes are out of this world.  I've always been a little bit afraid of vegan cheese replacement recipes, mainly because I never thought that nuts, mustard, and nutritional yeast (whatever the hell that is) could pass as cheese, let alone taste good.  Turns out it does.  Oh, by the way, nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that's a complete protein, high in B-vitamins, and is naturally low in fat and sodium - plus the thing that gives the "cheese" that cheesy consistency.  I have to admit, I was astounded by the outcome.  It was creamy and salty and a little sweet, but wasn't as heavy as a traditional bechamel sauce.  My dad said that the "non-cheese tastes more like cheese than non-non-cheese."  I did make one major change to the original recipe, but only out of necessity.  There was no butternut squash at the grocery store.  I know, a travesty.  So, I used a little canned pumpkin instead, which gave the same feel as the squash without the time and energy of breaking down the squash and roasting it.  Instead of the seasonings called for, I used a blend called Table Mountain Seasonings (including California paprika, dill seed, rosemary, turmeric, Greek oregano, Mediterranean thyme, and about ten other herbs and spices) from Savory Spice Shop in Princeton.  I also stirred in a few halved grape tomatoes, because...well, because I'm obsessed with them and use them every opportunity I can.  And I finished it off with some panko bread crumbs to give it a little crunch.  The mac&cheese ended up being incredible.  I only had one plate, but I could have eaten an entire tray of that stuff all by myself.  This recipe is definitely going to be added to my regular repertoire and I can't wait to play around with different flavors, mix-ins, and toppings.

As I write this, the swelling in my eyes has gone down, making it seem now as if I've just had a very late night out and less of having been stung by a bee in both pupils.  I'm going to work tomorrow, which means that I shall be off the couch and out in the world.  My belly is full of warm non-cheesy macaroni goodness.  And in my hand is half of a gooey chocolate peanut butter cookie.  I'm getting the feeling that the next 48 hours are going to be definitively better than the last. 

Cauliflower "Cheese" Spread: or Naan Pizza Revisited

There is something so beautiful about dining alfresco.   Authors Note: I realized that I use "beautiful" far too often, even though it always seems to be perfectly appropriate for what I'm attempting to describe.  From hence forth, I'll try harder to use other adjectives...

There is something so divine about dining alfresco.  The fresh air and sunlight make the flavors stronger, enhancing the subtleties, the sweet or tangy or peppery or smokey.  It makes you eat slower, appreciating and enjoying the simple act of sharing a meal, sipping on wine, and conversing.  Even if the background noise is the motorcycle traffic to New Hope rumbling by.  Time seems to slow, you relax, and instead of just eating, you are dining.  You, along with the meal, are transformed - its like a religious experience, or at least, its one of the closest things I've experienced to one.

After Tuesday's Gravity Hill shopping spree, I had a summer squash and that purple head of cauliflower sitting on my counter, just begging to be chopped and cooked and created into something.  As I was driving home from work - windows open, fresh cut grass and barbecue smells blowing through my hair - I knew that tonight was a backyard dinner night.  One of my favorite summer-night outdoor meals is naan pizzas (which happens to the subject of one of my first ever posts).  Naan is the perfect means of highlighting fresh summer produce - its thick enough to handle a pile of vegetables and other toppings, but airy enough that isn't heavy and dense like a traditional pizza dough can be.  Its the ultimate veggie vessel.  So in the end, the decision on what to do with my squash and cauliflower really was a no-brainer.

Normally when I make these pizzas, we use canned pizza sauce and no cheese - or rather, optional cheese for those who partake.  I usually use minimal sauce, mainly because it tends to be too sweet and, well, canned tasting (you know what I'm talking about....don't you?).  Tonight, however, I did two things differently: I skipped the canned sauce and roasted up some grape tomatoes (yes, people, the roasted tomatoes are back!), and I made a cauliflower "cheese" spread.  Now I know what you might be thinking, but trust me.  I've made a ricotta substitute for vegan lasagna before using blended up tofu and cauliflower before, but decided to just use the cauliflower this time and see what happened.  It ended up working pretty well, although I wouldn't necessarily call it a pizza cheese substitute - it had the consistency of hummus, but added the saltiness and creaminess that you'd normally get from cheese.  Topped with roasted tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms with garlic and onions, and fresh basil, and eaten alfresco with a big glass of red wine - divine.  While I do think that the recipe needs a little tweaking, its definitely going to become a staple on my naan pizzas from now on.

Cauliflower "Cheese" Spread
1 head cauliflower florets, chopped
olive oil
non-dairy milk
salt and pepper

+ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place cauliflower florets in a medium baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is soft.
+ Place roasted cauliflower in a food processor.  Add a splash of olive oil.  Blend, then slowly add milk until desired consistency is reached.  Season to taste.  To serve, spread on naan as a base, then add sauce and toppings.

Karmic Curries

It's been two weeks and five days since I started working at Main Street, and I am loving every minute of it.  I know, I know, no one loves working, but I'm telling you, I love it.  Clearing dishes, making coffee, loading the dish washer, foaming milk, wrapping food, and especially waiting on customers.  While you get the occasional rude or overly needy patron, the majority are pleasant and fun to chat with.  We have a couple of every-day regulars who are ridiculously charming and make me smile every time I see them walk through the door.  And the people I work with make the slow dragging lulls go by so much faster.

Easter Baristas.

Okay, sorry, enough ranting about my love of being a barista.  The point of me bring up work was to segue into a narrative about how I decided on last night's dinner. And this segue is much more awkward than anticipated...

On our way home from work, my mother and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up eggs to dye for Easter, but neither of us could come up with anything we felt like having for dinner, so we decided on picking up sushi after the market.  We grabbed eggs and a few necessities and headed to the checkout.  My mom forgot her wallet in the car, so I held our place in line while she ran out to get it.  Of course, my gaze immediately went to the strategically placed magazines. While there were various celebrity dissolved marriages to pry into and best bikini bodies to glare at, a special Spring/Summer edition of Real Simple that was all "Easy, Delicious Home Cooking" caught my eye.  I was flipping through it, admiring the beautiful photos and mentally tagging recipes to look up later, when I saw it - what I wanted for dinner.  A vegetable and tofu curried soup.  The photo was what got me; it was warm and inviting, but with bright colors and a crispness that just screamed spring.

While I'd found what I wanted for dinner, not all the Confoy's are as keen on tofu as I am, so I needed to come up with something that the whole family would enjoy .  With a sigh, I resumed flipping pages, mentally tagging the tofu curry for another night.  But guess what was lying only a few pages away?  A recipe for curried shrimp and snow peas.  The best part?  The ingredients for both recipes were basically identical, the real difference being a very slight change in preparation methods.  I took that as a big karmic slap-in-the-face that tonight I must make curry. When I saw my mom heading down the registers I yelled, "I know what we have to make for dinner!  Go grab coconut milk and shrimp!"  We were quick and  efficient, and home eating curry faster than it would have taken to order and pick-up sushi.

I made a few changes to Real Simple's recipes, mainly due to missing or varying ingredients. Both recipes call for red curry paste, which isn't a pantry necessity, and which I didn't want to buy just for this one recipe.  I did however just buy a jar of  Ras El Hanout - a Moroccan spice blend - that I'd been meaning to give a try.  I also left out the green beans in tofu dish, because I thought with the peas they might be a little redundant.

Now, one ingredient that I normally leave out of my curries is coconut milk.  I'm not talking about the vegan milk-substitute made with coconuts (though I do use it along with the canned coconut milk in these recipes).  I'm talking about real coconut milk made from the meat of the coconut.  Why haven't I used it before?  Well, first off, it came in a can, and the idea of "milk in a can" just kind of turned me off.  And second, I didn't really think that it would make that much of a difference.  Oh, how wrong I was.  The coconut milk made these curries.  Seriously.  I've been plagued with curries that are too thin and soupy, or when I try to thicken them, become heavy and more of a gravy than a curry.  But the coconut milk is the perfect combination of liquid and creamy thickness that gives the curry the perfect consistency.  This week I am going to stock up on cans of coconut milk so I can make excellent curry whenever I want.

Thai Curry Vegetable and Tofu Soup
1½ cups vegetable broth

½ 14 oz can coconut milk

½ cup non-dairy coconut milk

2 tbs Ras El Hanout, or other curry powder

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 pint sized container of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced

1 cup snow peas

1 carrot, sliced into thin coins

14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed

2 tbs fresh lime juice

¼ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced

salt and lime zest to taste

+ In a large sauce pan, whisk the broth, coconut milk, non-dairy milk, curry, ginger, and a pinch of salt.  Bring to boil.

+ Add the mushrooms and carrots and simmer until the carrots are tender.  Then add the peas and tofu, and simmer until the peas become a bright green.

+ Stir in the lime juice, zest, and basil.  Serve hot over rice or on its own.

Curry Shrimp and Snow Peas

½ 14 oz can coconut milk

½ cup non-dairy coconut milk

2 tbs Ras El Hanout, or other curry powder
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tbs fresh lime juice
1 cup snow peas
½ cup bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced
salt and lime zest to taste

+ In a large sauce pan, whisk coconut milk, non-dairy milk, curry, and salt.  Bring to a boil.
+ Add the shrimp, and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook until the shrimp is done, bright pink and curled.
+ While the shrimp is cooking, toss the peas, sprouts, basil and 1 tbs lime juice in a medium bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.
+ When the shrimp is done, stir in the remaining lime juice and zest.  Serve the shrimp curry over rice with the pea mixture on top.
Note: In both cases the liquid will begin to bubble up, so watch it it make sure it doesn't overflow.  Once the vegetable are added, the liquid will settle.

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